yum/rpm transaction error: installed kernel is newer...

[Chuck Anderson]

On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 10:06:36PM -0500, Chuck Anderson wrote:
> So I've been testing newer kernels from koji directly, and now my 
> regular yum update is broken with this error.  Am I mistaken, or 
> shouldn't yum/rpm ignore older packages in the repo vs. the newer ones 
> I have installed?
> 
> Transaction Check Error:
>   package kernel-2.6.27.9-163.fc10.x86_64 (which is newer than 
> kernel-2.6.27.9-159.fc10.x86_64) is already installed
>   package kernel-2.6.28-0.131.rc8.git4.fc11.x86_64 (which is newer 
> than kernel-2.6.27.9-159.fc10.x86_64) is already installed

I tracked this down to kmod-kqemu wanting a specific version of the 
kernel to be installed.  I never had kernel -159 installed, but the 
latest kmod-kqemu from rpmfusion needs it.

I know that traditionally rpm doesn't like to install older packages 
than you already have unless you specify --oldpackage, but this seems 
to be causing a bug with yum.  Yum or rpm should be allowing an older 
"installonly" package to be pulled in even when a newer package is 
already installed.  Otherwise, you'll end up in this situation any 
time you don't follow the exact order of oldest...newest kernel 
version installs.

Is there any reason why yum shouldn't allow an older "installonly" 
package to be installed when you already have a newer one?