Features

RPM Support includes a number of features that are not found in the generic Pulp platform, the most important of which are described below.

Types

Pulp RPM supports the following types:

• RPM

• DRPM

• SRPM

• Erratum

• Distribution

• Package Group

• Package Category

• Modules and module defaults

Errata

Red Hat provides security, bug fix, and enhancement updates for supported Red Hat Enterprise products. These security updates are provided through the Red Hat CDN, and are described by errata. Pulp supports these errata types with a number of related features.

Errata are synchronized from upstream repositories. Errata can also be copied from one repository to another. Administrators can also upload their own errata to a repository. Please see the Recipes documentation to learn how to perform these operations.

Modularity

Pulp supports the following modularity repository content management use cases:

• synchronization of the modularity metadata content, the repodata/*modules.yaml.gz file, with either immediate or on-demand synchronization

• publication of the modularity metadata with the repository publication

• copy of one or more modules and/or module defaults between the repositories

• removal of one or more modules and/or module defaults from the repository; RPMs related to a module are also removed to preserve consistency of a module

• upload of one or more modules and/or module defaults into the repository

• modules published through Pulp are consumable by the dnf client

Boolean (rich) dependencies

Pulp supports RPM content with boolean dependencies in these basic repository and content management use cases:

• synchronization, publication and content upload

• copying content between repositories

• displaying boolean dependencies

• providing the content to the dnf client to process boolean dependencies

Advanced copy between repositories

There are content types in RPM plugin which relate to each other in some way, so there are use cases when not only a specific content unit should be copied but also content units related to it. In such cases a recursive flag should be used during copy operation.

In a simple case the result of such API call copies unit and units directly related to it. There are more complicated relations and behavior may vary depending on the content and the type of a recursive flag. More information about such cases below.

RPM dependencies

An RPM can depend on other RPMs.

dependencies: foo.rpm -> bar.rpm -> baz.rpm

repo A
  |
  |----foo-1.0.rpm
  |----bar-1.0.rpm
  |----baz-1.0.rpm


repo B
  |
  |----bar-0.7.rpm

Use case #1: copy RPM itself

Flag to use: None

Result of copying foo-1.0.rpm from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm

Use case #2: copy RPM and all its latest RPM dependencies

Flag to use: recursive

Result of copying foo-1.0.rpm from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm
 |----bar-1.0.rpm
 |----baz-1.0.rpm

Use case #3: copy RPM and its latest missing RPM dependencies

Flag to use: recursive_conservative

Result of copying foo-1.0.rpm from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm
 |----baz-1.0.rpm

Modules and their artifacts (RPMs), simple case

A Module lists artifacts it consists of.

Simple case (no RPM dependencies, no module dependencies).

module-FOO: [foo-1.0.rpm]

repo A
  |
  |----module-FOO
  |----foo-1.0.rpm


repo B
  |
  |----bar-0.7.rpm

Use case #1: copy module itself (and all its available artifacts are copied as well)

Flag to use: None

Result of copying module-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----module-FOO
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm

All available artifacts are copied, always. There is no way to copy just module on its own,
if any of its artifacts are present in a source repo (repo A).

Modules and their artifacts (RPMs), complicated case 1

A Module lists artifacts it consists of.

Complicated case 1 (RPM dependencies, no module dependencies).

dependencies: foo.rpm -> bar.rpm -> baz.rpm
module-FOO: [foo-1.0.rpm]

repo A
  |
  |----module-FOO
  |----foo-1.0.rpm
  |----bar-1.0.rpm
  |----baz-1.0.rpm

repo B
  |
  |----bar-0.7.rpm

Use case #1: copy module and its artifacts and artifacts’ latest dependencies

Flag to use: recursive

Result of copying module-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----module-FOO
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm
 |----bar-1.0.rpm
 |----baz-1.0.rpm

Use case #2: copy module and its artifacts and artifacts’ missing RPM dependencies

Flag to use: recursive_conservative

Result of copying module-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----module-FOO
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm
 |----baz-1.0.rpm

Modules and their artifacts (RPMs), complicated case 2

A Module lists artifacts it consists of.

A Module can depend on other Modules.

Complicated case 2 (RPM dependencies, module dependencies).

dependencies: foo.rpm -> bar.rpm -> baz.rpm
              module-FOO -> module-XXX
module-FOO: [foo-1.0.rpm]
module-XXX: [xxx-1.0.rpm, yyy-1.0.rpm]

repo A
  |
  |----module-FOO
  |----module-XXX
  |----foo-1.0.rpm
  |----bar-1.0.rpm
  |----baz-1.0.rpm
  |----xxx-1.0.rpm
  |----yyy-1.0.rpm

repo B
  |
  |----bar-0.7.rpm

Use case #1: copy module and its artifacts

and module dependencies

and artifacts’ latest dependencies

Flag to use: recursive

Result of copying module-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----module-FOO
 |----module-XXX
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm
 |----bar-1.0.rpm
 |----baz-1.0.rpm
 |----xxx-1.0.rpm
 |----yyy-1.0.rpm

Use case #2: copy module and its artifacts

and module dependencies

and artifacts’ missing dependencies

Flag to use: recursive_conservative

Result of copying module-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----module-FOO
 |----module-XXX
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm
 |----baz-1.0.rpm
 |----xxx-1.0.rpm
 |----yyy-1.0.rpm

Note

Irrespective of which flag is used and which RPMs are in a destination repo, all module artifacts are copied. recursive and recursive_conservative process differently RPM-to-RPM dependencies only. Flags recursive and recursive_conservative can be used together, recursive_conservative takes precedence.

Erratum and related RPMs/Modules

Erratum references RPMs and/or Modules.

An Erratum lists RPMs which are suggested to be updated.

In case a Module should be updated, an Erratum lists a Module and all its artifacts.

In case of a recursive copy in addition to the copy of Erratum itself, referenced RPMs and Modules are copied as well similar to the rules and examples explained in previous sections.

Non-modular Errata and related RPMs, simple case

A non-modular Erratum lists RPMs which are suggested to be updated.

Simple case (no RPM dependencies).

erratum-FOO: [foo-1.0.rpm]

repo A
  |
  |----erratum-FOO
  |----foo-1.0.rpm


repo B
  |
  |----foo-0.7.rpm

Use case #1 (not recommended): copy erratum itself

Flag to use: None

Result of copying erratum-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----erratum-FOO
 |----foo-0.7.rpm

Erratum is copied, while its related RPM is not!
RPMs which are suggested for update are not in repo B!
Copy this way when you know what you are doing and why.

Use case #2: copy erratum and its related RPMs

Flag to use: recursive or recursive_conservative

Result of copying erratum-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----erratum-FOO
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----foo-0.7.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm

Even though older version of foo is in the repo B,
with any recursive flag foo-1.0 is copied anyway
because erratum-FOO refers to it.

Non-modular Errata and related RPMs, complicated case

A non-modular Erratum lists RPMs which are suggested to be updated.

Complicated case (RPM dependencies).

dependencies: foo.rpm -> bar.rpm -> baz.rpm
erratum-FOO: [foo-1.0.rpm]

repo A
  |
  |----erratum-FOO
  |----foo-1.0.rpm
  |----bar-1.0.rpm
  |----baz-1.0.rpm


repo B
  |
  |----foo-0.7.rpm
  |----bar-0.7.rpm

Use case #1: copy erratum and related RPMs and RPMs’ latest dependencies

Flag to use: recursive

Result of copying erratum-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----erratum-FOO
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----bar-1.0.rpm
 |----baz-1.0.rpm
 |----foo-0.7.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm

Use case #2: copy erratum and related RPMs and RPMs’ missing dependencies

Flag to use: recursive_conservative

Result of copying module-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----erratum-FOO
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----baz-1.0.rpm
 |----foo-0.7.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm

Modular Errata and related Modules/RPMs, simple case

A modular Erratum lists a Module (which is suggested to be updated) and its artifacts.

Simple case (no RPM dependencies, no modular dependencies).

erratum-FOO: module-FOO
module-FOO: [foo-1.0.rpm]

repo A
  |
  |----erratum-FOO
  |----module-FOO
  |----foo-1.0.rpm


repo B
  |
  |----foo-0.7.rpm

Use case #1 (not recommended): copy erratum itself

Flag to use: None

Result of copying erratum-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----erratum-FOO
 |----foo-0.7.rpm

Erratum is copied, while its related Modules is not!
Module which is suggested for update is not in a repo B!
Copy this way when you know what you are doing and why.

Use case #2: copy erratum and its related Modules and Module’s artifacts

Flag to use: recursive or recursive_conservative

Result of copying erratum-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----erratum-FOO
 |----module-FOO
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----foo-0.7.rpm

Modular Errata and related Modules/RPMs, complicated case 1

A modular Erratum lists a Module (which is suggested to be updated) and its artifacts.

Complicated case 1 (RPM dependencies, no module dependencies).

erratum-FOO: module-FOO
module-FOO: [foo-1.0.rpm]
dependencies: foo.rpm -> bar.rpm -> baz.rpm

repo A
  |
  |----erratum-FOO
  |----module-FOO
  |----foo-1.0.rpm
  |----bar-1.0.rpm
  |----baz-1.0.rpm

repo B
  |
  |----foo-0.7.rpm
  |----bar-0.7.rpm

Use case #1: copy erratum and related module with its artifacts and artifacts’ latest dependencies

Flag to use: recursive

Result of copying module-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----erratum-FOO
 |----module-FOO
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----bar-1.0.rpm
 |----baz-1.0.rpm
 |----foo-0.7.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm

Use case #2: copy erratum and related module with its artifacts and artifacts’ missing dependencies

Flag to use: recursive_conservative

Result of copying module-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----erratum-FOO
 |----module-FOO
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----baz-1.0.rpm
 |----foo-0.7.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm

Modular Errata and related Modules/RPMs, complicated case 2

A modular Erratum lists a Module (which is suggested to be updated) and its artifacts.

A Module can depend on other Modules.

Complicated case 2 (RPM dependencies, module dependencies).

erratum-FOO: module-FOO
module-FOO: [foo-1.0.rpm]
module-XXX: [xxx-1.0.rpm, yyy-1.0.rpm]
dependencies: foo.rpm -> bar.rpm -> baz.rpm
              module-FOO -> module-XXX

repo A
  |
  |----erratum-FOO
  |----module-FOO
  |----module-XXX
  |----foo-1.0.rpm
  |----bar-1.0.rpm
  |----baz-1.0.rpm
  |----xxx-1.0.rpm
  |----yyy-1.0.rpm

repo B
  |
  |----foo-0.7.rpm
  |----bar-0.7.rpm

Use case #1: copy erratum and module with its artifacts

and module dependencies

and artifacts’ latest dependencies

Flag to use: recursive

Result of copying module-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----erratum-FOO
 |----module-FOO
 |----module-XXX
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----bar-1.0.rpm
 |----baz-1.0.rpm
 |----xxx-1.0.rpm
 |----yyy-1.0.rpm
 |----foo-0.7.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm

Use case #2: copy erratum and module with its artifacts

and module dependencies

and artifacts’ missing dependencies

Flag to use: recursive_conservative

Result of copying module-FOO from repo A to repo B:

repo B
 |
 |----erratum-FOO
 |----module-FOO
 |----module-XXX
 |----foo-1.0.rpm
 |----baz-1.0.rpm
 |----xxx-1.0.rpm
 |----yyy-1.0.rpm
 |----foo-0.7.rpm
 |----bar-0.7.rpm

Protected Repositories

Red Hat protects its repositories with SSL-based entitlement certificates. Pulp supports both ends of that operation:

Each Pulp repository can be configured with a client entitlement certificate and key that it will use to retrieve packages from a remote repository. This is only required when the remote repository is protected, such as when connecting to the Red Hat CDN.

Pulp can be supplied a CA certificate that it will use to verify the authenticity of client certificates when clients try to access Pulp-hosted repositories. This is only required when you want to protect a Pulp-hosted repository. Repositories can have these protection settings specified individually, or they can be set globally for all RPM-related repositories.

For each Pulp-hosted repository that is protected, a consumer certificate can be supplied that will be distributed to consumers when they bind. That certificate will allow them to access the protected repository.

Package Signatures and GPG Key ID Filtering

RPM repositories have limited support for acting on package GPG signatures, including requiring packages to have GPG signatures, and whitelisting signing key IDs to only sync packages with matching signing key IDs. The signing key ID filtering feature uses the 8-character “short” key ID, which does not uniquely identify a GPG signing key. This feature does not verify package signatures.

This signature filtering is granted within the current importer settings and current import of the content, without taking into consideration content already present in the repository.

These features cannot be enable with on_demand or background download policies, since access to the package files is required to get the GPG signature information. Only the immediate download policy is compatible with signature filtering.

Export

In addition to publishing repositories as normal yum repositories over HTTP or HTTPS, it is also possible to export repositories to ISO images, which are published over HTTP or HTTPS, or to a directory on the Pulp server. Large repositories may be split into several ISOs.

Proxy Settings

When retrieving packages from a remote repository, Pulp can use a proxy and can supply basic authentication credentials to that proxy.

Bandwidth Throttling

When downloading packages from a remote source, Pulp can limit the speed at which data is transferred. The number of downloader threads can also be specified.

No Metalink Support

Pulp RPM does not support any version of Metalink when syncing. Therefore for repositories that publish Metalink data such as EPEL or Fedora RPM repositories, you cannot use the metalink url as your feed url.

Warning

Pulp is susceptible to a replay attack by either a malicious mirror or from a man-in-the-middle attack (MITM) when TLS is not used. When attacked, Pulp is presented older, legitimate packages. This forces Pulp to not receive package updates from either a malicious mirror or the non-TLS MITM. See this blog post for more details about how Metalink would mitigate this.