In some instances, this document will refer to actions to be taken on the Red Hat Network Web servers. For Proxy customers, this will refer to the central Red Hat Network Servers at https://rhn.redhat.com. For Satellite customers, this will refer to the RHN Satellite Server at the customer site.
Chapter 2. Introduction to RHN Channels A Red Hat Network channel is a collection of packages. Channels help to segregate packages by sensible rules: a channel may contain packages from a specific Red Hat distribution, for instance. A channel may contain packages for an application or family of applications. Users may also define channels for their own particular needs;...
Chapter 2. Introduction to RHN Channels custom channels through the website. For more information on subscribing to channels online, refer to the RHN Website chapter of the RHN Reference Guide. 2.3. Channel Availability There are many channels in Red Hat Network. Some are available to all users, some are available to users in a particular organization, and others are available only to customers who have purchased access to them.
Chapter 3. Building Custom Packages There are many things that might go wrong when building packages. This is especially true when these packages must be delivered and installed through Red Hat Network. This chapter describes how to build packages of the highest quality that may be successfully delivered via Red Hat Network. 3.1.
1. Learn RPM. It is crucial to have a fundamental understanding of the important features of RPM to build packages properly. For more information about RPM, consult the following resources: http://www.rpm.org/RPM-HOWTO/ • http://www.redhat.com/docs/books/max-rpm/ • http://www.rpm.org/mailing_list/ • 2. When building an RPM for a child channel, build the package on a fresh install of Red Hat Enterprise Linux of the same version as the child’s base channel.
Chapter 3. Building Custom Packages 13. It may be tempting to create an RPM by archiving files and then unarchiving them in the post- install script, but do not do it. This defeats the purpose of RPM. If the files in the archive are not included in the file list, they cannot be verified or examined for conflicts.
Chapter 3. Building Custom Packages Is this correct (y/n)? Press [y] to confirm your decision. Your next task is to provide a User ID containing your name, your email address, and an optional comment. Each will be requested individually. When you are finished, you will be presented with a summary of the information you entered.
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Chapter 3. Building Custom Packages is the key ID, which tells RPM which signature in your GPG keyring to use. This _gpg_name value can be derived from the command: gpg --list-keys To sign the package package-name-1.0-1.noarch.rpm, use the following command: rpm --resign package-name-1.0-1.noarch.rpm Enter your passphrase.
Chapter 4. Custom Channel and Package Management Custom channels allow administrators to use the Red Hat Network infrastructure to deploy packages built and maintained by their organizations. All channel and package management activities will take place in the Channels tab of the RHN website. The instructions here should be used in conjunction with the RHN website chapter of the RHN Reference Guide.
Chapter 4. Custom Channel and Package Management 4.3. Managed Software Channel Details Virtually all custom channel management tasks are carried out within the Managed Software Chan- nel Details page, accessed by clicking Manage Software Channels in the left navigation bar and then the name of channel to be altered.
Chapter 4. Custom Channel and Package Management parentheses identify whether the cloned Erratum has been published or modified from the orig- inal advisory. A plus sign (+) before the flag indicates affirmative, the cloned Errata has been published. A minus sign (-) before the flag denotes negative, for instance "-mod" may mean a package has been deleted.
Chapter 4. Custom Channel and Package Management boxes and click Delete Packages. A confirmation page will appear with the packages listed. Click Confirm to delete the packages entirely. Remember, since the actual RPMs are stored on the RHN Proxy Server, its custom packages cannot be downloaded through the RHN website, although they are listed.
Chapter 4. Custom Channel and Package Management confirmation page will appear with the packages listed. Click Confirm to associate the packages with the channel. The List/Remove subtab of the Managed Software Channel Details page will appear with the new packages listed. Once packages are assigned to a channel, the Errata cache will be updated to reflect the changes.
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Chapter 4. Custom Channel and Package Management...
Chapter 5. Custom Errata Management Custom Errata enable customers who have their own private channel to issue Errata Alerts for their packages. All Errata management activities will take place in the Errata tab of the RHN website. The instructions here should be used in conjunction with the RHN website chapter of the RHN Manage- ment Reference Guide.
Chapter 5. Custom Errata Management Details — Provides the primary information you entered about the custom Errata Alert during its • creation. This includes a synopsis, advisory name and type, related product, bugs, description, solu- tion, keywords, references, and notes. To change any of this information, make your modifications in the appropriate fields and click Update Errata.
Chapter 5. Custom Errata Management 5.4. Assigning Packages to Errata In the Managed Errata Details page, click the Packages tab and then the Add subtab. To associate packages with the Errata being edited, select the option now containing the packages from the View dropdown menu and click View.
Chapter 6. Uploading and Maintaining Custom Packages Depending upon which Red Hat Network service is used, there are two different mechanisms for uploading packages to private channels. Customers of the RHN Proxy Server will use the RHN Package Manager application, which sends package header information to the central Red Hat Network Servers and places the package itself into the local repository of the RHN Proxy Server from which RHN Package Manager is invoked.
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Chapter 6. Uploading and Maintaining Custom Packages The label_of_private_channel is the custom channel created to receive these packages. Be sure you use the precise channel label specified during its creation. If you have one or more channels specified (using ), the uploaded package headers will be linked to all the channels --channel identified.
Chapter 6. Uploading and Maintaining Custom Packages Option Description Check if local directory is in sync with the server. -s, --sync Print the current configuration and exit. -p, --printconf Only push the packages that are newer than packages --newest already pushed to the server for the specified channel. Don’t fail if packages are unsigned.
Chapter 6. Uploading and Maintaining Custom Packages 6.2.1. Configuring and Using the RHN Push application Note It is recommended that at least one private channel be created to receive custom packages prior to upload, since a channel is required for systems to obtain the packages. The following command uploads package headers to the RHN Satellite Server and copies the packages to the RHN Satellite Server package repository: rhnpush -c label_of_private_channel --server localhost pkg-list...
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Chapter 6. Uploading and Maintaining Custom Packages Option Description Include RHN password of user that has administrative -p=, --password=PASSWORD access to the specified channel. If not provided, rhnpush will prompt for the password of a valid Channel Administrator. Read package list from standard input (a piped -s, --stdin command, for example).
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