Yum-ifying A New Installation

After installation, I log in and tweak a couple things (like '/etc/bashrc'), and then use 'rpm' to install the latest 'yum':

  # rpm -ivh ftp://ftp.example.com/pub/redhat/9/extra/yum-*.rpm

After installing Yum I replace the default "/etc/yum.conf" with one from my FIS server:

  # ncftpget ftp://ftp.example.com/pub/yum/yum.conf
  # mv -f yum.conf /etc/yum.conf

I also get the RPM GNU Privacy Guard key from the server and import it into RPMs list of keys:

  # rpm --import ftp://ftp.example.com/pub/redhat/9/RPM-GPG-KEY

in case I want to check digital signatures on RPMs.

I can now automatically update everything (even the kernel) with this command:

  # yum -y update

which is "dangerous" (but executes unattended) compared to this:

  # yum update

which will present some information on what it would like to do, then ask if you want to do that. The time to install and set up a box is significantly reduced by the above process anyway, so the "danger" of time lost reinstalling isn't so heavy a burden.

I like to do things automatically, when it makes sense, so I will put a 'yum' command in my 'root' crontab or use anacron. As I like to know when things are supposed to happen, I will probably use 'crontab -e' to put 'yum' update command in the 'root' crontab at 2 or 3 AM, or whenever I think my ftp/grab repositories update will be complete:

  0 2 * * * /usr/bin/yum -y update

Look at the output of 'yum --help' or 'man yum' for more ways of getting this job done, and for many other cool things 'yum' makes possible.

Now, if all has gone well, I have a newly installed and updated Red Hat Linux 9 box.