now KDE packages can't be updated via "yum"

[Michael Schwendt]

On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 17:15:19 -0400 (EDT), Robert P. J. Day wrote:

> On Thu, 28 Jul 2005, David Cary Hart wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 2005-07-28 at 16:31 -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> > >   this is starting to get kind of tiresome.  having followed the
> > > instructions at:
> > >
> > >   http://kde-redhat.sourceforge.net/
> > >
> > > to add a repo file for the KDE yum repos, i did:
> > >
> > >   # yum list updates
> > >
> > > and got a pile of KDE-related rpms that could be updated.  terrific, i
> > > think, go for it:
> >
> > These are NOT official Fedora packages. Fedora maintainers cannot be
> > responsible for compatibility with third party compilations.
> 
> oh, i understand that.  mine was a general nit regarding the numerous
> repos that are being created with undocumented dependencies on yet
> *other* repos.

You've run into one of the infamous "repository mixing problems".
Consider yourself lucky that you've come to a halt early, at the
dependency level. Weird run-time misbehaviour is less funny.

The thing here is _not_ that there are "undocumented dependencies" between
repositories. Actually, kde-redhat does not depend on any other repository
except Fedora Core and Fedora Core Updates. If I remember correctly, it
started out as a KDE replacement project and added some extra packages in
a similar way like rpm.livna.org and fedora.us have done it. Other 3rd
party repos do not have undocumented requirements either. For instance,
rpm.livna.org requires Fedora Extras and Fedora Core, and that is
documented.

The problem is overlapping content in repositories, which are either not
meant to be used together or which are not tested for compatibility at
all. The problem gets worse when a repository replaces Fedora Core
packages and moves you farther away from the tested base distribution.