Using yum with Fedora Core 4

is a big pain in the neck, if you don't know about createrepo.

Use createrepo to create the repodata/repomd.xml and other files that yum now keeps looking for since FC4. Previously, you used yum-arch and nobody told you they changed it.

First, my updation from FC3 to FC4 didn't tell me about all the programs I could have installed. Then, after banging my head against God knows what, I found yum-arch. After torturing myself to the newest near-death experience in the catalog, I realised I needed to use createrepo (which, incidentally, didn't get installed during updation).

You need a running webserver to use yum, especially if you want to create a local repository. So I installed httpd. Two days later, I realised that I have to start it manually (because I am a newbie). I created the /var/www/html/yum/Fedora/Core/4/i386/base and /update branches. Then I struggled (as stated earlier) with yum-arch, and I found that it was deprecated. Nobody told me that I had to use createrepo now, or how. I somehow managed to find it on the internet (link will come here later).

I created softlinks to my FC4 installation folder on the DVD (because I didn't want to waste precious hard disk space) in the /var/~/base folder. Rinse, repeat with the updates CD and the ~/updates/ folder.

Banged my head against yumex (it's a very good tool, but hey, you need a manual for *everything* the first time around). Finally succeeded in getting things right with createrepo, only to know that most of the rpms on my updates cd were BAD due to a physical deformity. Lame, should we say?

Anyway, when httpd is running, the yum.conf file or the yum.repo.d (?) or whatever directories contain the proper list files, and when the CD/DVD source is not corrupt, you can easily use yumex to install/upgrade/uninstall any package you want.

Now, you may ask - why don't you use the internet and do it with the default repositories? The answer is, my friends, that after finding to my delight updated PCTEL linmodem drivers for kernel 2.6.x, I realised that my winmodem is PCTEL 688T, not PCT789. No drivers available for 688T. And my broadband connection has still not come through - a colleague who got it today says it took 10 days of constant follow-ups and personal visits to the exchange. Great going.

My mobile handset (BenQ S660C) is GPRS enabled, but I don't have the USB cable. BSNL's auto configuration page on www.cellone.in does not list BenQ phones, and their SMSed settings designed for Nokia 3120 didn't work. By the way, GPRS is now available in four cities on the BSNL's western circle.

God, I am famous for making bad decisions.