I thought this would have resolved itself by now, put after a month, it hasn't and I can't find the answer anywhere.
Fedora Core 7
Using YUM to check for updates, I get the following error:
python-devel conflicts with python < 2.5-15.fc7

I was going to try to uninstall python, and reinstall it, but that would have seemed in half of my system being uninstalled due to python dependencies.

Any ideas, or if you need more information, just ask, not sure what else to post about it.

Thanks.

Make sure yum itself is up to date. yum update yum
[glenn@toshiba ~]$ rpm -q yum
yum-3.2.8-2.fc8
I'm using Fedora 8 but I'm reasonably sure that yum for Fedora 7 is same version.

Didn't help..
using yum-3.2.8-2.fc7, ran yum update yum anyhow, no package to update.
Only update available is the python package.

Post the output of "yum list python python-devel".

That will show you what is installed and what updates are available.

Often, you will immediately spot the problem, such as having two versions of the conflicting package installed due to a past cleanup failure or having an old i386 package on a x86_64 system for which there is no longer an i386 update available.

Here is the complete output.

Loading "fedorakmod" plugin
Loading "priorities" plugin
Loading "fastestmirror" plugin
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
* updates-source: mirror.stanford.edu
* fedora: ftp.osuosl.org
* adobe-linux-i386: linuxdownload.adobe.com
* updates-debuginfo: ftp.software.umn.edu
* fedora-debuginfo: ftp.software.umn.edu
* updates: ftp.osuosl.org
* freshrpms: ayo.us5.freshrpms.net
* fedora-source: mirror.stanford.edu
* macromedia: macromedia.rediris.es
updates-source 100% |=========================| 2.1 kB 00:00
fedora 100% |=========================| 2.1 kB 00:00
adobe-linux-i386 100% |=========================| 951 B 00:00
updates-debuginfo 100% |=========================| 1.9 kB 00:00
fedora-debuginfo 100% |=========================| 1.9 kB 00:00
updates 100% |=========================| 2.3 kB 00:00
freshrpms 100% |=========================| 1.9 kB 00:00
fedora-source 100% |=========================| 1.9 kB 00:00
macromedia 100% |=========================| 1.9 kB 00:00
0 packages excluded due to repository priority protections
Installed Packages
python.x86_64 2.5-14.fc7 installed
python.x86_64 2.5-15.fc7 installed
python-devel.x86_64 2.5-14.fc7 installed
python-devel.i386 2.5-14.fc7 installed
Available Packages
python-devel.i386 2.5-15.fc7 updates
python-devel.x86_64 2.5-15.fc7 updates

Not a clue which to remove, but I see I have 1 2.5-15.fc7...

The problem is likely being caused by having two versions of python installed.

I suspect that you have something installed from a 3rd-party repo requiring the old python or python-devel. Removing the offending 3rd-party package(s) usually simplifies this type of problem.


Suggestion: Now would be a good time to either back up or clone your systems. It would be very easy to trash your system while trying to fix a python problem.


If it were almost anything but python, I would suggest trying to uninstall python-2.5-14.fc7 and then reinstalling the dependent packages that were removed, if any.

There are several things you could try, but for now, try running "yum remove python-2.5-14.fc7" and "yum remove python-devel-2.5-14.fc7", but DO NOT answer "y". This is just to get some information.

If the removal tables (i.e., the simple package list at the end) are short, then post them. If they are long, then only post the 3rd-party packages that appear on the lists, as one of them might be the underlying problem.


Anyone with other ideas should join this discussion. It's a fixable problem, but doing so may not be simple.

I don't know what the 3rd party ones would be.
Hope these lists aren't too long
For python-2.5-14.fc7

PyOpenGL noarch 3.0.0-0.3.a6.fc7 installed 6.1 M
PyQt-devel x86_64 3.17.3-3.fc7 installed 1.2 M
gnome-games x86_64 1:2.18.2.1-3.fc7 installed 21 M
gnome-python2-devel i386 2.18.1-1.fc7 installed 4.6 k
gnome-python2-devel x86_64 2.18.1-1.fc7 installed 4.6 k
gtk-vnc-devel x86_64 0.2.0-2.fc7 installed 19 k
gtk-vnc-devel i386 0.2.0-2.fc7 installed 18 k
pycairo-devel x86_64 1.4.0-1.fc7 installed 7.0 k
pygtk2-devel i386 2.10.6-1.fc7 installed 10 M
pygtk2-devel x86_64 2.10.6-1.fc7 installed 10 M
pygtkglext x86_64 1.1.0-2.fc7 installed 375 k
pygtkglext-devel i386 1.1.0-2.fc7 installed 24 k
pygtkglext-devel x86_64 1.1.0-2.fc7 installed 24 k
python-devel x86_64 2.5-14.fc7 installed 8.2 M
python-devel i386 2.5-14.fc7 installed 7.6 M
python-libs x86_64 2.5-14.fc7 installed 1.4 M
python-setuptools noarch 0.6c7-1.fc7 installed 1.7 M
sip-devel x86_64 4.7.1-2.fc7 installed 35 k

And, for Python-devel-2.5.14.fc7
Removing:
python-devel x86_64 2.5-14.fc7 installed 8.2 M
python-devel i386 2.5-14.fc7 installed 7.6 M
Removing for dependencies:
PyOpenGL noarch 3.0.0-0.3.a6.fc7 installed 6.1 M
PyQt-devel x86_64 3.17.3-3.fc7 installed 1.2 M
gnome-games x86_64 1:2.18.2.1-3.fc7 installed 21 M
gnome-python2-devel i386 2.18.1-1.fc7 installed 4.6 k
gnome-python2-devel x86_64 2.18.1-1.fc7 installed 4.6 k
gtk-vnc-devel i386 0.2.0-2.fc7 installed 18 k
gtk-vnc-devel x86_64 0.2.0-2.fc7 installed 19 k
pycairo-devel x86_64 1.4.0-1.fc7 installed 7.0 k
pygtk2-devel i386 2.10.6-1.fc7 installed 10 M
pygtk2-devel x86_64 2.10.6-1.fc7 installed 10 M
pygtkglext x86_64 1.1.0-2.fc7 installed 375 k
pygtkglext-devel x86_64 1.1.0-2.fc7 installed 24 k
pygtkglext-devel i386 1.1.0-2.fc7 installed 24 k
python-setuptools noarch 0.6c7-1.fc7 installed 1.7 M
sip-devel x86_64 4.7.1-2.fc7 installed 35 k

My suggestion is to give it a day and see if others have ideas.

If it were my system, I might try removing python-2.5-14.fc7 with yum and then reinstall the other packages that were removed.

Another option might be to use rpm directly and to --force the update/installation of the new python-devel packages. Then, you could probably easily remove python-2.5-14.fc7, but I am reluctant to use --force.

Keep in mind, I make good backups and could restore the system from a clone very quickly if things went south. You may not be in the same situation. So, what I might do on my system and what you should do on your system may be very different things.

I'll probably just use this as an opportunity to upgrade to Fedora Core 8.
I keep all my data on separate drives, and back up the config files, so I should be able to get that running in no time.

Might just try removing it like you said, and see what happens. If it goes, no big loss. I'll wait a few more days, to see if somebody else comes up with something.

I just wonder what caused it, cause I'd rather it not happen again.

After making sure my needed stuff was backed-up, I went ahead and uninstalled python 2.5-15.fc7 (just because it seemed to have less dependencies) ran yum update, python was updated, and re-installed the dependencies that were removed (most were back anyhow)

2.5-14.fc7 was automatically removed, and 2.5-15.fc7 is now being used.

Not sure if it was dumb luck, or what needed to be done, but the problem appears to be fixed.

After installing yum-utils, you can run "package-cleanup --problems" to identify any remaining dependency issues and "package-cleanup --orphans" to find old installed packages and packages from 3rd-party repos not enabled in yum.repos.d or yum.conf.