On 26/10/2007, Claude Jones <cjones@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Don't run yum -y > That just lets it go into robot mode - all confirmation queries > in the normal yum process are answered with an auto 'y' key > code. If you don't use the -y option, you get a confirmation > dialog which you can minimally glance at and see if anything's > amiss - it will tell you if it's going to remove something and > give you the chance to say no. Hyperbole. The "(y/n)?" check during a pretty normal "yum -y update" comes very early, even before downloading the packages and also prior to the crucial transaction check. It is safe to use the normal "yum -y update" mode, provided that yum doesn't suffer from a serious bug. Yum is not so stupid to remove any packages that would break RPM package dependencies during an update. Certainly it would not pull away its own requirements, like rpm-python. But you are advised to "yum -y update yum" after fresh installations and prior to applying more than a dozen updates. And remember, Fedora 7 is supposed to be the stable dist release. For any update packages, which break something at _run-time_ (!) after they got past the RPM transaction check, the packagers learn a lesson when you report the breakage to them. However, there are various yum plugins, yum-utils and package tree cleanup functions, which may have bugs and which are not as tested. So, be careful when trying to maintain your install-set with the aid of automation. There is /var/log/yum.log* as a place where yum logs its activity. However, that log file is specific to yum [and some tools which use yum as a back-end]. You don't find anything in it which you've done with "rpm --erase --nodeps ..." and "rpm --force ...", respectively. Those low-level operations are very dangerous, but too many people recommend them even when they are completely inappropriate. Sometimes users damage their RPM database unknowingly. Sometimes they run unstable hardware that corrupts the database. E.g. RAM chips that won't even pass memtest86.
