Software Delivery Repository

Software Delivery Repository   |   Getting Started   |   F A Q  |  Repositories

Frequently Asked Questions



What is a yum/zypper/apt repository?

Yum, zypper and apt are software configuration managers for Linux systems. They find, download and install software packages. Also, and more importantly, they also find any dependency packages and install those as well. Yum is found on RedHat-like systems, Zypper is found on SUSE-like systems, and Apt is strictly for Debian-like (Ubuntu) systems. Yum and Zypper work with rpm packages, while apt installs deb packages.



How do I subscribe my system to a Linux software repository?

If you're using yum, you create a configuration file in /etc/yum.repos.d/. For example "/etc/yum.repos.d/spp-gen10.repo". If you're using zypper(suse), then you'll drop a very similar, if not identical file in "/etc/zypp/repos.d/". It's critical that the file extension be ".repo". Apt(ubuntu/debian) is a bit different in that you put the configuration file in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/, which contains one line, for example "deb http://downloads.linux.hpe.com/SDR/repo/hprest xenial/current non-free". Substituting xenial with your current distribution version (cat /etc/lsb-release). For the contents of the configuration file, please see the project page for the repository. The hprest configuration file, for example, is at http://downloads.linux.hpe.com/SDR/project/hprest/



How do I install a specific package once I'm subscribed?

# zypper  install package_base_name
# yum     install package_base_name
# apt-get install package_base_name



I don't know the exact name of the package, how do I search a repository?

# apt-cache search package_base_name
# zypper    search package_base_name
# yum       search package_base_name



Are these signed?

All rpm headers are signed by HPE. Zypper and Apt indexes are signed as well. Keep in mind, that it's not traditional to sign a deb package itself, so be sure to use apt-get when installing software (vs dpkg). See the next faq for information in importing public keys and verifying packages:



How do I import HPE public keys to verify indexes and packages?

All HPE public keys for downloads.linux.hpe.com may be found here: https://downloads.linux.hpe.com/SDR/keys.html



Shouldn't we be using https instead of http?

The default web protocol is http, but this is likely temporary as the community has some trust issues with our current intermediate code signing authority, meaning it wont automatically work with things like cur/wget/pycurl/etc. All artifacts you download are cryptographically signed, making a man-in-the- middle attack statistically impossible. If you want to use https, simply specify https in your url's, we support both https and http equally.



Why are there so many different versions of the spp (Service Pack for ProLiant) and fwpp (Firmware Pack for ProLiant)?

HPE split the spp (and associated fwpp) into product generations, allowing us to do more frequent drops for production servers, and less frequent, yet longer lasting bits for older servers. If you have a gen10 server, please subscribe to "spp-gen10" and/or "fwpp-gen10" repositories. If you subscribe to the "spp" repository it may not work with your generation in the (distant) future.



Why do I have to "login" to get firmware from the fwpp (Firmware Pack for ProLiant)?

An active warranty or support contract is required to access HPE ProLiant Server firmware updates. See the fwpp project page for details.



I have linked a contract to my HPE Passport account on HPESC, why am I still unable to access entitled content on SDR?

Contracts newly linked to your HPE Passport account may take up to 24 hours to reflect when accessing content on the Software Delivery Repository. After this time, if you continue to have issues accessing content for which you have linked a relevant contract, please contact support for assistance.



What's the difference between the spp (Service Pack for ProLiant), and the mcp (Management Component Pack for ProLiant)?

The spp contains drivers, agent software and firmware and is exclusively supported with RedHat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. The mcp is just the agent software, ported to a variety of commercial and community supported Linux distributions (ssacli for example). The mcp contains no drivers or firmware. You'll likely find that the distros which track the upstream kernel already have many/most of the latest ProLiant Linux drivers.



Can I mirror these repositories internally?

Of course. Use the rsync server (rsync.linux.hpe.com) to download copies of an entire repository tree. For example, rsync -avH rsync.linux.hpe.com::SDR/repo/hprest . This will create a complete copy of all the content in the hprest repo. You may also use "reposync" which is popular for importing repositories into Satellite servers.



Where can I get source code for GPL-licensed software?

Check the rpm %description field for source code locations. Each package is different in this regard. run "rpm -qip package.rpm" to see the rpm header information -- you'll find the source code url in the Description.



Can I get debuginfo rpms for reading crash dumps?

While we don't automatically publish debuginfo rpms, they are made available upon request. Our own support people use them as well. See the "Contact" button at the bottom of the project pages



I have another question not answered here, who may I contact?

Send email to The HPE Linux Lab for additional engineering support. Note, this address is strictly for content posted at http://downloads.linux.hpe.com, and not a generic support box. You'll be put in touch with other clueful open source engineers and members of the community.



The add_repo.sh script doesn't work very well.

Alas, it requires the "lsb" meta package to be installed on your host in order to identify your distribution's name. You can either install this (100MB+) content, or specfiy your distro's name on the command line. add_repo.sh may or may-not exist in the future. Let us know what you think of it (good or bad).