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SOP: Repocompare

This SOP covers how to perform the repocompare process, to ensure that Rocky's package repositories are up-to-date with the RHEL package repositories.

Contact Information
Owner Testing Team
Email Contact testing@rockylinux.org
Mattermost Contacts @stack, @tcooper
Mattermost Channels ~Testing

To identify which packages may need updates, visit the appropriate RepoCompare page, focusing on the SRPM Repo Comparison page for each version. Packages where the Rocky version is lower than the RHEL version likely require an update - you can do a manual comparison to be sure.

Setup

From a RHEL8 machine with a valid entitlement, obtain the repocompare repository:

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git clone https://git.resf.org/testing/repocompare
cd repocompare/

Import the RPM GPG keys for both Rocky and RHEL

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curl -O http://dl.rockylinux.org/pub/rocky/RPM-GPG-KEY-Rocky-8
curl -O http://dl.rockylinux.org/pub/rocky/RPM-GPG-KEY-Rocky-9
rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY-Rocky-8
rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY-Rocky-9
rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/redhat-official

Comparing a package

If the Name/Epoch/Version/Release (NEVR) for the RHEL package is newer than the one for the Rocky package, the package requires an update. In this situation, there will also likely be a newer entry in the changelog for the RHEL package, as shown below:

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./manual_compare.sh 9 AppStream golang
Rocky Linux 9.2    golang 1.19.9 2.el9_2 * Tue May 23 2023 Alejandro Sáez <asm@redhat.com> - 1.19.9-2
Red Hat            golang 1.19.10 1.el9_2 * Tue Jun 06 2023 David Benoit <dbenoit@redhat.com> - 1.19.10-1

Notice that the Red Hat golang package has a higher version than the Rocky Linux 9.2 package. It also has a newer entry in its changelog.

Gotchas

Some packages are not considered relevant for repocompare purposes. These include:

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rhc
shim-unsigned
# Any package that exists in RHEL but not in Rocky (denoted by **DOES NOT EXIST** in the Rocky column on the repocompare website)

Additional Information

If you have questions with respect to this content or to report concerns regarding the use or misuse content please do not hesitate to contact us at info@rockylinux.org.

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