Yum Update for older releases

clpl1980 · 10-20-2007, 04:05 AM

Hi all!

I run on my server a Fedora Core 5 system. Since Fedora 7 has come out, yum packages in repos I used to connect to are no longer updated.

It is very difficult for me to upgrade my system because for a long time I won't have the opportunity to stop it.

I need to update packages but not to upgrade the system. Is there a way? Are there repos I can use which are kept updated?

Thank you all!

acid_kewpie · 10-21-2007, 02:35 AM

if you were to install the fedora-release-7 rpm then your system would convert to use f7 update packages, but if you are still on the official fedora 5 release then there will be no difference at all. the yum repo's implicitly change the location to look for updates based on the vesion you are running, i.e. in the fedora repo file there are variables for $ARCH and $RELEASEVER to automatically look for updates for fedora 7 on a x64 cpu or fedora 5 on an i386 cpu. if you've not messed with these files, a new release couldn't have any effect at all.

clpl1980 · 10-21-2007, 02:51 AM

Thank you, so the only way is I upgrade or I won't get any yum updates? Or is there a way to mess with yum configuration to make it download new releases' packages?

acid_kewpie · 10-21-2007, 03:10 AM

no, that's exactly what i don't mean... there is no reason whatsoever that you should have any problem if you have not messed with the contents of the fedora-release package. what you your repo files say? what actually happens if you do run a "yum update"? copy and paste the output from it... without proceeding with the updates of course.

clpl1980 · 10-21-2007, 04:01 AM

This is what I get (I've been getting this result for at least a month). The update is restricted to some packages because I don't want to update others (i.e. kernel)

Code:

Could not find update match for httpd
Could not find update match for samba
Could not find update match for clamav-update
Could not find update match for amavisd
Could not find update match for sendmail
Could not find update match for clamav-data
Could not find update match for openssh
Could not find update match for clamav-lib
Could not find update match for mysql
Could not find update match for clamav
Could not find update match for mysql-server
Could not find update match for postfix
Could not find update match for yum
Could not find update match for mod_security
Could not find update match for clamav-server
Could not find update match for php-pgsql
Could not find update match for php-mysql
Could not find update match for squirrelmail
Loading "installonlyn" plugin
Setting up Update Process
Setting up repositories
Reading repository metadata in from local files
No Packages marked for Update/Obsoletion

acid_kewpie · 10-21-2007, 06:42 AM

ok, well that suggests a different problem, although offhand i'm not sure what. what was to *full* output of the yum command? all the stuff at the top you cut off?

PTrenholme · 10-21-2007, 08:36 AM

You did, I hope, read the "sticky" note at the head of this Fedora forum about unsupported versions. Fedora Core 5 has not been a supported version since F7 was released, and, I believe, FC6 support will be dropped when F8 is released.

The point is that Fedora releases are, essentially, beta test releases for RH releases, and RH has little incentive (and lacks the resources) to maintain older Fedora releases. So, if you want to use Fedora in a stable environment, consider moving to one of the RH releases, or some other distribution offering more stability.

acid_kewpie · 10-21-2007, 11:31 AM

am i really that dumb? surely the repo's themselves are still available, just no longer updated?

clpl1980 · 10-22-2007, 08:05 AM

PTrenholme, you are right. I know the problem is that each other version is no longer supported.

Isn't there a way to update the system through someone else's repos? (not Rad Hat's original ones)

Thank you

PTrenholme · 10-22-2007, 08:47 AM

Well, you can always get the source code and compile your own version. What you don't get is the RH/Fedora crew testing the new software version and making sure it's compatible with the other packages in the distribution.

Since nobody is much interested in doing that work for older versions, you're unlikely to find and repositories containing any updated RPMs for an obsolete distribution.