is yum working? unable to update a system

[William Hooper]

François Patte said:
>>> exclude=zinf* php-domxml xmms* mplayer*
>> 
>> You excluded them from which server?  It looks to me like you have
>> excluded them from one server, but not another.
> 
> No. This line in /etc/yum.conf exclude all packages listed from
> update/upgrade... from all servers.

Please do not assue you have everything set up right.  Where and what is in your yum config file?  Give us a copy of it.

>> 
>> It would also be helpful to pass the "-d" switch to get more debugging
>> output from yum.

[snip]

> One mystery remains: why yum wanted to update a package when the
> installed version was the last one available on the servers?

Impossible for us to tell, because you provided no information.  Where is the debug output?

-- 
William Hooper