How to Enable RPMForge Repository in RHEL/CentOS 7.x/6.x/5.x

Posted 2020-08-28

RPMforge repository is a utility that is used to install third party software packages under Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Community ENTerprise Operating System (CentOS). It provides more than 5000 software packages in the rpm format for these Linux distributions.

RPMforge repository not a part of RHEL or CentOS but it is designed to work with these operating systems. The complete list of RPMForge packages can be fount at http://packages.sw.be/.

Install RPMForge Repository in RedHat and Centos

Read Also : Install and Enable EPEL Repository in RHEL/CentOS 7/6/5

This article gives you a steps to install and enable RPMForge repository under RHEL/CentOS 7, 6, 5, 4 systems.

Verifying RHEL/CentOS is 32 Bit or 64 Bit System

We use “uname -a” command to verify a system, whether it is 32 bit or 64 bit.

The 32 bit system will show i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux and 64 bit server shows x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux.

So, it’s very easy to verify whether a system is 32 or 64 bit using “uname -a” command from the command line shell.

32 Bit RHEL/CentOS

# uname -r
Linux tecmint.com 2.6.32-279.5.2.el6.i686 #1 SMP Thu Aug 23 22:16:48 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

64 Bit RHEL/CentOS

# uname -r
Linux tecmint.com 2.6.32-279.5.2.el6.i686 #1 SMP Thu Aug 23 22:16:48 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Installing RPMForge Repository in RHEL/CentOS 6/5/4

Download and Install RPMForge repository by selecting appropriate rpm package for your system.

For RHEL/CentOS 7 64 Bit

# wget http://pkgs.repoforge.org/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.3-1.el7.rf.x86_64.rpm
# rpm -Uvh rpmforge-release-0.5.3-1.el7.rf.x86_64.rpm

For RHEL/CentOS 6 32-64 Bit

## RHEL/CentOS 6 32 Bit OS ##
# wget http://packages.sw.be/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el6.rf.i686.rpm
# rpm -Uvh rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el6.rf.i686.rpm
## RHEL/CentOS 6 64 Bit OS ##
# wget http://packages.sw.be/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el6.rf.x86_64.rpm
# rpm -Uvh rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el6.rf.x86_64.rpm

For RHEL/CentOS 5 32-64 Bit

## RHEL/CentOS 5 32 Bit OS ##
# wget http://packages.sw.be/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el5.rf.i386.rpm
# rpm -Uvh rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el5.rf.i386.rpm
## RHEL/CentOS 5 64 Bit OS ##
# wget http://packages.sw.be/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el5.rf.x86_64.rpm
# rpm -Uvh rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el5.rf.x86_64.rpm

For RHEL/CentOS 4 32-64 Bit

## RHEL/CentOS 4 32 Bit OS ##
# wget http://packages.sw.be/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el4.rf.i386.rpm
# rpm -Uvh rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el4.rf.i386.rpm
## RHEL/CentOS 4 64 Bit OS ##
# wget http://packages.sw.be/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el4.rf.x86_64.rpm
# rpm -Uvh rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el4.rf.x86_64.rpm

Note : The RPMForge repository will be installed under /etc/yum.repod directory as a file rpmforge.repo.

Importing RPMForge Repository Key in RHEL/CentOS 7/6/5/4

Next, you’ll need to download and install DAG’s GPG key for your system.

# wget http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/RPM-GPG-KEY.dag.txt
# rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY.dag.txt

Note : The imported GPG key stored under /etc/pki/rpm-gpg directory as a file RPM-GPG-KEY-rpmforge-dag.

Installing Packages using RPMForge Repository in RHEL/CentOS 7/6/5/4

Let’s try installing something using rpmforge repository.

# yum --enablerepo=rpmforge install aria2

Sample Output :

Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, refresh-packagekit
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
rpmforge                                                                                                                                       
Setting up Install Process
Dependencies Resolved
=================================================================================================
Package                         Arch			Version                Repository       Size
=================================================================================================
Installing:
aria2                           i686           1.15.1-1.el6.rf        rpmforge         1.2 M
Installing for dependencies:
nettle                          i686           2.2-1.el6.rf           rpmforge         359 k
Transaction Summary
=================================================================================================
Install       2 Package(s)

So, whenever a new packages are install using Yum command the RPMForge repository will be included.

Disable RPMForge Repository in RHEL/CentOS 7/6/5/4

To disable RPMForge repository simply open the file /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmforge.repo.

# vi /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmforge.repo

Change “enabled=1” to “enabled=0“. 0 means turn-off and 1 means turn-on.

### Name: RPMforge RPM Repository for RHEL 6 - dag
### URL: http://rpmforge.net/
[rpmforge]
name = RHEL $releasever - RPMforge.net - dag
baseurl = http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/$basearch/rpmforge
mirrorlist = http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/mirrors-rpmforge
#mirrorlist = file:///etc/yum.repos.d/mirrors-rpmforge
enabled = 0
protect = 0
gpgkey = file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-rpmforge-dag
gpgcheck = 1