Installing CentOS packages on Red Hat Enterprise Linux

At the weekend I got into a discussion with Andy Stanford-Clark and Richard Appleby on Twitter troubleshooting basic application installation in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (like Pidgin). Not finding a solution later began to plague me, I grabbed a copy of RHEL and installed it on a Virtual Machine to solve the problem. If you’re interested in the history of the Red Hat-based distributions, please see my other article.

Are you registered to the Red Hat Network (RHN)?

If not, you will see messages like this when trying to use the “yum” package installer.

[root@localhost ~]# yum install pidgin Loaded plugins: rhnplugin, security This system is not registered with RHN. RHN support will be disabled. Setting up Install Process No package pidgin available. Nothing to do [root@localhost ~]#

Don’t panic, you might be able to use CentOS packages

First you need to add the CentOS repository, create this file using your favorite text editor:

[root@localhost ~]# vi /etc/yum.repos.d/centos.repo

Adding the following contents, note the ‘5’ has to be hardcoded to either 5 or 6 depending on your RHEL version.

[centos] name=CentOS $releasever - $basearch baseurl=http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/centos/5/os/$basearch/ enabled=1 gpgcheck=0

Once you’ve completed this step, you can now use “yum” to install CentOS packages.

Installing a package from CentOS

Here we’re installing the popular IM client Pidgin from the CentOS repository:

[root@localhost ~]# yum install pidgin Loaded plugins: rhnplugin, security Repository centos is listed more than once in the configuration This system is not registered with RHN. RHN support will be disabled. centos | 1.1 kB 00:00 centos/primary | 967 kB 00:03 centos 2725/2725 Setting up Install Process Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package pidgin.i386 0:2.6.6-5.el5_7.4 set to be updated --> Processing Dependency: libpurple = 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4 for package: pidgin --> Processing Dependency: libgtkspell.so.0 for package: pidgin --> Processing Dependency: libpurple.so.0 for package: pidgin --> Running transaction check ---> Package gtkspell.i386 0:2.0.11-2.1 set to be updated ---> Package libpurple.i386 0:2.6.6-5.el5_7.4 set to be updated --> Processing Dependency: libmeanwhile.so.1 for package: libpurple --> Processing Dependency: cyrus-sasl-md5 for package: libpurple --> Processing Dependency: libsilcclient-1.0.so.1 for package: libpurple --> Processing Dependency: libsilc-1.0.so.2 for package: libpurple --> Running transaction check ---> Package cyrus-sasl-md5.i386 0:2.1.22-5.el5_4.3 set to be updated --> Processing Dependency: cyrus-sasl-lib = 2.1.22-5.el5_4.3 for package: cyrus-sasl-md5 ---> Package libsilc.i386 0:1.0.2-2.fc6 set to be updated ---> Package meanwhile.i386 0:1.0.2-5.el5 set to be updated --> Running transaction check --> Processing Dependency: cyrus-sasl-lib = 2.1.22-5.el5 for package: cyrus-sasl-plain --> Processing Dependency: cyrus-sasl-lib = 2.1.22-5.el5 for package: cyrus-sasl ---> Package cyrus-sasl-lib.i386 0:2.1.22-5.el5_4.3 set to be updated --> Running transaction check ---> Package cyrus-sasl.i386 0:2.1.22-5.el5_4.3 set to be updated ---> Package cyrus-sasl-plain.i386 0:2.1.22-5.el5_4.3 set to be updated --> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

=================================== Package Arch Version Repository Size =================================== Installing: pidgin i386 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4 centos 1.5 M Installing for dependencies: cyrus-sasl-md5 i386 2.1.22-5.el5_4.3 centos 46 k gtkspell i386 2.0.11-2.1 centos 30 k libpurple i386 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4 centos 8.3 M libsilc i386 1.0.2-2.fc6 centos 412 k meanwhile i386 1.0.2-5.el5 centos 108 k Updating for dependencies: cyrus-sasl i386 2.1.22-5.el5_4.3 centos 1.2 M cyrus-sasl-lib i386 2.1.22-5.el5_4.3 centos 127 k cyrus-sasl-plain i386 2.1.22-5.el5_4.3 centos 27 k

Transaction Summary =================================== Install 6 Package(s) Update 3 Package(s) Remove 0 Package(s)

Total download size: 12 M Is this ok [y/N]: y Downloading Packages: (1/9): cyrus-sasl-plain-2.1.22-5.el5_4.3.i386.rpm | 27 kB 00:00 (2/9): gtkspell-2.0.11-2.1.i386.rpm | 30 kB 00:00 (3/9): cyrus-sasl-md5-2.1.22-5.el5_4.3.i386.rpm | 46 kB 00:00 (4/9): meanwhile-1.0.2-5.el5.i386.rpm | 108 kB 00:00 (5/9): cyrus-sasl-lib-2.1.22-5.el5_4.3.i386.rpm | 127 kB 00:00 (6/9): libsilc-1.0.2-2.fc6.i386.rpm | 412 kB 00:00 (7/9): cyrus-sasl-2.1.22-5.el5_4.3.i386.rpm | 1.2 MB 00:00 (8/9): pidgin-2.6.6-5.el5_7.4.i386.rpm | 1.5 MB 00:00 (9/9): libpurple-2.6.6-5.el5_7.4.i386.rpm | 8.3 MB 00:04 ------------------------------------------------------ Total 1.3 MB/s | 12 MB 00:08 Running rpm_check_debug Running Transaction Test Finished Transaction Test Transaction Test Succeeded Running Transaction Updating : cyrus-sasl-lib 1/12 Updating : cyrus-sasl-plain 2/12 Updating : cyrus-sasl 3/12 Installing : cyrus-sasl-md5 4/12 Installing : libsilc 5/12 Installing : gtkspell 6/12 Installing : meanwhile 7/12 Installing : libpurple 8/12 Installing : pidgin 9/12 Cleanup : cyrus-sasl 10/12 Cleanup : cyrus-sasl-plain 11/12 Cleanup : cyrus-sasl-lib 12/12

Installed: pidgin.i386 0:2.6.6-5.el5_7.4

Dependency Installed: cyrus-sasl-md5.i386 0:2.1.22-5.el5_4.3 gtkspell.i386 0:2.0.11-2.1 libpurple.i386 0:2.6.6-5.el5_7.4 libsilc.i386 0:1.0.2-2.fc6 meanwhile.i386 0:1.0.2-5.el5

Dependency Updated: cyrus-sasl.i386 0:2.1.22-5.el5_4.3 cyrus-sasl-lib.i386 0:2.1.22-5.el5_4.3 cyrus-sasl-plain.i386 0:2.1.22-5.el5_4.3

Complete! [root@localhost ~]#

Misson Accomplished!

You now have a working version of Pidgin with its dependencies courtesy of CentOS.

33 thoughts on “Installing CentOS packages on Red Hat Enterprise Linux”

Sam
2012-07-27 at 13:24

Mike, thanks for this info. I changed my ‘centos.repo’ file to access the CentOS main mirror site instead. Change the release version number “6.3” as per your system.

[centos]
name=CentOS $releasever – $basearch
baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6.3/os/$basearch/
enabled=0
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6.3/os/$basearch/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-6

then install pidgin –
# yum –enablerepo=centos install pidgin

1. Josh Golden
  2015-03-25 at 14:36
  
  Thanks so much! I was able able to install TigerVNC server using this method on RHEL 6.6 x86_64. Just changed the 6.3 to 6.6.
  
2. August 2018 Calendar
  2018-07-17 at 05:52
  
  Once you’ve completed this step, you can now use “yum” to install CentOS packages.
  
firnas
2012-12-17 at 15:54

thakns Mr.Michael Cutler. u have done a great help to me

Arun
2013-01-15 at 07:16

I am still getting error

[root@supportlinux /]# yum install pidgin
Loaded plugins: refresh-packagekit, rhnplugin
This system is not registered with RHN.
RHN support will be disabled.
REDHAT | 3.7 kB 00:00 …
REDHAT/primary_db | 2.9 MB 00:00 …
centos | 3.7 kB 00:00
centos/primary_db | 4.5 MB 00:11
Error: Cannot retrieve repository metadata (repomd.xml) for repository: rpmfusion-free. Please verify its path and try again
[root@supportlinux /]#

vfhky
2013-03-07 at 05:31

you have down me a great help, thanks

rick
2013-07-23 at 08:41

thanks – works like a charm!

Balamurugan
2013-09-25 at 13:38

Thanks Michael.. it helped me a lot..:)

Gratus
2013-10-07 at 17:11

Saved my hide!! and sanity!!

ibrahim
2013-11-07 at 10:20

That , really saved my day
Thx

Seth
2013-11-25 at 20:32

Awesome Mike. I just took a redhat training and they gave us iso files to play with, but no subscriptions so this is very very helpful.

Balo
2013-11-27 at 16:24

You are amazing! thanks you very much

eduardo
2013-12-20 at 18:22

Michael, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!!!

Henry Aloni
2014-01-01 at 14:54

Thanks! Works perfectly!

Kurniawan
2014-07-08 at 03:03

whether it should be the same version with centos? I am using RHEL 6.3.

Eric Mendes
2014-07-31 at 14:49

I’ve used this a few times and thought I’d give a thanks for the info! Quick and easy, thanks!

Anup Sudhakaran
2014-09-06 at 12:34

THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH. KISS YOU !!!

GGG
2014-10-09 at 03:36

Thanks

Jan
2014-10-22 at 10:07

Thank you, took me an hour to finally find a solution.

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Nrithya Kanaks
2015-02-25 at 11:47

Mike, Thank you soooo much.. i was spending hours to get around the problem !!

Sathish Jayavel
2015-08-11 at 05:42

Thanks for info.Saved my life 🙂

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Allen Linatoc
2016-02-05 at 13:19

One hell of a helpful article, thanks

Ashish Tiwari
2016-04-04 at 05:29

Very Usefull article thanks

rakesh
2016-04-04 at 06:55

It made things simple for me to install tomcat on RHEL6 from centos repository. Thanks a lot for this article

Illya Moskvin
2016-09-19 at 22:21

You are a life-saver. I inherited an old RHEL system with a long-expired subscription, and this helped fix things for sure. After configuring centos.repo, if you are still having trouble, try running “yum clean all” to reset the cache.

Ilhem Hamdi
2017-02-20 at 13:49

Thank you very much ,
I have been for days trying to make my repository on red hat works .
Now it does thank you 😀

Albenxiz Heriguez
2017-10-18 at 04:31

Thankyou,, Thats really help me.. Thankyou very much

Vineesh Babu
2017-12-21 at 08:45

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ff6268612151a9dc12e668564cb21ff6b935e748a9e086d0682619179652b75f.png Hi I did as above mentioned but its not working l please check the attachement

Arun Shukla
2018-03-14 at 06:07

Thanks a lot for this post!
I am new to Linux. I struggled for hours to yum install git without subscription to RHN.

Keep doing the deed!

Johnny
2018-09-21 at 21:49

This did not work for me – the url failed. What I found that does work is all of the above using:

baseurl=http://vault.centos.org/5.11/os/$basearch/

This is pointed to by the centos repos.

1. Gaurav Arya
  2019-07-23 at 05:47
  
  Thanks man.

33 thoughts on “Installing CentOS packages on Red Hat Enterprise Linux”

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