This started happening about a year ago on all three systems in the house.
yum simply scans thru a bunch of servers, decides there are problems in each, and updates almost nothing...so things are starting to get old.

I'm running FC5. I probably need to hurry up and go to FC9. But can I put it off awhile longer???

Here is the output of my latest "yum update" attempt.

-bash-3.1# yum update
Loading "changelog" plugin
Loading "fedorakmod" plugin
Loading "installonlyn" plugin
Loading "kernel-module" plugin
Loading "fastestmirror" plugin
Setting up Update Process
Setting up repositories
poptop-stable [1/7]
poptop-stable 100% |=========================| 1.9 kB 00:00
livna [2/7]
livna 100% |=========================| 1.9 kB 00:00
core [3/7]
http://mirror.atrpms.net/fedoracore/...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:53:37 GMT
Server: Apache
Content-Length: 249
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Trying other mirror.
http://linux.nssl.noaa.gov/fedora/co...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:53:37 GMT
Server: Apache/2.0.52 (Red Hat)
Content-Length: 325
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Trying other mirror.
http://fr.rpmfind.net/linux/fedora/c...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:53:37 GMT
Server: Apache/2.0.52 (Red Hat)
Content-Length: 326
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Trying other mirror.
http://mirror.switch.ch/ftp/mirror/f...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:53:38 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.9 (Unix)
Vary: accept-language,accept-charset
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Language: en
Trying other mirror.
ftp://mirror.pop-rs.rnp.br/pub/downl...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 4] IOError: [Errno ftp error] 550 download.fedora.redhat.com: No such file or directory
Trying other mirror.
http://ftp.ussg.iu.edu/linux/fedora/...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:55:00 GMT
Server: Apache
Content-Length: 251
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Trying other mirror.
ftp://ftp.tecnoera.com/pub/fedora/li...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 4] IOError: [Errno ftp error] 550 5: No such file or directory
Trying other mirror.
ftp://ftp.software.umn.edu/linux/fed...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 4] IOError: [Errno ftp error] 550 Failed to change directory.
Trying other mirror.
http://zeniiia.linux.org.uk/pub/dist...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 4] IOError: <urlopen error (101, 'Network is unreachable')>
Trying other mirror.
http://download.stmc.edu.hk/fedora/l...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 12] Timeout: <urlopen error timed out>
Trying other mirror.
http://fr2.rpmfind.net/linux/fedora/...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:55:41 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.8 (Fedora)
Last-Modified: Sun, 18 Feb 2001 10:07:03 GMT
ETag: "d7a4d-1b2-37d91f87fffc0"
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Content-Length: 434
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
Trying other mirror.
http://mirror.anl.gov/pub/fedora-lin...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:55:41 GMT
Server: Apache
Content-Length: 313
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Trying other mirror.
http://ftp.upjs.sk/pub/linux/fedora/...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 345
Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:55:42 GMT
Server: lighttpd/1.4.19
Trying other mirror.
ftp://thales.memphis.edu/fedora/linu...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 4] IOError: [Errno ftp error] (111, 'Connection refused')
Trying other mirror.
http://ftp.usf.edu/pub/fedora/linux/...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:55:42 GMT
Server: Apache/2.0.59 (CentOS) DAV/2 PHP/5.1.6 mod_python/3.1.3 Python/2.3.4 mod_ssl/2.0.59 OpenSSL/0.9.7a mod_perl/2.0.3 Perl/v5.8.8
Content-Length: 249
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Trying other mirror.
http://fedora.arcticnetwork.ca/linux...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:55:57 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.4 (FreeBSD) DAV/2
Content-Length: 238
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Trying other mirror.
http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/fedora/linu...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:55:44 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.6 (Unix)
Content-Length: 325
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Trying other mirror.
ftp://mirrors.hpcf.upr.edu/pub/Mirro...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 4] IOError: [Errno ftp error] 550 Failed to change directory.
Trying other mirror.
core 100% |=========================| 1.1 kB 00:00
updates [4/7]
updates 100% |=========================| 1.2 kB 00:00
pptp-stable [5/7]
pptp-stable 100% |=========================| 1.9 kB 00:00
updates-testing [6/7]
http://mirror.hiwaay.net/pub/fedora/...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:55:51 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.3 (CentOS)
Vary: accept-language,accept-charset
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Language: en
Trying other mirror.
http://srl.cs.jhu.edu/YUM/fedora/cor...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:53:41 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.8 (Fedora)
Content-Length: 335
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Trying other mirror.
http://mirror.eas.muohio.edu/fedora/...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:19:26 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.8 (Ubuntu)
Content-Length: 344
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Trying other mirror.
updates-testing 100% |=========================| 1.2 kB 00:00
extras [7/7]
extras 100% |=========================| 1.1 kB 00:00
Determining fastest mirrors
Reading repository metadata in from local files
Resolving Dependencies
--> Populating transaction set with selected packages. Please wait.
---> Downloading header for php4-pcntl to pack into transaction set.
php4-pcntl-4.4.9-1.fc5.i3 100% |=========================| 7.3 kB 00:00
---> Package php4-pcntl.i386 0:4.4.9-1.fc5 set to be updated
---> Downloading header for php4-pcntl-gtk to pack into transaction set.
php4-pcntl-gtk-1.0.2-4.fc 100% |=========================| 5.3 kB 00:00
---> Package php4-pcntl-gtk.i386 0:1.0.2-4.fc5 set to be updated
--> Running transaction check

Dependencies Resolved

=============================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
=============================================================================
Updating:
php4-pcntl i386 4.4.9-1.fc5 pptp-stable 629 k
php4-pcntl-gtk i386 1.0.2-4.fc5 pptp-stable 290 k

Transaction Summary
=============================================================================
Install 0 Package(s)
Update 2 Package(s)
Remove 0 Package(s)
Total download size: 919 k
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
(1/2): php4-pcntl-4.4.9-1 100% |=========================| 629 kB 00:02
(2/2): php4-pcntl-gtk-1.0 100% |=========================| 290 kB 00:01
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
Updating : php4-pcntl ######################### [1/4]
Updating : php4-pcntl-gtk ######################### [2/4]
Cleanup : php4-pcntl ######################### [3/4]
Cleanup : php4-pcntl-gtk ######################### [4/4]

Updated: php4-pcntl.i386 0:4.4.9-1.fc5 php4-pcntl-gtk.i386 0:1.0.2-4.fc5
Complete!
-bash-3.1#


and here is the output of "yum --no-plugins"


-bash-3.1# yum --noplugins update
Setting up Update Process
Setting up repositories
poptop-stable [1/7]
livna [2/7]
core [3/7]
updates [4/7]
pptp-stable [5/7]
updates-testing [6/7]
extras [7/7]
Reading repository metadata in from local files
No Packages marked for Update/Obsoletion


If I do a "yum list installed" I get a nice list of about 1500 package...that never get updated!???!

What did I break?????

And there's your problem.

Yep.

You can put it off as long as you like. However if you want to get updates you have to use a version of Fedora which is currently supported. FC5 was end of life some time ago, hence lack of updates.

That's it. Fedora is supported for two releases and a month or two so FC5 has been unsupported since FC7.

Shame on me for sour grapes...but I'm just a difficult curmudgeon here...
er...did we go from FC5 to FC9 in about 18 months? or so.
That's like an new FC every 4.5 months.
I take that long to read the new man pages.
Could developers ...like...maybe...put the whole FC into the yum update cycle?
Sorry...just ignore my comments and I'll probably go away.
I'll try to read faster. (Maybe if I'd gotten past third grade.)

iirc, its a new one every 12 mths, in theory, so right now F8 is supported, F9 is latest and F10 is in alpha test.
HTH

This kinda brings up a related question about best practices for kernel updates.
I'm told its best to install system directories on one volume and /home on another. Then you just update/replace the system volume with a new release. But...which is it....update? ...or replace?
Should I build FC9 on TOP of the previous system volume? What if the overwrite isn't stable since not all dependencies are managed properly?
Or should I WIPE/reformat/rebuild the system volume with the new release? If so, what happens if the new release isn't stable on my hardware configuration.
So I need a disk image backup procedure.
DIGRESSION: I had actually done this (almost) with FC8 on a separate volume. But I got bogged down configuring drivers for my multi-head, complex network, disk sharing environment. The old FC5 was a siren song.
So...my question is...how much space should I allocate for the system volume of FCx given I need hardware to back this whole thing up. I'm currently at 43 Gigs for that volume. Hmmm, maybe I'll just image that volume on some part of /home or something as my backup. Then I don't need to load/unload lotsa DVDs for the backup. /tmp is the only thing that changes...and whatever new software I load. OR...just create TWO system volumes...and my backup procedure is a single painless dd command.
All this looks like a really daunting time-consuming task. But maybe dd will be ok.
Does this sound right to you guys? (I'm sure this was written up somewhere. But you are all answering my questions so amicably, I can't resist your know-how.)
Thanks loads...er, no pun intended.

Nope. FC5 was released in March of 2006. FC7 was released May 2007. So 18 months ago FC5 was just within the very end of it's support period.

If you look at the released dates from FC5 onwards, It's actually much closer to every 6 months.

Putting /home on a separate partition can be useful but is not essential. Putting /home on to a separate partition will allow you to wipe the Fedora install completely and replace with a different version, or even an entirely different distro, without the tedious business of copying the contents of /home somewhere then copying it all back. You just have to be careful when setting up the partitions to make sure the one with /home on does not get marked to be formatting during install.


It is always sensible to back up anything you care about before re-installing or updating in case of mishap.

You should be able to upgrade to the latest version of Fedora using the instructions provided in the release notes, however I don't know if you'd be able to update from 5 to 9, it might be too large a gap.

Why do you mention /tmp? Traditionally the contents of /tmp should not be expected to survive a reboot. Though I can't remember if Fedora is configured to clear out /tmp on reboot by default or not.

If you don't want to be dealing with a need to update to the latest release roughly ever year then you may want to consider using as distro with a longer support period. The latest version of Ubuntu/Kubuntu is 8.04 which was released in April. Ubuntu/Kubuntu releases a new version roughly ever 6 months as Fedora does and drops support for older versions as quickly. However 8.04 is one of their LTS (Long Term Support) releases which means it's supported 3 years from day of release.

I tend to use a 10-12GB partition for /, 2-3GB for /var and a home partition. You could use dd but I often prefer partimage or cp -ax as they do not waste any space (what if your partition is only 25% full, do you really want to create a back-up partition that is 75% unused?). My best advice, however, is getting a second hard drive for the newer OS. It is not just more convenient, it is actually safer. I am rather sceptical about making back-ups on the same drive. What if the drive dies, how much of a "back-up" is your back-up in such a situation?

Your point about separate physical drives is well taken. I think I'll head in that direction.

But...

why /var ??

Purely personal thing. var can get flooded by logs or mail If it does, it will only affect its own partition, not the / partition, which makes recovery a bit easier. It has never happened to me but I am rather safe than sorry. It is also a bit safer if you are going to access if from other computers. I agree it might be wasted space on a smaller drive but with the size of drives today, 2GB is nothing.

I don't think I ever remember /tmp getting cleared out on reboot in FCx. Also, things crash...workfiles get locked and forgotten...s**t happens. There's all manner of dumpster junk in there. I often rm stuff in /tmp...always with fear and trepidation.

Would it ALWAYS be safe to put a /tmp WIPE in my shutdown script? That sounds prudent to me.

My son just humiliated me with this info. You're a little late...but thanx anyway.

So long as you don't deliberately put anything in there that you care about then yes. All the Linux machines where I work are configured to delete the contents of /tmp and /var/tmp on reboot. Those machines run SUSE and it has a built in setting controlled in /etc/sysconfig/cron - I don't know if Fedora has something similar, it s a couple of years since I worked with Fedora.