How to configure EPEL repository on CentOS 8

The EPEL repository is an additional package repository that provides useful software packages that are not included in the official CentOS 8 repositories and easy access to install packages for commonly used software.

This article describes enabling EPEL on CentOS 8. It can be installed by below two methods.

Method 1. The package to enable EPEL repository is available in CentOS 8 repository and it can be installed by yum command.

Step 1. Package installation: Follow the below command to Install and Enable EPEL repository using yum:

[root@linuxcnf ~]# dnf install epel-release -y …………….. Installed:   epel-release-8-5.el8.noarch Complete! [root@linuxcnf ~]#

Step 2. Verification: Verify the installation using the below command:

[root@linuxcnf ~]# dnf repolist ……………………….. repo id                                                       repo name                                                                                           status AppStream                                                     CentOS-8 - AppStream                                                                                4,928 BaseOS                                                        CentOS-8 - Base                                                                                     2,713 *epel                                                         Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64                                                      1,706 extras                                                        CentOS-8 - Extras                                                                                       3 [root@linuxcnf ~]#

Now EPEL repository is configured.

Method 2. Download RPM package and its dependency from CentOS official site and install using rpm command. The RPM package configures EPEL repository.

Step 1. Package downloading: Run the following command to download epel-release-8-x.elx.noarch.rpm package and its dependency from CentOS official site:

[root@linuxcnf ~]# wget https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/8/Everything/x86_64/Packages/e/epel-release-8-6.el8.noarch.rpm --2019-10-02 21:49:53--  https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/8/Everything/x86_64/Packages/e/epel-release-8-6.el8.noarch.rpm Resolving dl.fedoraproject.org (dl.fedoraproject.org)... 209.132.181.24, 209.132.181.25, 209.132.181.23 Connecting to dl.fedoraproject.org (dl.fedoraproject.org)|209.132.181.24|:443... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK …………………. 2019-10-02 21:49:56 (133 KB/s) - ‘epel-release-8-6.el8.noarch.rpm’ saved [21736/21736] [root@linuxcnf ~]#

[root@linuxcnf ~]# ls anaconda-ks.cfg  epel-release-8-6.el8.noarch.rpm [root@linuxcnf ~]#

Step 2. Package installation: Install the downloaded packages one by one using rpm command:

[root@linuxcnf ~]# rpm -ivh epel-release-8-6.el8.noarch.rpm warning: epel-release-8-6.el8.noarch.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID 2f86d6a1: NOKEY Verifying...                          ################################# [100%] Preparing...                          ################################# [100%] Updating / installing...    1:epel-release-8-6.el8             ################################# [100%] [root@linuxcnf ~]#

Step 3. Verification: Run the following command to verify the installation of EPEL repository:

[root@linuxcnf ~]# dnf repolist ……………. repo id                                                       repo name                                                                                           status AppStream                                                     CentOS-8 - AppStream                                                                                4,928 BaseOS                                                        CentOS-8 - Base                                                                                     2,713 *epel                                                         Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64                                                      1,706 extras                                                        CentOS-8 - Extras                                                                                       3 [root@linuxcnf ~]#

Done!!! Now the EPEL repository is configured.