Available Repositories for CentOS

There are several repositories provided by CentOS and other 3rd party developers that offer software packages that are not included in the default base and updates repositories. While no list can be 100% complete, as anyone may announce an archive, it represents some major efforts and provides a summary of what each repository offers. These repositories have varying levels of stability, support and cooperation within the CentOS community.

Additional CentOS Provided Repositories

CentOSPlus - This repository contains items that actually upgrade certain base CentOS components. This repo will change CentOS so that it is not exactly like the upstream provider's content. The CentOS development team have tested every item in this repository and they all work with CentOS. They have not been tested by the upstream provider and are not available in the upstream products. This repository is shipped with CentOS but is not enabled by default.

Popular packages from this repository include: postfix with database support, a rebuilt kernel with additional drivers & filesystem support, php5 and mysql5.

CentOS Extras - This repository contains items that provide additional functionality to CentOS without breaking upstream compatibility or updating base components. The CentOS development team have tested every item in this repository and they all work with CentOS. They have not been tested by the upstream provider and are not available in the upstream products. This repository is shipped with CentOS and is enabled by default.

Popular packages from this repository include: The horde framework and packages, freenx, apt, XFCE, and yumex.

CS/GFS - This repository is a rebuild of the upstream provider's Cluster Suite and Global File System for CentOS-4 and provides support for the x86 and x86_64 architectures. The CentOS development team have tested every item in this repository and they all work under CentOS-4. This repository is not shipped with CentOS-4 by default, although the repository config file can be found at http://mirror.centos.org/centos-4/4/csgfs/CentOS-csgfs.repo.

CentOS-Testing - This repository is a proving ground for packages on their way to CentOSPlus and CentOS Extras. They may or may not replace core CentOS packages and are not guaranteed to function properly. These packages install but are waiting for feedback from testers as to their functionality and stability. Packages in this repository will come and go during the development period, so it should not be left enabled or used on production systems. This repository is intentionally not shipped with CentOS by default, although the repository config files can be found at: CentOS 4: http://dev.centos.org/centos/4/CentOS-Testing.repo CentOS 5: http://dev.centos.org/centos/5/CentOS-Testing.repo

CentOS-Fasttrack - This repository will contain bugfix and enhancement updates, issued from time to time, between update sets that may be rolled into the next update set. See this Readme file for more details. This repository has a config file located here for CentOS-4.

debuginfo - This repository contains packages with debugging symbols generated when the primary packages were built. No repo config is provided by default. Tools like oprofile, crash, and systemtap require debuginfo packages. These packages are found at http://debuginfo.centos.org/

contrib - This repository contains packages contributed by CentOS users which do not overlap with any of the core distribution packages. These packages have not been tested by the CentOS developers and may not track the upstream version releases very closely.

3rd Party Repositories

	WARNING: These repositories are not provided nor supported by CentOS. The CentOS project exercises no editorial control over the assertions of computability made by these sites. If something from them breaks, you get to keep the pieces. Some of the repos, such as RPMforge, ATrpms, EPEL, and RPMfusion have their own mailing lists for support issues with their packages.
	NOTE: You should seriously consider using the Priorities (or ProtectBase) yum plugin if you are going to use a 3rd Party Repository. (The Priorities and ProtectBase plugins both prevent 3rd party repos replacing base packages, but Priorities is much more flexible and therefore the recommended plugin.)

RPMForge - This repository is a collaboration of Dag (who also maintains an individual archive), Dries and other packagers. Dag is a CentOS team member. The archive provides over 4000 packages for CentOS, including mplayer, xmms-mp3 and other popular media tools. You can find more information about rpmforge at http://rpmforge.net/ or read the instructions on Installing RPMForge.

This repository is considered by many in the community to be stable and safe.

Mailing lists are available for users and to suggest new packages.

Request Tracker - This repository provides a yum based install for the popular request tracker ticketing system and its dependencies. This repository is available at http://campus.fct.unl.pt/paulomatos/rt/repository/3.4.x/rt-3.4.x.repo and the centos news article is at http://www.centos.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=114

Note: - If you are planning to use this repository and have ProtectBase configured for your base repositories, you need to "protect" this repository also, as it has to overwrite at least two packages from the base distribution (namely mod_perl). And it has some contents that would be overwritten by the rpmforge repository, if the rt repository isn't "protected".

Note: - If you are using this repository and the rpmforge repository and you don't have the ProtectBase or Priorities plugin installed, you have to put the following exclude into your /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmforge.repo file:

exclude=perl-DBIx-SearchBuilder

Otherwise installation will complain about "Missing Dependency: perl(DBD::Oracle) is needed by package perl-DBIx-SearchBuilder."

KBS-Extras - This site (by a CentOS team member) provides a rebuild of selected packages from the archive formerly known as Fedora Extras but patched as neded for CentOS, as well as number of other packages. This repository is available at http://centos.karan.org and has a reputation for being stable and safe.

kde-redhat.sf.net - This repository provides more recent (bleeding-edge) versions of KDE for use on Red Hat based systems. This repository has a decent reputation and a sizable support community.

Note: - This will update MANY packages to newer versions than Base CentOS ships, including all of KDE, QT, samba, etc. A CentOS team member commented at revision 25: "This seems to work OK on all machines I have tried but your machine will be far from CentOS with many changes to the [Base] CentOS Operating System." Information concerning setup is available here: http://kde-redhat.sourceforge.net/

ATrpms - This repository provides many bleeding-edge applications and media utilities such as myth-tv. This repository is available at http://atrpms.net/

This repository's CentOS 4 and earlier archive replaces system packages with versions which are usually later than those which Base CentOS ships, and may cause stability issues. Use at your own risk.

The CentOS 5/RHEL 5 repository from atrpms.net is safe to use, if you only use the stable version. Packages in there do not overwrite system packages.

If you also enable testing and bleeding sub-trees from, ATrpms, you are on in uncharted waters again - these two do overwrite system packages; testing however, has been labeled a misnomer by Axel Thimm and is pretty much required to get MythTV and a lot of other ATrpms multimedia packages to work. ATrpms testing has actually been tested and is analogous to centosplus.

Mailing list for atrpms users.

Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) - This repository (See http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL) provides rebuilds of Fedora packages for EL4 and EL5. Install the appropriate epel-release for EL4 or epel-release for EL5 package to configure.

This repo has made efforts not to replace system packages. In some cases it has endeavored to directly address CentOS compatibility but has expressly denied inter-repository compatability as a goal. It may not mix well with other 3rd party repos. So, make SURE you are using the Priorities yum plugin if you are using EPEL ... especially if you mix its packages with those from other 3rd party repos.

Mailing list for EPEL development - not really a support list, but seems to be the only option.

Adobe Repository - This repository (See http://blogs.adobe.com/acroread/2008/02/adobe_reader_now_available_via.html) provides Adobe Reader in a number of languages and flash-plugin. Install adobe-release to configure the repo http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/linux/i386/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm.

RPMfusion Repository - (See http://rpmfusion.org/) Still in its infancy, particularly as regards EL5 packages - most available packages are in "testing" stage as of this writing. Suggest extreme caution if using this repo.

From the above link: "RPM Fusion provides software that the Fedora Project or Red Hat doesn't want to ship. That software is provided as precompiled RPMs for all current Fedora versions and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5; you can use the RPM Fusion repositories with tools like yum and PackageKit. RPM Fusion is a merger of Dribble, Freshrpms, and Livna; our goal is to simplify end-user experience by grouping as much add-on software as possible in a single location."

Mailing list for RPMfusion users.

Remi Collet Repository - (See http://rpms.famillecollet.com/) Has been recommended on the mailing list and forum for mysql 5.1 and php5.2.9. Repo configs for EL5 i386 and x86_64 as well as EL4 are available. Suggest extreme caution if using this repo.

The Community Enterprise Linux Repository - (See ELRepo) Currently has 3 channels. Focuses on kmod driver packages to enhance hardware support (including filesystem, network, sound, webcam drivers). This repository was founded by four members of the CentOS / Scientific Linux communities.
elrepo
elrepo is the default channel and is disabled by default. The channel may be enabled in /etc/yum.repos.d/elrepo.repo or used with 'yum --enablerepo=elrepo' (the recommended method).
elrepo-testing
The elrepo-testing channel provides testing packages yet to be released to the main elrepo channel and is disabled by default. The channel may be enabled in /etc/yum.repos.d/elrepo.repo or used with 'yum --enablerepo=elrepo-testing' (the recommended method).
elrepo-fasttrack
The elrepo-fasttrack channel provides rebuilds of the upstream FasTrack channel for CentOS-5 (currently not supported by CentOS-Fasttrack). This channel provides bug fixes that update core packages and is disabled by default. The channel may be enabled in /etc/yum.repos.d/elrepo.repo or used with 'yum --enablerepo=elrepo-fasttrack' (the recommended method).

An example of what NOT to do

WARNING: Do NOT do this.

A person asked in the IRC channel about this set of third-party 'yum' additional repository instructions. It is a bad idea to follow this document, for a couple of reasons, which we go through:

The first stanza points to: 'baseurl=http: //ftp.belnet.be/packages/dries.ulyssis.org/redhat/el4/en/i386/dries/RPMS' That is, it hard codes both for '$releasever' and '$basearch'. Compare, contra, to the more proper: 'baseurl=http: //apt.sw.be/redhat/el$releasever/en/$basearch/dag' in the next stanza. The 'hard coded' nature of the first stanza limits it to only be 'correct' to CentOS 4, on a i386 platform.
It mixes a Fedora repository in with CentOS oriented repositories: 'name=Fedora' on the last stanza, vs. 'name=CentOS.(whatever)' [and a misdescribed: 'name=Extra Fedora rpms dries' which appears to be an 'el' -- that is 'enterprise linux'] repository. This last one is NOT designed to 'play well' with the others, nor with 'stock' CentOS archives as shipped.

Please do NOT follow that example. Use a critical eye and some thought to see what is proposed before adding to (and possibly breaking) your system's 'yum' configuration.