How to Manage Software Repositories in RedHat Enterprise Linux

Software management is performed using the 'yum' utility in RedHat Enterprise Linux. Software sources or software repositories could be a media (cd), nfs or a ftp location.

• Add a new repository:
  
  To add a new repository, first create a file under /etc/yum.repos.d/example.repo. Remember that the extension has to be .repo. Then run the following command to validate the repository.
  
  ]# yum repolist
  
  If the information provided in the .repo file is verified, the repository will be contacted and the file_list gets downloaded. Software hosted by that repository can then be installed onto the system.
  


• Enable/Disable a repository:
  
  To enable an already added repository, run the following command.
  
  ]# yum-config-manager --enable repo_name
  
  To disable a repository, run the following command.
  
  ]# yum-config-manager --disbale repo_name
  


• Delete a yum repository:
  
  To delete a yum repository, first delete the .repo file created at /etc/yum.repos.d/ and then run the following command. This would update the list of repositories.
  
  ]# yum repolist
  


• List all available repositories with details:
  
  To list all available repositories with full details, run the following command.
  
  ]# yum-config-manager