RHEL 7: How to solve a yum multilib issue

Question

I'm trying to install texlive-xetex on a RHEL 7.5 server. This server was "setup" for me in advance.

However, when I try the install it complains that texlive-kpathsea-lib is protected.

[root@hostname ~]#  yum install -y texlive-xetex
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, search-disabled-repos, subscription-manager, tmprepo
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package texlive-xetex.noarch 2:svn26330.0.9997.5-38.el7 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: tex-xetexconfig for package: 2:texlive-xetex-svn26330.0.9997.5-38.el7.noarch
--> Processing Dependency: texlive-xetex-bin for package: 2:texlive-xetex-svn26330.0.9997.5-38.el7.noarch
--> Running transaction check
---> Package texlive-xetex-bin.x86_64 2:svn26912.0-38.20130427_r30134.el7 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: texlive-kpathsea-lib = 2:2012-38.20130427_r30134.el7 for package: 2:texlive-xetex-bin-svn26912.0-38.20130427_r30134.el7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: teckit for package: 2:texlive-xetex-bin-svn26912.0-38.20130427_r30134.el7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libTECkit.so.0()(64bit) for package: 2:texlive-xetex-bin-svn26912.0-38.20130427_r30134.el7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libicudata.so.50()(64bit) for package: 2:texlive-xetex-bin-svn26912.0-38.20130427_r30134.el7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libicui18n.so.50()(64bit) for package: 2:texlive-xetex-bin-svn26912.0-38.20130427_r30134.el7.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libicuuc.so.50()(64bit) for package: 2:texlive-xetex-bin-svn26912.0-38.20130427_r30134.el7.x86_64
---> Package texlive-xetexconfig.noarch 2:svn28819.0-38.el7 will be installed
--> Running transaction check
---> Package libicu.x86_64 0:50.1.2-17.el7 will be installed
---> Package teckit.x86_64 0:2.5.1-11.el7 will be installed
---> Package texlive-kpathsea-lib.i686 2:2012-38.20130427_r30134.el7 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Error:  Multilib version problems found. This often means that the root
       cause is something else and multilib version checking is just
       pointing out that there is a problem. Eg.:

         1. You have an upgrade for texlive-kpathsea-lib which is missing some
            dependency that another package requires. Yum is trying to
            solve this by installing an older version of texlive-kpathsea-lib of the
            different architecture. If you exclude the bad architecture
            yum will tell you what the root cause is (which package
            requires what). You can try redoing the upgrade with
            --exclude texlive-kpathsea-lib.otherarch ... this should give you an error
            message showing the root cause of the problem.

         2. You have multiple architectures of texlive-kpathsea-lib installed, but
            yum can only see an upgrade for one of those architectures.
            If you don't want/need both architectures anymore then you
            can remove the one with the missing update and everything
            will work.

         3. You have duplicate versions of texlive-kpathsea-lib installed already.
            You can use "yum check" to get yum show these errors.

       ...you can also use --setopt=protected_multilib=false to remove
       this checking, however this is almost never the correct thing to
       do as something else is very likely to go wrong (often causing
       much more problems).

       Protected multilib versions: 2:texlive-kpathsea-lib-2012-38.20130427_r30134.el7.i686 != 2:texlive-kpathsea-lib-2012-43.20130427_r30134.el7.x86_64

However, I only have kpathsea-lib X86_64 installed.

[root@hostname ~]# rpm -qa | grep -i kpathsea
texlive-kpathsea-svn28792.0-43.el7.noarch
texlive-kpathsea-bin-svn27347.0-43.20130427_r30134.el7.x86_64
texlive-kpathsea-lib-2012-43.20130427_r30134.el7.x86_64

It looks to me like it wants to install kpathsea-lib.i686. So, I check a few things:

[root@hostname ~]# yum check
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, search-disabled-repos, subscription-manager, tmprepo
check all

[root@hostname ~]# yum check --showduplicates
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, search-disabled-repos, subscription-manager, tmprepo
check all

[root@hostname ~]# rpm -qa --dupes
gpg-pubkey.(none)
kernel-devel.x86_64
kernel.x86_64

[root@hostname ~]# package-cleanup --cleandupes
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, subscription-manager
No duplicates to remove

The repo list is:

Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, search-disabled-repos, subscription-manager, tmprepo
repo id                                        repo name                                                          status
epel/x86_64                                    Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 7 - x86_64                     13,225
pgdg10/7Server/x86_64                          PostgreSQL 10 7Server - x86_64                                        719
pgdg11/7Server/x86_64                          PostgreSQL 11 7Server - x86_64                                        546
pgdg94/7Server/x86_64                          PostgreSQL 9.4 7Server - x86_64                                       788
pgdg95/7Server/x86_64                          PostgreSQL 9.5 7Server - x86_64                                       781
pgdg96/7Server/x86_64                          PostgreSQL 9.6 7Server - x86_64                                       785
remi-php72                                     Remi's PHP 7.2 RPM repository for Enterprise Linux 7 - x86_64         370
remi-safe                                      Safe Remi's RPM repository for Enterprise Linux 7 - x86_64          3,451
rhel-7-server-eus-optional-rpms/7Server/x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server - Extended Update Support - Opti 13,684
rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64              Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server (RPMs)                           24,345
repolist: 58,694

However, now I'm stuck. Any help or recommendations most welcome.

Thank you.

Answer 1

The obvious problem I see in your list of repos is that the system has only partially been set up for extended update support repos:

rhel-7-server-eus-optional-rpms/7Server/x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server - Extended Update Support - Opti 13,684
rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64              Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server (RPMs)                           24,345

The optional channel is on EUS but the base channel is not.

Because the package texlive-xetex-bin is in the optional channel, and the package it depends on texlive-kpathsea-lib is in the base channel, you are getting this version mismatch.

To solve the problem, you should either switch the base channel to EUS, if the system is entitled for EUS, or switch the optional channel off EUS (and allow the system to update to RHEL 7.6).

For example, to go on to EUS:

subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-server-eus-rpms
subscription-manager repos --disable=rhel-7-server-rpms
subscription-manager release --set=7.5

Or to go off EUS:

subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-server-optional-rpms
subscription-manager repos --disable=rhel-7-server-eus-optional-rpms
subscription-manager release --unset

For further information see this Red Hat KB article: How to tie a system to a specific update of Red Hat Enterprise Linux?