how to review info for yum updates?

Joe Smith jes at martnet.com
Sat Jul 14 02:40:18 UTC 2007


I'm uncomfortable with the level of information readily available when 
an update comes down the pipe. What can be done to improve the situation?

I'm not trying to second-guess the folks who push the updates; I'm 
amazed at the high quality of the updates, but I would feel a lot better 
if I had a better idea of what was being installed and why.

Ok, so something tells me there is an update available for gimp. How can
I review the purpose and scope of the update, preferably before I tell 
yum to go ahead and install it?

Here's what I see now:
======================================================================
  Package          Arch       Version          Repository        Size
======================================================================
Installing:
  gimp             i386       2.2.16-2.fc7     updates           13 M

Transaction Summary
======================================================================
Install      0 Package(s)
Update       1 Package(s)
Remove       0 Package(s)

Total download size: 13 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y


Here's a rough example of what I'm looking for:
----------------------------------------------------
ID: gimp-SECURITY-0707121637
Name: gimp -- GNU Image Manipulation Program
Versions: 2.2.15-3.fc7 -> 2.2.16-2.fc7
Repository: Fedora 7 Updates
Size: 13M
Update: *SECURITY* Several local vulnerabilities fixed
URL: 
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2007-July/msg00260.html
----------------------------------------------------
Is this ok [y/N]: y


What I know already:
0) Set yum debuglevel=1
1) Subscribe to fedora-package-announce or check the archive
2) Check the Fedora Wiki http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FSA

Is there a news feed somewhere?

All of these are useful, but not very effective at a) focusing on the 
most important information, and b) delivering it in a way that's 
convenient when the updates are ready to be processed.

Is there something better? Something that would provide the "Update
Information" field from the email announcements, or a link to the update
announcement (or both!), right from yum or pup? As I recall, RHN and 
up2date did this very effectively.

The other key piece of information I can't seem to access easily is the 
exact package version *change*. I only see the new package 
name/version/release but not the old. If the update is a major version 
change, I'd like to be aware of it. Yes, the yum debug messages will 
give it to you, but it's a needle in a haystack.

<Joe




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