Arnau Bria wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I've added a i386 repo to my x86_64 nodes and I'm seeing that, when
> installing the node, yum sometimes installs many i386 packages and
> sometimes not.
> So, I'd like to set yum to install always x86_64 and then i386 (if
> needed or specified).
> 
> Reading yum.conf man I saw :
> 
> multilib_policy Can be set to ’all’ or ’best’. All means install all
> possible arches for any package you want to install. Therefore yum
> install foo will install foo.i386 and foo.x86_64 on x86_64, if it is
> available. Best means install the best arch for this platform, only.
> 
> so seems that is the param I want. Yum tries to install x86_64 but if I
> specify foo.i386 it will install foo.i386 too.
> 
> But then I noticed a strange behaviour (bug? feature?) when installing
> groups of packages. If multilib_policy is set to best, i386 packages
> from the group are not installed:
> 
> # grep multilib_policy /etc/yum.conf
> multilib_policy=best
> # yum  groupinstall glite-WN
> [....]
> No packages in any requested group available to install or update
> 
> 
> 
> # grep multilib_policy /etc/yum.conf
> #multilib_policy=best
> # yum  groupinstall glite-WN
> [...]
> 
> Dependencies Resolved
> 
> ================================================================================================================================================================================
>  Package                                  Arch                              Version                                     Repository                                         Size
> ================================================================================================================================================================================
> Installing:
>  dpm                                      i386                              1.7.4-7sec.sl5                              gLite-WN-3.2-updates                              3.9 M
>  dpm-devel                                i386                              1.7.4-7sec.sl5                              gLite-WN-3.2-updates                              609 k
>  dpm-libs                                 i386                              
> [...]
> 
> 
> so here comes some questions:
> 
> 1.-) I'm not a "yum group" expert, but a group is a list of packages to
> be installed, so, why is yum bypassing i386 packages? Cause I can
> install all missing packages "by hand".
> 
> is it a problem in group's creation? 
> 
> 2.-) Who may I configure yum so it install x86_64 packages always, and
> only i386 if needed or specified? 
> 
> 
> Many thanks in advance,
> Arnau

Hi Arnua,
The problem is with groups, and as far as I know, has not been resolved.
There is no way to add arches to packages in a group.  So when you do 
group installs, it is going to follow the multilib_policy.
If the policy is set to "best", and there is a package for both i386 and 
x86_64, then it is going to pick the x86_64 one and ignore the other.
If the policy is set to "all" then it is going to install both the i386 
and x86_64.

That might be fixed in SL6, or maybe with a yum plugin, but I haven't 
seen it yet.
Troy
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Troy Dawson  [log in to unmask]  (630)840-6468
Fermilab  ComputingDivision/LSCS/CSI/USS Group
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