I'm thinking about the following:

I have a very slow internet connection, but would like to download a number of large files. I have a friend with cable who's willing to do it for me, but he uses windows and won't let me set up linux on his box.

• How do I go about getting all the necessary files listed (dependencies etc.)
• Once he's downloaded it, how do I get yum to recognise the files and install them according to need

I'm guessing that if I can point yum to an internet address, I should be able to point it at a local address as well. Would I have to set up a server or is a directory enough?

Since I plan to copy my home setup at my office, this might also be a good way to download files only once...

You should Google for the deps, then just download the RPM's onto a CD and mount it etc...

Does that mean I can treat the cdrom as a yum repo?
If not, how would I keep track of what I'd installed and what not and which dependencies to satisfy first...

You can always google for the deps, just make sure that you mention the whole package name, along with the versions (also make sure they're compatible to your OS). One pretty solution that I use for downloading packages is this website

http://rpm.pbone.net

There you'll find your search results listed, along with the name their compatible OS name and version. Cuts out lots of confusion.

And here's how I did created local repository for RHEL6. My reposiroty not only contains the DVD packages, but also other packages I've downloaded. Here's how I did it.

1. Mount your disc, install the vsftpd package

2. Create a folder in /var/ftp (assume the folder name is 'folder')

3. Copy all the DVD packages in this folder, also copy the packages you have downloaded, along with their their dep packages.

4. Open terminal, and
# cd /var/ftp/folder
# rpm -ivh deltarpm*
# rpm -ivh python-deltarpm*
# rpm -ivh createrepo*

5. Then create the repository
# createrepo /var/ftp/folder

This might take a few minute

6. Create a .repo file in /etc/yum.repos.d (free to choose any name for the file, just mind the .repo extension, it's not a hidden file!)
The file content should be like this

[MY_REPO]
name=My Repository
baseurl=ftp://localhost/folder
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

7. Start and enable the vsftpd service
# service vsftpd start ; chkconfig vsftpd on

8. Clean the yum data
# yum clean all

9. Test the repository
# yum repolist

That should do it, it works for me flawless.
If something goes wrong, the STDOUT will say 'repolist: 0', in that case, check your steps again

You can also share this repository with other computers in the network.
Just create the .repo file in their /etc/yum.repos.d, all you have to do is change the 'localhost' in baseurl with your own IP address.
And also allow the FTP service through your firewall.


Cheers!

@JackHamm3r: thread is from 2005 ...