yum (software)

{{short description|Free and open-source command-line package management utility}}

{{about|the open source application|other uses of "YUM"|Yum (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox software

| name = Yellowdog Updater, Modified

| title = YUM

| logo = File:YUM logo.svg

| screenshot = Yum-update.png

| caption = YUM running an update on Fedora 16

| screenshot_alt =

| collapsible =

| author =

| developer = Seth Vidal

| released = {{Start date and age|2002|06|df=yes}}{{cite web

| url = https://github.com/rpm-software-management/yum/commit/aaa1b77887e841d3ba4c27dfdf58ed649227ee82

| title = Initial Commit

| date = 7 June 2002

| work = source control message

| publisher = Seth Vidal

| access-date = 17 September 2021}}

{{cite web

| url = http://lists.baseurl.org/pipermail/yum/2002-June/011067.html

| title = Oldest Mailing List Message

| date = 11 June 2002

| work = yum mailing list archive

| publisher = Grigory Bakunov

| access-date = 17 September 2021}}

| discontinued =

| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|reference|P348}}

| latest release date = {{start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|P348|P577}}}}

| latest preview version =

| latest preview date =

| programming language = Python{{cite book |title= Linux Patch Management: Keeping Linux Systems Up to Date |chapter= Chapter 7 – Setting Up a YUM Repository |url=https://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780132366755/downloads/0132366754_Jang_book.pdf|publisher=Prentice Hall Professional |last= Jang |first= Michael H. |date= 14 December 2005 }}

| operating system = Linux, AIX, IBM i, ArcaOS

| platform = RPM

| size =

| language =

| language count =

| language footnote =

| genre = Package management system

| license = GPLv2

| website = {{URL|yum.baseurl.org}}

| standard =

| AsOf =

}}

The Yellowdog Updater Modified (YUM) is a free and open-source command-line package-management utility for computers running the Linux operating system using the RPM Package Manager.{{cite web |last= Brown |first= Robert G. |title=YUM (Yellowdog Updater, Modified) HOWTO - Introduction|url=http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/General/yum_HOWTO/yum_HOWTO/yum_HOWTO-1.html |publisher=Duke Physics |access-date=12 July 2013}} Though YUM has a command-line interface, several other tools provide graphical user interfaces to YUM functionality.

YUM allows for automatic updates and package and dependency management on RPM-based distributions.{{cite web|url=http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-lpic1-102-5/|title=RPM and YUM package management|last=Shields|first=Ian|work=Learn Linux, 101|publisher=IBM|date=11 May 2010|access-date=12 July 2013}} Like the Advanced Package Tool (APT) from Debian, YUM works with software repositories (collections of packages), which can be accessed locally{{cite web |title=Creating a Local YUM Repository Using an ISO Image |url= http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E37670_01/E37355/html/ol_create_repo.html |publisher= Oracle |access-date=12 July 2013}} or over a network connection.

Under the hood, YUM depends on RPM, which is a packaging standard for digital distribution of software, which automatically uses hashes and digital signatures to verify the authorship and integrity of said software; unlike some app stores, which serve a similar function, neither YUM nor RPM provide built-in support for proprietary restrictions on copying of packages by end-users. YUM is implemented as libraries in the Python programming language, with a small set of programs that provide a command-line interface. GUI-based wrappers such as YUM Extender (yumex) also exist, and has been adopted for Fedora Linux until version 22.{{cite web|last=Miller|first=Matthew|date=11 June 2014|title=Board Meeting, Rawhide Rebuilt, Firewall Debate, ARM 64, and DNF as Yum Replacement (5tFTW 2014-06-10)|url=https://fedoramagazine.org/5tftw-2014-06-10/|access-date=4 May 2016|publisher=Fedora Magazine}}

A rewrite of YUM named DNF replaced YUM as the default package manager in Fedora 22 (in 2015). This was required due to Fedora's transition from Python 2 to Python 3, which is not supported by YUM.{{Cite web|last=Wallen|first=Jack|date=2015-07-02|title=What You Need to Know About Fedora's Switch From Yum to DNF|url=https://www.linux.com/training-tutorials/what-you-need-know-about-fedoras-switch-yum-dnf/|access-date=2021-09-26|website=Linux.com|language=en-US}} DNF also improves on YUM in several ways - improved performance, better resolution of dependency conflicts, and easier integration with other software applications.{{cite web|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/580223/|title=DNF and Yum in Fedora|last=Edge|first=Jake|publisher=LWN.net|date=2014-01-15|access-date=2018-10-16}} From RHEL 8, yum is an alias for DNF.{{cite web|url=https://www.techrepublic.com/article/whats-new-with-red-hat-enterprise-linux-8-and-red-hat-virtualization/|title=What's new with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and Red Hat Virtualization|first=Scott|last=Matteson|publisher=TechRepublic|date=2019-03-30|access-date=2019-09-24}}

History

The original package manager, Yellowdog UPdater (YUP) was developed in 1999-2001 by Dan Burcaw, Bryan Stillwell, Stephen Edie, and Troy Bengegerdes at Terra Soft Solutions (under the leadership of then CEO Kai Staats) as a back-end engine for a graphical installer of Yellow Dog Linux.

As a full rewrite of YUP, YUM evolved primarily to update and manage Red Hat Linux systems used at the Duke University Department of Physics by Seth Vidal and Michael Stenner. Vidal continued to contribute to YUM until his death in a Durham, North Carolina bicycle accident on 8 July 2013.{{cite web |title= Seth Vidal, creator of "yum" open source software, killed in bike accident off Hillandale Rd. |work= Durham io: The Daily Durham |date= 9 July 2013 |url= http://durham.io/2013/07/09/seth-vidal-creator-of-yum-open-source-software-killed-in-bike-accident-off-hillandale-rd/ |access-date= 13 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130712221216/http://durham.io/2013/07/09/seth-vidal-creator-of-yum-open-source-software-killed-in-bike-accident-off-hillandale-rd/ |archive-date= 12 July 2013 |url-status=usurped}}{{cite web |title= Thank you, Seth Vidal |date= 10 July 2013 |publisher= Red Hat |url= http://www.redhat.com/about/news/archive/2013/7/thank-you-seth-vidal |access-date= 13 July 2013 }}{{cite web |title= 36-Year-Old Open Source Guru Seth Vidal Has Been Tragically Killed |last= Bort |first= Julie |work= Business Insider |date= 9 July 2013 |url= http://www.businessinsider.com/36-year-old-seth-vidal-tragically-killed-2013-7 |access-date= 13 July 2013 }}

In 2003 Robert G. Brown at Duke published documentation for YUM.{{cite web |title= YUM: Yellowdog Updater, Modified |date= 17 December 2003 |last= Brown |first= Robert G. |url= http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/General/yum_article/yum_article.pdf |access-date= 13 July 2013}} Subsequent adopters included Fedora, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, CentOS, and many other RPM-based Linux distributions, including Yellow Dog Linux itself, where YUM replaced the original YUP utility — last updated on SourceForge in 2001.{{cite web |title= Yellow Dog Update Program |url= http://sourceforge.net/projects/yup/ |work= SourceForge repository|access-date=18 July 2013 }} By 2005, it was estimated to be in use on over half of the Linux market, and by 2007 YUM was considered the "tool of choice" for RPM-based Linux distributions.{{cite book |title= The Linux Programmer's Toolbox |last= Fusco |first= John |date= 6 March 2007 |publisher= Pearson Education |isbn= 9780132703048 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5fgn7Tg4Lt8C&pg=PT62 }}

YUM aimed to address both the perceived deficiencies in the old APT-RPM,{{cite web|last=Murphy|first=David|title=How to run your own yum repository|url=http://archive09.linux.com/feature/37660|publisher=Linux Foundation|access-date=12 July 2013|date=23 July 2004|archive-date=21 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130721041347/http://archive09.linux.com/feature/37660|url-status=dead}} and restrictions of the Red Hat up2date package management tool. YUM superseded up2date in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and later.{{cite web|title=What are the yum equivalents of up2date and rpm common tasks on Red Hat Enterprise Linux?|url=https://access.redhat.com/site/solutions/2529|publisher=Red Hat}} Some authors refer to YUM as the Yellowdog Update Manager, or suggest that "Your Update Manager" would be more appropriate.

{{cite book |title= Network Security Using Linux |last= Sweeney |first= Michael |year= 2005

|isbn= 9781411621770 |page= 84 |publisher= Lulu.com | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RIPFByuIvvAC&pg=PA84 }}

{{cite book |title= Linux Bible |last1= Negus |first1= Christopher |last2= Bresnahan |first2= Christine

|publisher= John Wiley & Sons |year= 2012 |isbn= 9781118286906 |page= 598

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=w0gL9poGWIIC&pg=PA598 }}

A basic knowledge of YUM is often included as a requirement for Linux system-administrator certification. The GNU General Public License of YUM allows the free and open-source software to be freely distributed and modified without any royalty, if other terms of the license are honored.

While yum was originally created for Linux, it has been ported to a number of other operating systems including AIX,{{cite web|url=https://developer.ibm.com/technologies/systems/articles/configure-yum-on-aix/|date=2018-10-24|title=Configuring YUM and creating local repositories on IBM AIX}} IBM i,{{cite web|url=https://www.itjungle.com/2018/07/18/rpm-and-yum-are-a-big-deal-for-ibm-i-heres-why/|date=2018-07-18|title=RPM and Yum are a big deal for IBM i. Here's why}} and ArcaOS.{{cite web|url=https://www.arcanoae.com/wiki/anpm/|access-date=2020-09-04|title=Package Manager}}

Operations

YUM can perform operations such as:

Installing packages

yum install

Deleting packages

yum remove

updating existing installed packages
listing available packages{{cite book

| last1 = Jang

| first1 = Michael H.

| title = Linux Patch Management: Keeping Linux Systems Up to Date

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5CsFGUtF2eYC

| series = Bruce Perens' Open Source series

| year = 2006

| publisher = Prentice Hall Professional

| publication-date = 2006

| page = 199

| isbn = 9780132366755

| access-date = 26 August 2014

}}

listing installed packages

Extensions

File:Screenshot-Yum Extender 2.0.4-1.png

The 2.x versions of YUM feature an additional interface for programming extensions in Python that allows the behavior of YUM to be altered. Certain plug-ins are installed by default.{{cite web|title=Yum Plug-ins|url=https://access.redhat.com/site/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/Deployment_Guide/sec-Yum_Plugins.html|publisher=Red Hat|access-date=12 July 2013}} A commonly installed{{cite web|title=Maintaining yum|url=http://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/yum/sn-yum-maintenance.html|publisher=CentOS|access-date=12 July 2013|archive-date=18 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118175825/https://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/yum/sn-yum-maintenance.html|url-status=dead}} package yum-utils, contains commands which use the YUM API, and many plugins.

Graphical user interfaces, known as "front-ends", allow easier use of YUM. PackageKit and Yum Extender (yumex) are two examples.{{cite web |url= http://www.yumex.dk/ |title= Yum Extender |work= Yumex Homepage |access-date= 13 July 2013 }} Yum Extender was deprecated for a while when Fedora migrated to DNF,{{Cite web|title=dnf replacing yum and dnf-yum - devel - Fedora Mailing-Lists|url=https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/devel@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/Z3LDJN2JKRIJJXO4PJJCY6CU62UAQPF5/|access-date=2021-09-27|website=lists.fedoraproject.org|language=en}} but it was rewritten in Python 3 and Gtk 3 and has been in progress for development. This brand-new Yum Extender is available for Fedora 34 or newer.{{Citation|last=Lauridsen|first=Tim|title=Yum Extender (yumex-dnf)|date=2021-09-20|url=https://github.com/timlau/yumex-dnf|access-date=2021-09-26}}

Metadata

Information about packages (as opposed to the packages themselves) is known as metadata. These metadata are combined with information in each package to determine (and resolve, if possible) dependencies among the packages. The hope is to avoid a situation known as dependency hell. A separate tool, createrepo, sets up YUM software repositories, generating the necessary metadata in a standard XML format (and the SQLite metadata if given the -d option).{{cite web |title= createrepo(8) |work= Linux manual page |url= http://linux.die.net/man/8/createrepo |access-date=12 July 2013}} The mrepo tool (formerly known as Yam) can help in the creation and maintenance of repositories.{{cite web|title=mrepo|url=http://freecode.com/projects/mrepo|publisher=Freecode|access-date=12 July 2013}}

YUM's XML repository, built with input from many other developers, quickly became the standard for RPM-based repositories.{{cite web|title=Standards Rpm Metadata|url=http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Standards_Rpm_Metadata|publisher=openSUSE|access-date=12 July 2013}} Besides the distributions that use YUM directly, SUSE Linux 10.1{{cite web|title=SUSE Linux 10.1 Alpha 2 is ready |url=http://lists.opensuse.org/archive/opensuse-announce/2005-Oct/0005.html |access-date=12 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060208235135/http://lists.opensuse.org/archive/opensuse-announce/2005-Oct/0005.html |archive-date=February 8, 2006 }} added support for YUM repositories in YaST, and the Open Build Service repositories use the YUM XML repository format metadata.

YUM automatically synchronizes the remote meta data to the local client, with other tools opting to synchronize only when requested by the user. Having automatic synchronization means that YUM cannot fail due to the user failing to run a command at the correct interval.{{cite web|url=http://www.linuxadvocates.com/2013/03/yum-vs-apt-which-is-best.html|title=YUM vs. APT: Which is Best?|last=Schmitz|first=Dietrich T.}}{{cite web|url=http://fossforce.com/2015/01/linux-advocates-throws-in-the-towel/|title='Linux Advocates' Throws in the Towel i.e. previous link is dead|publisher=FOSS Force}}

References

External links

{{Official website|yum.baseurl.org}}
[http://prefetch.net/articles/yum.html Managing packages with yum] – Describes how to use YUM to manage packages
[http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/15/html/Deployment_Guide/ch-yum.html Yum documentation] in Fedora
[http://wiki.centos.org/PackageManagement/Yum/ Yum documentation] in CentOS
[https://www.scientificlinux.org/documentation/faq/yum.apt.repo Yum documentation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824002114/http://www.scientificlinux.org/documentation/faq/yum.apt.repo |date=2013-08-24 }} in Scientific Linux
[https://techhyme.com/top-30-most-commonly-used-yum-yellowdog-updater-modified-commands/ Top 30 Most Commonly Used YUM (Yellowdog Updater, Modified) Commands]

Category:Free package management systems

Category:Free software programmed in Python

Category:Linux package management-related software

Category:Software distribution platforms

Category:Software using the GNU General Public License