Apologies:- I previously posted this question on the Linuxquestions 'Red Hat' forum, because it involves Red Hat 7.3. However, since I am trying to use yum on the Fedora Legacy repositories, it probably belongs better here...............

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Hi there,

I have installed Red Hat Linux 7.3 on an old 166MHz Toshiba 460CDT
laptop with only 32MB RAM (I tried Fedora Core 1, but the install wouldn't
even start!). I am now trying to update the software using yum, and the
Fedoralegacy repositories (or mirrors). Straight away, I am running into a
problem with yum update. If I try to run yum update, I get a message telling me that 'package iptables needs kernel that has been excluded', as follows:

[root@wtlpc-14 etc]# yum update
Gathering package information from servers
Getting headers from: Red Hat Linux 7.3 base
Getting headers from: Fedora Legacy utilities for Red Hat Linux 7.3
Getting headers from: Red Hat Linux 7.3 updates
Finding updated packages
Downloading needed headers
Resolving dependencies
.package iptables needs kernel that has been excluded
package iptables needs kernel that has been excluded

I don't know what this means. I can only guess that it is telling me that the
version of iptables which it is trying to install from the yum update server is
not compatible with the version of the kernel which I am using. However, if I
try to update just my kernel, I am told that I am running the latest and greatest:

[root@wtlpc-14 etc]# yum update kernel
Gathering package information from servers
Getting headers from: Red Hat Linux 7.3 base
Getting headers from: Fedora Legacy utilities for Red Hat Linux 7.3
Getting headers from: Red Hat Linux 7.3 updates
Finding updated packages
Downloading needed headers
kernel is installed and the latest version.

and indeed, this is the version of the kernel which I am running, namely 2.4.18-3:

[root@wtlpc-14 etc]# cat /proc/version
Linux version 2.4.18-3 (bhcompile@stripples.devel.redhat.com) (gcc version 2.96
20000731 (Red Hat Linux 7.3 2.96-110)) #1 Thu Apr 18 07:31:07 EDT 2002

[root@wtlpc-14 etc]# rpm -qi kernel
Name : kernel Relocations: (not relocateable)
Version : 2.4.18 Vendor: Red Hat, Inc.
Release : 3 Build Date: Thu 18 Apr 2002 11:46:22 UTC
Install date: Sun 14 Sep 2003 17:43:32 UTC Build Host: stripples.devel.redhat.com
Group : System Environment/Kernel Source RPM: kernel-2.4.18-3.src.rpm
Size : 29228505 License: GPL
Packager : Red Hat, Inc. <URL removed>
Summary : The Linux kernel (the core of the Linux operating system).
Description :
The kernel package contains the Linux kernel (vmlinuz), the core of
the Red Hat Linux operating system. The kernel handles the basic
functions of the operating system: memory allocation, process
allocation, device input and output, etc.

However, I don't seem to be able to exclude iptables from my update. I tried
the following:

[root@wtlpc-14 etc]# yum update --exclude iptables
Gathering package information from servers
Getting headers from: Red Hat Linux 7.3 base
Getting headers from: Fedora Legacy utilities for Red Hat Linux 7.3
Getting headers from: Red Hat Linux 7.3 updates
Finding updated packages
Downloading needed headers
Cannot find any package matching --exclude available to be updated.

or using a wildcard:

[root@wtlpc-14 etc]# yum update --exclude iptables*
Gathering package information from servers
Getting headers from: Red Hat Linux 7.3 base
Getting headers from: Fedora Legacy utilities for Red Hat Linux 7.3
Getting headers from: Red Hat Linux 7.3 updates
Finding updated packages
Downloading needed headers
Cannot find any package matching --exclude available to be updated.

So why won't it let me exclude iptables?

The version of iptables which I currently have installed is 1.2.5:

[root@wtlpc-14 etc]# rpm -qi iptables
Name : iptables Relocations: /usr
Version : 1.2.5 Vendor: Red Hat, Inc.
Release : 3 Build Date: Mon 04 Mar 2002 11:37:44 UTC
Install date: Sun 14 Sep 2003 17:42:54 UTC Build Host: daffy.perf.redhat.com
Group : System Environment/Base Source RPM: iptables-1.2.5-3.src.rpm
Size : 389714 License: GPL
Packager : Red Hat, Inc. <URL removed>
URL : (URL removed)
Summary : Tools for managing Linux kernel packet filtering capabilities.
Description :
The iptables utility controls the network packet filtering code in the
Linux kernel. If you need to set up firewalls and/or IP masquerading,
you should install this package.

My source for updates in yum.conf is the nearest Fedora Legacy repository mirror, in France:

host: mirrors.ircam.fr

file path: /pub/fedoralegacy/legacy/redhat/7.3/updates/i386/

which contains the following version of iptables (i.e. more up-to-date than
the version I have currently installed):

iptables-1.2.8-8.72.3.i386.rpm

Why won't yum let me update iptables? Is this likely to be:

a) a yum problem?
b) an iptables problem?
c) a kernel problem?
d) none of the above

Any helpful suggestions which any Linux gurus out there could offer would be
much appreciated.

Cheers,

deeBs

Problem has now been solved. See discussion thread with the same title on the Linuxquestions Red Hat forum.

Cheers,

deeBs

Please can you provide a link, or display your solution here.

Thanks.