[WBEL-users] Question about YUM

[William Hooper]

Mickael Maddison said:
> Hello whitebox-users,
>
> I'm planning to update some whitebox machines using yum... I just want to
> confirm how yum works.If I run "yum list updates" I get quite a list of
> packages.  Do I need to go through and double check that all these
> packages are actually installed now, or does it only list updated packages
> for packages I have installed already?

To quote "man yum"
       yum list [available]
              list  all  packages  in  the  yum  repositories  available
to be installed.

       yum list updates
              list all packages with updates available in  the  yum
repositories.

"list" shows all the packages, "list updates" shows only packages you have
installed that have newer versions in the repo.  "check-update" can also
be used (and returns different exit values if packages need updated).

> If I run yum update - it says it
> only installs updates to packages that are already installed, so that's
> probably all I need right?

Yes.  I suggest you take a look at the yum how-to:
http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/General/yum_HOWTO/yum_HOWTO/

-- 
William Hooper