CentOS

Install

CentOS can be installed via a netinstall image. I needed an older CentOS version, namely CentOS 5.2. Installation is pretty straightforward:

• Boot CentOS-5.2-i386-netinstall.iso
• At the "Choose Installation Method" screen select "http"
• "Website Name" is "vault.centos.org" (resp. "mirror.centos.org" for current releases)
• "CentOS Directory" is "5.2/isos/i386" (resp. "centos/5.5/os/i386" for current releases)

After ~30min CentOS should be installed.

Postinstall

Packages

Remove and stop unnecessary packages:

yum remove isdn4k-utils autofs smartmontools bluez-utils bluez-libs bluez-gnome pcsc-lite gamin avahi hal dbus
yum groupremove "Dialup Networking Support"

pkill gpm
echo "exit 0" >> /etc/sysconfig/mouse

Bind portmap to localhost:

echo "PMAP_ARGS=-l" >> /etc/sysconfig/portmap
/etc/init.d/portmap restart

Install missing packages:

TBD

EPEL

Additional repositories are available. To add the EPEL repository (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux):

rpm -hiv http://fedora.mirrors.pair.com/epel/5/i386/epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm

Get the PGP key as well:

gpg --recv-key 217521F6
gpg --export --armor 217521F6 > foo
rpm --import foo && rm foo

To list all the available packages from this repository:

$ yum -C repolist
repo id     repo name                                     status
base        CentOS-5 - Base                               2,725
epel        Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 5 - i386  5,827
extras      CentOS-5 - Extras                               282
updates     CentOS-5 - Updates                              858
repolist: 9,692

$ yum -C list | grep epel | less
[...]

Updating

 yum clean all
 yum upgrade                              # short for yum update --obsoletes

Upgrading

Upgrading from one major version to another is not recommended. The Migration Guide covers this topic extensively.

See also

• Fedora