Bug: epel repo missing $releasever_major and $releasever_minor values

Development HQ 10 beta
1

I think I found a bug in the current state of AlmaLinux 10 Beta, related to epel10 repository.

System: Intel x86_64 (i5-7200U CPU)

Installation source: AlmaLinux-Kitten-10-20241227.0-x86_64-minimal.iso
Installation type: @^minimal-environment
To reproduce, on fresh install perform:

  • dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb
  • dnf install -y epel-release
  • dnf clean all
  • pkcon refresh

output:

Fatal error: Failed to download gpg key for repo ‘epel’: Curl error (37): Could not read a file:// file for file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-$releasever_major [Couldn’t open file /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-$releasever_major]

Consequence:

Although dnf functions properly and performs search/install/update without a problem, pkcon fails. Result: in cockpit, software updates fail.

Workaround:

The error is caused by missing values for $releasever_major and $releasever_minor. (possibly others ?)
Initially I set hardcoded version 10 with:

echo “10” > /etc/dnf/vars/releasever
sed -i ‘s|$releasever_major|10|g’ /etc/yum.repos.d/epel.repo

However, then we run into:

Fatal error: cannot update repo ‘epel’: Cannot prepare internal mirrorlist: Status code: 404 for https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=epel-10${releasever_minor:+.**$releasever_minor**}&arch=x86_64 (IP: 18.133.140.134); Last error: Status code: 404 for https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=epel-10${releasever_minor:+.**$releasever_minor**}&arch=x86_64 (IP: 185.141.165.254)

In the end I decided to apply:

sed -i 's|\$releasever_major|10|g' /etc/yum.repos.d/epel.repo # Set hardcoded major version
and:
sed -i 's|\${releasever_minor:+\.$releasever_minor}||g' /etc/yum.repos.d/epel.repo # Remove minor version

With these changes, pkcon seems happy again.

I’m new to this, never reported a bug before, so if I’m in the wrong place, I’ll be happy to follow directions. Cheers!

2

This error seems specific to AlmaLinux, as playing with RHEL-10.0-Beta for some time, and I doesn’t encounter such issue (I will try the beta iso soon)

  • releaserver set to 10
  • releaserver_major set to 10
  • releaserver_minor not set

Warning:

Using “10” for EPEL is bad as it will pull 10.1 packages, build against CentOS Stream

Using “10.0” is OK for EPEL but will means no update to next point release

I’ve tried to raise the discussion on EPEL devel mailing list
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/epel-devel@lists.fedoraproject.org/thread/7HPSCQDLFOZWNF4WACDDMULJCXZDVJRP/

2 Likes
3

Just tried AlmaLinux-10.0-beta-1-x86_64-dvd.iso
and everything works as expected (like RHEL)

  • releaserver set to 10
  • releaserver_major set to 10
  • releaserver_minor not set

So EPEL works, but 10.1 builds are pulled by default.

# dnf install waf
...
=================================================================================================
 Package           Architecture         Version                         Repository          Size
=================================================================================================
Installing:
 waf               noarch               2.1.2-2.el10_1                  epel               900 k

Transaction Summary
=================================================================================================

Workaround:

# echo "10.0" >/etc/yum/vars/releasever
# dnf install waf --refresh
...
Dependencies resolved.
=================================================================================================
 Package           Architecture         Version                         Repository          Size
=================================================================================================
Installing:
 waf               noarch               2.1.2-2.el10_0                  epel               900 k

Transaction Summary
=================================================================================================
4

i’ll try dvd-release too later today… thanks for the feedback!