Manage DNF Package Repositories

Linux Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟Software Package Manager on CentOS - DNF and YUM

∟Manage DNF Package Repositories

This section provides a tutorial example on how to manage DNF Package Repositories on CentOS systems.

What Is DNF Package Repository? - A DNF Package Repository is a remote server that provides software packages ready to be installed on your local computer using the DNF package manager.

By default, DNF comes with a number of repositories pre-defined in the /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory:

herong$ sudo ls -l /etc/yum.repos.d

-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  731 Jan  2  2020 CentOS-AppStream.repo
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  712 Jan  2  2020 CentOS-Base.repo
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  756 Jan  2  2020 CentOS-Extras.repo
....

DNF also provides a number of commands for you to manage repositories.

1. List all enabled repositories using the "dnf repolist" command:

herong$ sudo dnf repolist

repo id     repo name               status
AppStream   CentOS-8 - AppStream     5,058
BaseOS      CentOS-8 - Base          1,695
extras      CentOS-8 - Extras           30
...

2. Add a new repository using the "dnf config-manager --add-repo" command. For example:

herong$ sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo \
  https://repos.azul.com/zing/rhel/zing.repo

  Adding repo from: https://repos.azul.com/zing/rhel/zing.repo

(Or put the *.repo file directly into /etc/yum.repos.d/)
herong$ sudo curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/zing.repo \
  https://repos.azul.com/zing/rhel/zing.repo

herong$ sudo dnf repolist
  repo id     repo name                                              status
  ...
  zing        zing-8 - Azul Systems Inc., Zing packages for x86_64   256

3. Disable a repository using the "dnf config-manager --set-disabled" command. More repositories enabled requires longer search time! For example:

herong$ sudo dnf config-manager --set-disabled zing

(you can enable it later)
herong$ sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled zing

4. Some third party repositories put their *.repo files in DNF default repositories, so that they can be installed as "normal" packages. For example:

herong$ sudo dnf search epel
  epel-release.noarch : Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux repository
    configuration

herong$ sudo dnf install epel-release
  Installed:
    epel-release-8-8.el8.noarch

6. Some other third party repositories put their *.repo files in RPM (RedHat Package Manager) files. In this case, you need to download and install it using the RPM tool. For example:

herong$ curl http://repo.iotti.biz/CentOS/8/noarch/lux-release-8-1.noarch.rpm \
  > lux-release-8-1.noarch.rpm

herong$ ls -l
-rw-rw-r--. 1 herong herong 16104 lux-release-8-1.noarch.rpm

herong$ sudo rpm -U lux-release-8-1.noarch.rpm

herong$ dnf repolist
  repo id   repo name                 status
  ...
  lux       CentOS 8 - x86_64 - Lux   226

Here is a list of software package repositories for CentOS systems compiled by https://centos.pkgs.org.

Aeris
Atomic
CERT Forensics Tools
CentOS *
Cheese
Docker CE Stable
ELRepo *
EPEL *
End Point
Galaxy4
GetPageSpeed
Ghettoforge *
Harbottle *
IUS Community Packages *
Les RPM de Remi
Lux
MongoDB 4.2
MySQL *
Nginx
Nux *
OKey
Open Fusion
Percona
PostgreSQL *
RPM Fusion *
Raven *
Repoforge (RPMforge)
Springdale *
Trinity R14
VirtualBox
Webtatic