RPM installation via http

[Rick Stevens]

On Wed, 2006-09-06 at 11:36 -0600, redhat at buglecreek.com wrote:
> Is anyone aware of a way to install multiple rpm packages via a http
> server on a local lan.  For example, two systems running the same
> version of redhat os. One server has apache running on it and has all
> the packages in /var/www/html/up2date/ via a sym link to
> /var/spool/up2date.  When I try to do rpm -Fvh
> http://192.168.100.2/up2date/*.rpm I get the following error: "error:
> File not found by glob: http://192.168.100.2/up2date/*.rpm"  When I try
> this with a specific rpm package name it works fine.  When I connect a
> browser to the http server all the packages are there.  I know I could
> use a nfs mount to accomplish this, but would like to do this via http
> if possible.  We have all the entitlements to cover the various boxes,
> but due to bandwidth issues at field offices it would be nice to be able
> to share these updates between like boxes on local lans without having
> to hit rhn or
> our HQ rhn proxy.

You have to remember that globbing on a command is processed by the
shell BEFORE the command is executed.  The glob won't work on HTTP or
FTP operations since the shell doesn't know how to use HTTP or FTP to
get filelists.  I think rpm itself is smart enough to do what you need,
so you might try the command:

	rpm -Fvh http://192.168.100.2/up2date

That way rpm will pick up the filelist.

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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-   You possess a mind not merely twisted, but actually sprained.    -
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