Yumfile Format

A Yumfile is a line-oriented text file. Blank lines and lines starting with # are ignored. Each non-comment line is a directive followed by an argument (except epel which is bare).

Directives

yum — Install a Package

yum <package-name>
yum <package-name>=<version>
yum <package-name> = <version>

Installs a package via dnf install -y (or yum install -y). The package is tracked in yum-bundle’s state file for cleanup and sync.

Examples:

yum vim
yum curl
yum nodejs = 18.0.0
yum python3-pip

key — Import a GPG Key

key <https-url>

Downloads a GPG key and imports it via rpm --import. Only https:// URLs are accepted.

Examples:

key https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc
key https://packages.example.com/gpg.key

repo — Add a Repository File

repo <https-url>

Downloads a .repo file from a URL and places it in /etc/yum.repos.d/. Only https:// URLs are accepted.

Examples:

repo https://packages.microsoft.com/config/rhel/9/prod.repo

baseurl — Add a Repository by Base URL

baseurl <https-url>

Creates a minimal .repo file in /etc/yum.repos.d/ with the given base URL. Useful when you have a custom repository without a pre-built .repo file.

Examples:

baseurl https://packages.example.com/el9/x86_64/

copr — Enable a COPR Repository

copr <user>/<project>

Enables a Fedora COPR community repository using dnf copr enable. Requires dnf-plugins-core to be installed. Operation is idempotent — if the .repo file already exists, the command is skipped.

Examples:

copr atim/lazygit
copr carlwgeorge/ripgrep

epel — Enable EPEL

epel

Enables EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) via dnf install -y epel-release. Automatically skipped on Fedora (where EPEL is not needed). Idempotent — skipped if epel.repo already exists.

Example:

epel

module — Enable a DNF Module

module <name>:<stream>

Enables a DNF module stream using dnf module enable. Requires DNF (RHEL 8+/Fedora). The name:stream format is required. Idempotent — skipped if the module stream is already enabled.

Examples:

module nodejs:18
module php:8.1
module postgresql:15

rpm — Install an RPM from a URL

rpm <https-url>

Installs an RPM package directly from an HTTPS URL using dnf install -y. Only https:// URLs are accepted and the URL must end with .rpm. Useful for bootstrapping repository-setup packages (e.g., epel-release, rpmfusion-*-release).

Examples:

rpm https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm
rpm https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-9.noarch.rpm

Comments

# This is a comment
yum vim  # inline comments are not supported — entire line must start with #

Complete Example

# System tools
yum vim
yum curl
yum git
yum htop

# Enable EPEL for extra packages
epel

# COPR repositories
copr atim/lazygit

# Custom repository with GPG key
key https://packages.example.com/gpg.key
baseurl https://packages.example.com/el9/

# DNF module for Node.js
module nodejs:18

# Packages from custom repo
yum nodejs
yum my-custom-package

# Bootstrap RPM
rpm https://packages.example.com/bootstrap-latest.noarch.rpm

Directive Ordering

Directives are processed in order. The recommended order is:

1. key — Import GPG keys first
2. repo / baseurl / copr — Add repositories
3. epel — Enable EPEL
4. module — Enable DNF modules
5. rpm — Install bootstrap RPMs
6. yum — Install packages

Security

All URLs (keys, repo files, baseurls, RPM installs) must use https://. Plain http:// and file:// URLs are rejected for security reasons.