Documentation

yum - Manages packages with the yum package manager

Synopsis

  • Installs, upgrade, downgrades, removes, and lists packages and groups with the yum package manager.
  • This module only works on Python 2. If you require Python 3 support see the dnf module.

Options

parameter required default choices comments
allow_downgrade
(added in 2.4)
 no no
  • yes
  • no
Specify if the named package and version is allowed to downgrade a maybe already installed higher version of that package. Note that setting allow_downgrade=True can make this module behave in a non-idempotent way. The task could end up with a set of packages that does not match the complete list of specified packages to install (because dependencies between the downgraded package and others can cause changes to the packages which were in the earlier transaction).
conf_file
 no
The remote yum configuration file to use for the transaction.
disable_gpg_check
 no no
  • yes
  • no
Whether to disable the GPG checking of signatures of packages being installed. Has an effect only if state is present or latest.
disablerepo
 no
Repoid of repositories to disable for the install/update operation. These repos will not persist beyond the transaction. When specifying multiple repos, separate them with a ",".
enablerepo
 no
Repoid of repositories to enable for the install/update operation. These repos will not persist beyond the transaction. When specifying multiple repos, separate them with a ",".
exclude
(added in 2.0)
 no
Package name(s) to exclude when state=present, or latest
installroot
(added in 2.3)
 no /
Specifies an alternative installroot, relative to which all packages will be installed.
list
 no
Package name to run the equivalent of yum list <package> against.
name
 yes
Package name, or package specifier with version, like name-1.0. If a previous version is specified, the task also needs to turn allow_downgrade on. See the allow_downgrade documentation for caveats with downgrading packages. When using state=latest, this can be '*' which means run yum -y update. You can also pass a url or a local path to a rpm file (using state=present). To operate on several packages this can accept a comma separated list of packages or (as of 2.0) a list of packages.

aliases: pkg
security
(added in 2.4)
 no no
  • yes
  • no
If set to yes, and state=latest then only installs updates that have been marked security related.
skip_broken
(added in 2.3)
 no no
  • yes
  • no
Resolve depsolve problems by removing packages that are causing problems from the trans‐ action.
state
 no present
  • present
  • installed
  • latest
  • absent
  • removed
Whether to install (present or installed, latest), or remove (absent or removed) a package.
update_cache
(added in 1.9)
 no no
  • yes
  • no
Force yum to check if cache is out of date and redownload if needed. Has an effect only if state is present or latest.

aliases: expire-cache
validate_certs
(added in 2.1)
 no yes
  • yes
  • no
This only applies if using a https url as the source of the rpm. e.g. for localinstall. If set to no, the SSL certificates will not be validated.
This should only set to no used on personally controlled sites using self-signed certificates as it avoids verifying the source site.
Prior to 2.1 the code worked as if this was set to yes.

Examples

- name: install the latest version of Apache
  yum:
    name: httpd
    state: latest

- name: remove the Apache package
  yum:
    name: httpd
    state: absent

- name: install the latest version of Apache from the testing repo
  yum:
    name: httpd
    enablerepo: testing
    state: present

- name: install one specific version of Apache
  yum:
    name: httpd-2.2.29-1.4.amzn1
    state: present

- name: upgrade all packages
  yum:
    name: '*'
    state: latest

- name: upgrade all packages, excluding kernel & foo related packages
  yum:
    name: '*'
    state: latest
    exclude: kernel*,foo*

- name: install the nginx rpm from a remote repo
  yum:
    name: http://nginx.org/packages/centos/6/noarch/RPMS/nginx-release-centos-6-0.el6.ngx.noarch.rpm
    state: present

- name: install nginx rpm from a local file
  yum:
    name: /usr/local/src/nginx-release-centos-6-0.el6.ngx.noarch.rpm
    state: present

- name: install the 'Development tools' package group
  yum:
    name: "@Development tools"
    state: present

- name: install the 'Gnome desktop' environment group
  yum:
    name: "@^gnome-desktop-environment"
    state: present

- name: List ansible packages and register result to print with debug later.
  yum:
    list: ansible
  register: result

Notes

Note

  • When used with a loop of package names in a playbook, ansible optimizes the call to the yum module. Instead of calling the module with a single package each time through the loop, ansible calls the module once with all of the package names from the loop.
  • In versions prior to 1.9.2 this module installed and removed each package given to the yum module separately. This caused problems when packages specified by filename or url had to be installed or removed together. In 1.9.2 this was fixed so that packages are installed in one yum transaction. However, if one of the packages adds a new yum repository that the other packages come from (such as epel-release) then that package needs to be installed in a separate task. This mimics yum’s command line behaviour.
  • Yum itself has two types of groups. “Package groups” are specified in the rpm itself while “environment groups” are specified in a separate file (usually by the distribution). Unfortunately, this division becomes apparent to ansible users because ansible needs to operate on the group of packages in a single transaction and yum requires groups to be specified in different ways when used in that way. Package groups are specified as “@development-tools” and environment groups are “@^gnome-desktop-environment”. Use the “yum group list” command to see which category of group the group you want to install falls into.

Status

This module is flagged as stableinterface which means that the maintainers for this module guarantee that no backward incompatible interface changes will be made.

Maintenance Info

For more information about Red Hat’s this support of this module, please refer to this knowledge base article<https://access.redhat.com/articles/rhel-top-support-policies>

For help in developing on modules, should you be so inclined, please read Community Information & Contributing, Testing Ansible and Developing Modules.