EPEL and Third-Party Repositories

Applies to CentOS Stream 9 & 10 / AlmaLinux 9.x & 10.x / Rocky Linux 9.x & 10.x

The official EL repositories prioritize stability and include a limited number of packages. EPEL and other third-party repositories can significantly expand the range of available software. This article explains how to use these repositories safely.

What You Will Learn

• What EPEL is and why you need it
• How to install and enable EPEL
• Other commonly used third-party repositories (RPM Fusion, Remi, ELRepo)
• Security considerations when using third-party repositories

Prerequisites

• A system with EL 9.x installed
• A user account with sudo privileges
• The system is connected to the internet
• Familiarity with DNF Basics and Repository Management

What is EPEL

EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) is a supplementary software repository maintained by the Fedora community. It provides high-quality packages for RHEL/EL systems that are not available in the official repositories.

Key characteristics of EPEL:

• Reliable: Officially maintained by the Fedora Project with quality assurance
• Extensive: Provides thousands of additional packages
• Secure: All packages are GPG-signed
• Compatible: Does not replace packages from the official repositories; serves only as a supplement

Common EPEL-exclusive packages include: htop, neofetch, certbot, fail2ban, ansible, and more.

Installing EPEL

1. Enable the CRB repository

   Many packages in EPEL depend on development libraries from the CRB (CodeReady Builder) repository, so it is recommended to enable it first:

   Enable the CRB repository

   $ sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb

2. Install EPEL

   Install the EPEL repository

   $ sudo dnf install -y epel-release

3. Verify the installation

   Confirm EPEL is enabled

   $ dnf repolist | grep epel

   Example output:

   epel                  Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 9 - x86_64

4. Refresh the cache

   Update the metadata cache

   $ sudo dnf makecache

Note

On CentOS Stream 9, epel-release is included in the default repositories and can be installed directly. The same applies to AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux.

Using Packages from EPEL

Once EPEL is installed, you can install packages from it just like you would from the official repositories:

Install htop from EPEL

$ sudo dnf install htop

Search for packages in EPEL

$ dnf search --repo=epel fail2ban

List all available packages in the EPEL repository

$ dnf list available --repo=epel | head -30

Check which repository a package comes from

$ dnf info htop

In the output, the Repository field will show epel.

Installing Only from EPEL

If you want to install a package exclusively from EPEL (avoiding other repositories):

Install from a specific repository

$ sudo dnf install --repo=epel certbot

RPM Fusion

RPM Fusion provides software that the Fedora and EL official repositories cannot include due to licensing or patent restrictions, such as multimedia codecs and proprietary drivers.

RPM Fusion consists of two repositories:

• free: Open-source software that is not included in the official repositories for other reasons
• nonfree: Non-free/proprietary software

1. Install the RPM Fusion free repository

   Install RPM Fusion free

   $ sudo dnf install -y \
       https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %{rhel}).noarch.rpm

2. Install the RPM Fusion nonfree repository (optional)

   Install RPM Fusion nonfree

   $ sudo dnf install -y \
       https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/el/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %{rhel}).noarch.rpm

3. Verify

   Confirm RPM Fusion repositories have been added

   $ dnf repolist | grep rpmfusion

   Example output:

   rpmfusion-free-updates          RPM Fusion for EL 9 - Free - Updates
   rpmfusion-nonfree-updates       RPM Fusion for EL 9 - Nonfree - Updates

Tip

RPM Fusion is less commonly used in server environments and is primarily intended for multimedia support on desktop systems. For servers, EPEL is usually sufficient.

Remi Repository

The Remi repository is maintained by Remi Collet and primarily provides the latest versions of PHP and related extensions. It is an essential tool for PHP developers.

1. Install the Remi repository

   Install the Remi repository

   $ sudo dnf install -y \
       https://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-$(rpm -E %{rhel}).rpm

2. View available PHP versions

   List PHP module streams provided by Remi

   $ dnf module list php

   Example output:

   Remi's Modular repository for Enterprise Linux 9 - x86_64
   Name  Stream    Profiles                    Summary
   php   remi-8.1  common [d], devel, minimal  PHP scripting language
   php   remi-8.2  common [d], devel, minimal  PHP scripting language
   php   remi-8.3  common [d], devel, minimal  PHP scripting language
   php   remi-8.4  common [d], devel, minimal  PHP scripting language

3. Enable a specific PHP version and install

   EL 9 (module streams available):

   Reset the PHP module and enable PHP 8.3

   $ sudo dnf module reset php
   $ sudo dnf module enable php:remi-8.3
   $ sudo dnf install -y php php-cli php-fpm php-mysqlnd php-opcache

   EL 10 (no modular content — install the versioned packages directly):

   EL 10: install PHP 8.3 packages from Remi directly

   $ sudo dnf install -y php83 php83-php-cli php83-php-fpm php83-php-mysqlnd php83-php-opcache

4. Verify

   Confirm the PHP version

   $ php -v

ELRepo

ELRepo focuses on hardware-related packages, including kernel modules, graphics drivers, and other hardware drivers.

1. Import the GPG key

   Import the ELRepo GPG key

   $ sudo rpm --import https://www.elrepo.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-elrepo.org

2. Install ELRepo

   Install the ELRepo repository

   $ sudo dnf install -y \
       https://www.elrepo.org/elrepo-release-9.el9.elrepo.noarch.rpm

3. View available kernel packages

   The most common use of ELRepo is to provide the latest mainline kernel (kernel-ml) and long-term support kernel (kernel-lt):

   View available kernel packages in ELRepo

   $ dnf list available --repo=elrepo-kernel

Caution

Think carefully before using ELRepo to install a non-default kernel. Custom kernels may not be fully compatible with all EL software and can introduce additional complexity during system upgrades. Only consider using them when you genuinely need newer kernel features.

Using Third-Party Repositories Safely

Choose Trusted Repositories

Not all third-party repositories are trustworthy. When selecting a repository, consider:

• Maintainer reputation: Is it maintained by a well-known individual or organization?
• Community recognition: Is it widely used and recommended?
• Update frequency: Is it actively maintained?
• GPG signing: Are all packages signed?

Caution

Never add repositories from unknown sources. Malicious repositories can install backdoors on your system through tampered packages.

Always Enable GPG Verification

Check that all repositories have GPG checking enabled

$ grep -r "gpgcheck" /etc/yum.repos.d/ | grep "gpgcheck=0"

If any repository has GPG checking disabled, change gpgcheck=0 to gpgcheck=1.

Use Repository Priorities

Prevent third-party repository packages from overriding official packages:

Set a lower priority for EPEL

$ sudo dnf config-manager --save --setopt=epel.priority=20

Exclude Specific Packages

If you do not want a third-party repository to affect certain packages, use the exclude configuration:

Edit the EPEL configuration to exclude kernel-related packages

$ sudo vi /etc/yum.repos.d/epel.repo

Add the following under the [epel] section:

exclude=kernel* kmod*

Periodically Audit Repositories

View how many installed packages come from each repository

$ dnf list installed | awk '{print $3}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn

View installed packages from a specific repository

$ dnf list installed --repo=epel

Common Issues

EPEL Installation Error: “No match for argument”

On some minimal installations, you may need to install epel-release from the base repository first:

On AlmaLinux/Rocky Linux

$ sudo dnf install -y epel-release

If that still fails, install the RPM manually:

Manually install the EPEL RPM

$ sudo dnf install -y \
    https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm

Third-Party Packages Conflict with Official Repository Packages

If you encounter package conflicts:

Check the source repository of a package

$ dnf info <package-name>

Use versionlock to lock a specific version

$ sudo dnf install -y python3-dnf-plugin-versionlock
$ sudo dnf versionlock add <package-name>

View locked packages

$ dnf versionlock list

How to Completely Remove a Third-Party Repository

Using EPEL removal as an example

$ sudo dnf remove epel-release
$ sudo rm -f /etc/yum.repos.d/epel*.repo
$ sudo dnf clean all

Note

Removing the repository configuration does not uninstall packages that were already installed from that repository. If you need a complete cleanup, you must manually uninstall the related packages.

Further Reading

• Repository Management — Detailed repository configuration
• DNF Package Management Basics — Everyday package management operations
• RPM Basics — Low-level package management tool
• EPEL official wiki: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/epel/
• Remi repository website: https://rpms.remirepo.net/

EL 10 Notes: EPEL 10

EPEL 10 is a separate repository from EPEL 9. Key differences:

• Fewer packages initially: EPEL 10 starts with significantly fewer packages than EPEL 9 — some common tools may not yet be ported
• Same installation method: Running dnf install epel-release on an EL 10 system automatically installs EPEL 10
• Third-party repos (Remi, RPM Fusion): EL 10 support may lag — check availability before use

Install EPEL 10 on EL 10

$ sudo dnf install -y epel-release
$ dnf repolist | grep epel
# Output should show "Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 10"

Caution

If a package you depend on is available in EPEL 9 but missing from EPEL 10, check the EPEL package tracker at packages.fedoraproject.org to see the porting status, or consider installing from source.