YUM on AIX
YUM Overview
YUM is an open source command line package management utility for
RPM packages. It is a tool for installing, removing, querying, and
managing RPM packages. YUM automatically determines dependencies
for the packages getting updated/installed thus fetches the dependent
packages and installs them with the requested packages. It works with
an existing software repository that contains RPM packages. The YUM
repository can be local or over network.
YUM Benefits
Without YUM it is difficult to navigate package dependencies. Often one
must manually determine dependencies, one by one.
YUM automatically consults a dependency database and downloads the
dependent packages you need. YUM can list all the packages available
on the repository. Using YUM one can find if new versions of installed
packages are available and can update those packages.
YUM Installation on AIX
• Install the rpm.rte with "minimum version" of 4.9.1.3 or greater
from
https://ftp.software.ibm.com/aix/freeSoftware/aixtoolbox/INSTALLP/ppc
• Download and install the rpms from yum_bundle_v1.tar from
https://ftp.software.ibm.com/aix/freeSoftware/aixtoolbox/ezinstall/ppc/
• Make sure there are no conflicting rpms already installed.
• AIX Toolbox is the default repository set for YUM after installation.
• AIX YUM supports all the protocols (local/ftp/http/https etc.) as
supported in Linux distributions.
• Detailed steps to install
https://ftp.software.ibm.com/aix/freeSoftware/aixtoolbox/ezinstall/ppc/RE
ADME-yum
Creating Local YUM Repository
One can create a local repository of RPM packages to work with YUM.
The local repository server can be an AIX or a Linux server. There are
two ways it can be done:
1. Using existing repodata from AIX toolbox to a local ftp/http server
• Download all RPMs and repodata files from AIX toolbox ftp
server
ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/aix/freeSoftware/aixtoolbox/RPMS/ppc/
• Keep the same directory structure for RPMS and repodata
2. Creating your own repository and repodata
• Download RPMs or build you RPMs and keep them in one
directory.
• Run createrepo command on the directory where all the
RPMs.
# createrepo <Dir where all RPMs>
Finally change the /opt/freeware/etc/yum/yum.conf to point to host and
directory where rpm packages and repodata information is present.
Using YUM on AIX
Basic YUM Commands
• yum install <package name/s>: To install a package/packages
• yum update <package name/s>: To update a package/packages
• yum check-update: To check if a new version of packages is
• available.
• yum remove <package name/s>: To remove a package/packages
• yum provides <file name>: To find which packages provide the file.
• yum search <keyword>: To find a package/packages containing
the specified keyword in description from repository.
• yum localinstall <absolute path to package name/s>: To intall a
package located locally in the machine.
Installing YUM on AIX
Check and install rpm.rte with minimum version of 4.9.1.3. Then install
all the packages from yum_bundle_v1.tar
yum.conf and Default Repositories
By default three entries will be there in yum.conf
1. AIX generic repository (RPMs compiled for ppc but not AIX version
specific)
2. AIX noarch repository (RPMs those are not architecture specific)
3. AIX 6.1/7.1/7.2 specific repository (Depends on your AIX verison)
Listing Packages Using YUM
One can list all the packages from repositories using “yum list”
command. The command will also show what packages are already
installed on ths system and what are available on the repositories.
Install a Package Using YUM
To install a package using yum just rum “yum install <package name>”.
In the following example wget package is getting installed using yum on
AIX.
Installing Packages with Dependencies
If there are dependent packages then yum resolve the dependencies
and install all the dependent packages as well. In the following example
gcc and all its dependent packages are getting installed.
Checking Updates Using YUM
One can check if there are any updates for already installed packages
available on the repository.
Updating Packages Using YUM
One can update all the packages installed to the latest level available on
repository
Searching Packages Using Keywords
Using following two methods one can search a package by keywords.
