Delicately aged RPMs?

[Bob Gorman]

As a connoisseur of RPMs I sometimes like to savor them when lightly aged.  As such I maintain a collection of RPMs to have them readily available should the need arise to sample yesterdays delicacy.  However, I must admit that sometimes RPMs slip away before I have a chance to archive them.  For example, let's look at quagga under RHEL3.

The original ISO contains this version:
  quagga-0.96.2-4.3E.i386.rpm.

The current available version is this:
  quagga-0.96.2-10.3E.i386.rpm

But, there is an intermediate version:
  quagga-0.96.2-8.3E.i386.rpm

If I check up2date, the Channels under the RHN web site, and the Update 1 ISO all I am able to find is the current version.  How does one go about acquiring the missing RPM?

I have since discovered that one can tediously maneuver the RHN web site and find the lost RPMs via the RPM Search.  However, this interface is slow, cumbersome, requires laborious manual effort, and is prone to human error. Our precious RPMs are being lost in the oblivion of an end user support interface.

I desperately wish for a way to download RPMs in an automated fashion. If only there was simple, straight forward way to obtain RPMs our support engineers would flourish in the buoyancy of a well stocked RPM archive.

There are secure methods that could be employed to meet this goal. Here is a simple example which will meet the business requirements of all parties involved:

  wget https://user:password@download.rhn.redhat.com/download/rhn/private/rhel3-rhdb/i386/RPMS/*.rpm

Alas, it does not work. RedHat has specifically designed the RHN web site to thwart such amenable solutions.  I must resort to desperate acts of public pleading.

Please help - functionality is being lost - business requirements are not being met - support obligations are going unfulfilled - I fear the worst!  What is a RPM enthusiast to do?