Fedora systems automatically use the Fedora Project repositories. These include Fedora Extras, the default source of packages for software that is not included with Fedora Core.
![[Note]](./stylesheet-images/note.png) | Fedora Extras Repositories for Previous Versions of Fedora Core |
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You must manually configure Fedora 3 systems to use Fedora Extras, using the instructions at http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/extras/. For additional packages for Fedora 1 and Fedora 2, refer to http://www.fedora.us/. | |
If the Fedora Project does not provide a specific software package, the manufacturer of the software may provide or recommend a separate repository. Members of the community also maintain repositories to provide packages for Fedora systems. Third-party repositories provide information on their web sites.
To add an extra repository, place a definition file in the /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory on your system. Package providers make the definition files for their repositories available on their web sites.
![[Tip]](./stylesheet-images/tip.png) | Definition File Extension |
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The names of repository definition files end with .repo. | |
You must have root access to add a file to the definitions directory. To copy the definition file example.repo, type this command:
su -c 'cp example.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/'
At the prompt, enter the password for the root account.
The configuration file for each repository should include a gpgkey setting. This setting specifies the location of a public key that verifies the packages provided by that repository. This public key is automatically imported the first time you install software from the repository. If the configuration file provided does not include this setting, refer to Section 7.2, “Manually Authorizing Package Sources”.
| Repositories and up2date Channels |
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Starting with Fedora 4, yum repositories are automatically used as up2date channels. On Fedora 3 and earlier systems, you must manually configure up2date to use these channels. To do so, edit the /etc/sysconfig/rhn/sources file. | |
To manually add a public key to your rpm keyring, use the import feature of the rpm utility. To import the file GPG-PUB-KEY.asc, type the following command:
su -c 'rpm --import GPG-PUB-KEY.asc'
At the prompt, enter the password for the root account.
You may also import public keys directly from a web site. For example, to import the file GPG-PUB-KEY.asc on the web site www.therepository.com use this command:
su -c 'rpm --import http://www.therepository.com/GPG-PUB-KEY.asc'
The Fedora Extras repository provides packages which are built to the same standards as Fedora Core packages. Third-party packages should be compatible with these Fedora Project packages, unless the provider specifically states otherwise.
Always read the web site of the repository for information on package compatibility before you add it as a package source. Separate repository providers may offer different and incompatible versions of the same software. In some cases, third-party repositories may also include alternative packages for software provided by Fedora Project repositories that are not compatible with other Fedora packages.
![[Caution]](./stylesheet-images/caution.png) | Incompatible Repositories |
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If you use incompatible repositories yum operations may fail. | |
Packages built for one version of Fedora are usually not compatible with other versions of Fedora. The web site of the provider should specifically state which versions of Fedora they support.
| Old Versions of yum and Current Repositories |
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The data format for repository indexes changed with version 2.1 of yum. This was the version supplied with Fedora 3. Repository providers should specify the versions of Fedora that they support. To confirm that an unlabeled repository is compatible with current versions of yum, check that it has a sub-directory called repodata/. | |