How to Install EPEL on Rocky Linux 9 | 8

EPEL, which stands for Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux, is an open-source and free repository that provides extra packages for Enterprise Linux that can benefit Rocky Linux 9 or 8 distributions. The following tutorial will teach you how to install and enable EPEL on your Rocky Linux desktop or server.

Recommended Steps Before Installation

Before proceeding with the tutorial, update your system to ensure all existing packages are up to date.

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh

Import EPEL & EPEL Next Repository

The first task is to install the EPEL repository. The recommendation is to install both repositories. Ensure you match your version of Rocky Linux with the correct EPEL repository.

Import EPEL for Rocky Linux 9

First, enable the CRB.

sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb

Next, install EPEL using the following (dnf) terminal command.

sudo dnf install \

    https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm \

    https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-next-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm

Import EPEL for Rocky Linux 8

Like Rocky Linux 9, install EPEL using the following (dnf) terminal command for Rocky Linux 8 distribution.

sudo dnf install \

    https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm \

    https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-next-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm

Confirm the EPEL or EPEL Next Installation

Now that you have installed the EPEL repository, verifying the installation is a good idea. The easiest and quickest way is to use the dnf repolist command.

dnf repolist | grep epel

Example output:

epel                Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 9 - x86_64

epel-next           Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 9 - Next - x86_64

As mentioned above, the repository is shown and successfully installed.

EPEL Repository Tips

One of the handy tricks when using EPEL or EPEL Next repository is to list the available packages.

dnf --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="epel" list available

The example will find phpMyAdmin.

EPEL Example:

sudo dnf --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="epel" list available | grep -i phpMyAdmin

EPEL Next Example:

sudo dnf --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="epel-next" list available | grep -i phpMyAdmin

Example output:

phpMyAdmin.noarch                                                                        5.2.0-1.el9                          epel

Now that you have found the EPEL containing the packages you want to install, use the following command to install them straight out of the EPEL repository.

Example (Replace with your package name):

sudo dnf --enablerepo="epel" install phpMyAdmin

Alternatively, users with EPEL Next can use the following command if a newer package exists.

sudo dnf --enablerepo="epel-next" install phpMyAdmin

Note that you can often not use the –enablerepo and the standard installation command. However, this doesn’t always work when multiple options are present.

How to Remove (Uninstall) EPEL or EPEL Next

Ideally, you should not need to remove the repository once installed. However, if you must remove it, use the following command.

Remove the EPEL repository

sudo dnf remove epel-release

Remove EPEL Next repository

sudo dnf remove epel-next-release

Comments and Conclusion

For most Rocky Linux users, I would suggest installing this repository if you are sure to install additional packages from other third-party repositories, as dependencies are often required out of EPEL.

How to Install EPEL on Rocky Linux 9 | 8