In this tutorial, we will show you how to enable the EPEL repository on CentOS 8. For those of you who didn’t know, EPEL, which stands for Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux, is a volunteer-based community effort from the Fedora Project. It aims to create a high-quality set of additional packages for Enterprise Linux, including, but not limited to, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), CentOS, and Scientific Linux. EPEL was established in 2005 and has since become an invaluable resource for system administrators and developers working with enterprise Linux distributions.
The primary goal of EPEL is to provide extra packages that complement the base distribution without duplicating or replacing any of its components. This approach ensures compatibility and stability while expanding the software ecosystem available to users. EPEL packages are built against the specific version of the enterprise Linux distribution they target, ensuring maximum compatibility and minimal conflicts with existing system libraries and utilities.
One of the key strengths of EPEL is its commitment to quality and security. All packages in the EPEL repository undergo rigorous testing and review processes to maintain high standards of reliability and safety. This makes EPEL an excellent choice for organizations that require additional software but cannot compromise on system stability and security.
Prerequisites
- A server running one of the following operating systems: CentOS Linux.
- It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
- SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
- You’ll need administrative privileges to install and configure the EPEL repository. Make sure you have either root access or sudo privileges on your system.
Enable EPEL Repository on CentOS 8
Step 1. First, you need to enable the EPEL repository on your system. You don’t need to configure this repository manually in your yum. Instead, download the following package and install it, which will enable the EPEL repository on your system.
sudo dnf install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm
The output result will look like below:
Last metadata expiration check: 0:46:48 ago on Wed 02 Sep 2019 05:46:36 AM UTC. epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm 15 kB/s | 21 kB 00:01 Dependencies resolved. =================================================================================================================== Package Arch Version Repository Size =================================================================================================================== Installing: epel-release noarch 8-5.el8 @commandline 21 k Transaction Summary =================================================================================================================== Install 1 Package Total size: 21 k Installed size: 30 k Downloading Packages: Running transaction check Transaction check succeeded. Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded. Running transaction Preparing : 1/1 Installing : epel-release-8-5.el8.noarch 1/1 Running scriptlet: epel-release-8-5.el8.noarch 1/1 Verifying : epel-release-8-5.el8.noarch 1/1 Installed: epel-release-8-5.el8.noarch Complete!
To verify that the EPEL repository has been set up successfully, run the following command to list all available repositories on your system:
yum repolist
The output result will look like below:
repo id repo name status *epel Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64 1,238 google-cloud-sdk Google Cloud SDK 906 google-compute-engine Google Compute Engine 6 rhui-codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-x86_64-rhui-rpms Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder for RHEL 8 x86_64 (RPMs) from RHUI 1,526 rhui-rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rhui-rpms Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for x86_64 - AppStream from RHUI (RPMs) 6,003 rhui-rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rhui-rpms Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for x86_64 - BaseOS from RHUI (RPMs) 2,172
To see a list of all the available packages in the EPEL repository, run:
sudo dnf list available --disablerepo=* --enablerepo=epel
You can also search for specific packages in the EPEL repository using the following commands:
sudo dnf search package-name
Or
sudo dnf list package-name
Congratulations! You have successfully enabled the EPEL repo. Thanks for using this tutorial to add the EPEL repository to your CentOS 8 system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official EPEL website.
