Oracle Enterprise Linux public YUM server

I setup an OEL server the other day and needed to install some packages on it. That meant I would have to insert the DVD, find the RPM file and all of its dependencies, and hope that I had everything I needed. Coming from the Debian/Ubuntu world, this was a pain. I then began searching to see how I can configure it to use a public YUM repository (RedHat, Centos, RPMForge, etc…). I then stumbled across an article describing a public OEL repository at http://public-yum.oracle.com/.

I went to the web page and found the below instructions. A couple of commands and poof! All my packages installed.

Getting Started

1. Download and Install Enterprise Linux
2. Download and copy the appropriate yum configuration file in place, by running the following commands as root:
   

   Oracle Enterprise Linux 4, Update 6 or Newer

   # cd /etc/yum.repos.d
   # mv Oracle-Base.repo Oracle-Base.repo.disabled
   # wget http://public-yum.oracle.com/public-yum-el4.repo
   

   Oracle Enterprise Linux 5

   # cd /etc/yum.repos.d
   # wget http://public-yum.oracle.com/public-yum-el5.repo
   

   Oracle VM 2

   # cd /etc/yum.repos.d
   # wget http://public-yum.oracle.com/public-yum-ovm2.repo
   

3. Enable the appropriate repository by editing the yum configuration file
   • Open the yum configuration file in a text editor
   • Locate the section in the file for the repository you plan to update from, e.g. [el4_u6_base]
   • Change enabled=0 to enabled=1
4. Begin using yum, for example:
   yum list
   yum install firefox