Installing, Removing And Updating Packages Using Yum

If you want to quickly learn how to install, remove or update software packages on Fedora or CentOS, here is the short and sweet guide. To use yum you will require an Internet connection and the root password of your system.

Yum stands for Yellow dog Updater, Modified. Yum is currently maintained as part of Duke University's Linux@DUKE project. Using yum you can easily install, remove or update the software packages on your RPM based system. Fedora, CentOS and many other GNU/Linux distributions are based on RPM.

Yum is a command line utility. You will need to open the terminal and become root to use yum. On Fedora 8, click Applications on the gnone-panel, select System Tools and click on Terminal from the drop down menu. On the terminal, ie command line, type

If you see the # symbol on the command line you are ready to go.

Updating software packages: The first thing I do after installing Fedora is update the system. Free and open source software projects are updated rapidly. To keep your system current you have to update packages installed on your computer from time to time. Fedora maintains many software repositories and their mirrors. Whenever software packages are developed or updated, they would be stored on these repositories. When you update your system using yum, you download the latest packages from these repositories and install them on your computer. To perform a full update of your system type the below command in the terminal:

Yes, it's just a two word command. Isn't it easy to remember? After you type yum update and hit enter in the terminal, yum checks how many packages needs to be updated. Once it gathers the required information, it displays the name, architecture, version and size of the package. Yum also tells you the name of the repository in which the updates are available. It also gives you the transaction summary and the total download size. After promptly displaying all the above information, yum asks for your approval. If everything is ok, you type y and hit enter. Yum updates all the packages on your computer.

Updating select software packages: You can also update select packages using the yum update command. To update the Firefox web browser type the below on the command line:

View the package information displayed on your computer and type y and hit Enter key to update firefox. Yum downloads the latest release of the Firefox web browser from the distribution repositories(Fedora in this example) and updates it on your computer.

Installing new software packages: To install new package on your computer you can use similar three word command - yum install package-name. For example to install Drivel Journal Editor software package type the below command:

Yum displays the name, architecture, version and size of the package along with the repository name. It asks for your confirmation. If you type y and hit enter yum downloads and installs the Drivel Journal Editor software package on your computer.

Removing software packages: To remove existing software packages from your computer use the yum remove package-name command. Yes, you have already figured out the complete command. To remove X-Chat GNOME client software package, I would type

When yum asks for confirmation, I would type y and hit enter.

Yum automatically resolves dependencies when updating, removing or installing packages. For example if you want to install package A on your computer you would type yum install package A. If package A depends on package B, yum automatically installs package B for you. Yum solves the dependency maze you would typically come across with RPM.

There are few GUI applications that use yum at the back end. If you prefer to use the graphical interface you can use either Pirut or Yumex. To launch Pirut, click Applications on the gnome-panel and then click Add/Remove Software. Pup, the package updater sits on the notification area on the gnome-panel and tells you when updates are available. You can launch Pup from Applications>System Tools>Software Updater.

If you do not have Internet connection at home you can still update and install new packages using opyum. You will need the help of another Fedora computer that has Internet connection. You are more likely to get one at a friend's place or at work.

To learn more about yum visit the Fedora documentation web page at Managing Software with yum.

More help right on the terminal:

On the terminal type

to view the yum manual pages.

You can also get information about yum by typing

on the terminal.

Yet another way to get quick help on yum is tp type

on the terminal.