You can easily install various packages by configuring a CentOS 7.x or RHEL 7.x system to use Fedora EPEL repos and third party packages. Please note that these packages are not officially supported by either CentOS or Red Hat, but provides many popular packages and apps. This quick tutorial explains how to configure a CentOS or Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) version 7.x to use the Fedora Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) repository.
Commands to install EPEL repo on a CentOS Linux and RHEL 7.x
- Open a shell prompt.
- Or login to a host called server1 using ssh client.
- Install epel using the following command: yum -y install epel-release
- Refresh repo by typing the following command: yum repolist
How to install RHEL EPEL repository on Centos 7.x or RHEL 7.x
The following instructions assumes that you are running command as root user on a CentOS/RHEL 7.x system and want to use use Fedora Epel repos.
Method #1: Install Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux repository configuration (recommended)
Just type the following yum command on a CentOS 7 or RHEL 7:
sudo yum install epel-release |
Sample outputs:
Note: If method #1 failed, try the following method #2 to install EPEL Repo.
Method #2: Install the extra EPEL repositories from dl.fedoraproject.org
The command is as follows to download epel release for CentOS and RHEL 7.x using wget command:
cd /tmp wget https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm ls *.rpm |
To install epel-release-7-5.noarch.rpm, type:
sudo yum install epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm |
Sample outputs:
Loaded plugins: amazon-id, rhui-lb Examining epel-release-7-2.noarch.rpm: epel-release-7-2.noarch Marking epel-release-7-2.noarch.rpm to be installed Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package epel-release.noarch 0:7-2 will be installed --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ================================================================================ Package Arch Version Repository Size ================================================================================ Installing: epel-release noarch 7-2 /epel-release-7-2.noarch 22 k Transaction Summary ================================================================================ Install 1 Package Total size: 22 k Installed size: 22 k Is this ok [y/d/N]: y Downloading packages: Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Installing : epel-release-7-2.noarch 1/1 Verifying : epel-release-7-2.noarch 1/1 Installed: epel-release.noarch 0:7-2 Complete! |
List your new repos
Once installed you should see epel repo using the following yum repolist command
$ sudo yum repolist
Sample outputs:
Loaded plugins: amazon-id, rhui-lb
repo id repo name status
epel/x86_64 Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 7 - x86_64 5,610
rhui-REGION-client-config-server-7/x86_64 Red Hat Update Infrastructure 2.0 Client Configur 2
rhui-REGION-rhel-server-releases/7Server/x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 7 (RPMs) 4,718
repolist: 10,330
Search and install package
To list all available packages under a repo called epel, enter:
$ sudo yum --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="epel" list available
OR
$ sudo yum --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="epel" list available | grep 'package'
OR
$ sudo yum --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="epel" list available | less
Sample outputs:
Example: Search and install htop package from epel repo on a CentOS/RHEL 7.x
The commands are as follows (see yum our command guide for more info):
## search it ## sudo yum search htop ## get more info, if found ## sudo yum info htop ## install it ## sudo yum install htop |
And, there you have it, a larger number of packages to install from EPEL repo on a CentOS and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) version 7.x.
22 comment
yum can install directly from a url.
saves a few steps
This Link is not available anymore..
there’s a typo in the link – it should be https instead of http.
sudo yum install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpmdoes the trick. just checked it.
Or better ….
in linux you can do the same using different methods!
More power nixCraft!
One problem I ran into after this was needing to clean metadata using ‘sudo yum clean metadata’ – until I did that, I was getting an error of “repomd.xml does not match metalink for epel”
EPEL 7 has left beta yesterday, September, 1st, 2014. You can now use the URI http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/x86_64/e/epel-release-7-1.noarch.rpm to download the EPEL RPM package.
Thanks for the head up!
you can install directly using:
sudo yum install epel-release
Epel repos need to be updated here as it’s the beta.
http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/x86_64/e/epel-release-7-1.noarch.rpm
Muhammad Sadek got it right.
Simply running `yum install epel-release` will fetch the latest package.
Running 7.2 I could not find the epel-release package until after I installed the rpm manually. Now it shows up.
Epel package right now:
https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/x86_64/e/epel-release-7-2.noarch.rpm
@M B/caic: Thanks for the heads up!
This post is outdated. URL is not working. Please find the below details.
This URL “https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/x86_64/e/epel-release-7-2.noarch.rpm” is not working.
New URL is ” https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/x86_64/e/epel-release-7-5.noarch.rpm” is working. Please update it in your website.
epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm will automatically pick the newest version of the 7 compatible epel repo packages. Current today is 7-8.
Thanks!
Thanks.You really saved my time.
Thanks!
Note that above the wget command references epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm while the yum install references epel-release-7.noarch.rpm, so if you cut and paste or type exactly what is shown you will get an error as it tries to reference a package that hasn’t been downloaded.
In second method, correct command should be:
sudo yum install epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm
thanks for the feedback. I faq has been updated. Appreciate your post.
You may find on CentOS that epel-release cannot be found
To solve, edit your /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo file and enable the “extras” section, and then run
sudo yum install epel-release