== An irritation with _yum localupdate_

One of the few things that keeps me running while I am [[only on
dialup DSLNeed]] is '_yum localupdate_'. With a combination of
'_yum check-update_' and '_yum localupdate_' I can get a list of
what RPMs I need to update, pull down copies of those RPMs at
work, dump them onto a [[USB key ../sysadmin/NamingTheKeys]],
take them home, and then update them locally.

In theory.

In practice, '_yum localupdate_' seems to sometimes ignore RPMs
that I've supplied on the command line if they're merely things
that need to be installed for dependencies. Then, of course, it
insists on downloading them again, over my slow PPP link, which
causes me to use rude language, hit ^C and ^\ a lot, and (this
time) finally end up using _kill -9_ on yum to get it to stop
([[insert rant here ../sysadmin/RespectingSignals]]).

Part of the problem is that _yum localupdate_ doesn't really give
any clear picture of what it's going to do, since it is hijacking
status displays not intended to draw a distinction between stuff
that will be downloaded and stuff that doesn't need to be; this
means that things like the 'amount to be downloaded' line have no
useful information.

(Perhaps this is a sign that I should just use '_rpm -U_', since
I suppose it's not as if yum is doing anything for me in this
situation; I already should have the full set of dependencies.)