title: Installing EPEL repository on Centos 7 breaks yum functionality?
body: <p>so I am trying to setup up a ssh bastion server, but I have problem setting up EPEL in order to install Python3.6.</p>
  
  <p>I am using <code>CentOS Linux release 7.4.1708 (Core)</code></p>
  
  <p>So I am trying to install <strong>EPEL</strong> first by using
  <code>sudo yum -y install epel-release</code> (I did of course <code>sudo yum -y update</code> before and it worked fine), but it told me <strong><code>Package 'epel-release' not found</code></strong> </p>
  
  <p>Therefore I tried different approach using <strong>RedHat Package Manager</strong>:</p>
  
  <p><code>sudo rpm -ivh https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm</code></p>
  
  <p>This installs package succesfully and I can see both <code>epel.repo</code> and <code>epel-testing.repo</code> in <code>etc/yum.repos.d</code> (I copy their contains at the end of post)</p>
  
  <p>However, now, whenever I try to do something with yum, whether it is update or install of some package it gives me the following error (for example I used <code>yum -y install Python3.6</code> or I have also tried installing <strong>tsclient</strong> or <strong>python-pip</strong>):</p>
  
  <pre><code>[root@scw-39016b yum.repos.d]# yum install -y Python3.6
  Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
  base                                                     | 3.6 kB     00:00
  centos-kernel                                            | 2.9 kB     00:00
  epel/armhfp/metalink                                     |  42 kB     00:00
  Could not parse metalink https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=epel-7&amp;arch=armhfp error was
  No repomd file
  
  
   One of the configured repositories failed (Unknown),
   and yum doesn't have enough cached data to continue. At this point the only
   safe thing yum can do is fail. There are a few ways to work "fix" this:
  
       1. Contact the upstream for the repository and get them to fix the problem.
  
       2. Reconfigure the baseurl/etc. for the repository, to point to a working
          upstream. This is most often useful if you are using a newer
          distribution release than is supported by the repository (and the
          packages for the previous distribution release still work).
  
       3. Run the command with the repository temporarily disabled
              yum --disablerepo=&lt;repoid&gt; ...
  
       4. Disable the repository permanently, so yum won't use it by default. Yum
          will then just ignore the repository until you permanently enable it
          again or use --enablerepo for temporary usage:
  
              yum-config-manager --disable &lt;repoid&gt;
          or
              subscription-manager repos --disable=&lt;repoid&gt;
  
       5. Configure the failing repository to be skipped, if it is unavailable.
          Note that yum will try to contact the repo. when it runs most commands,
          so will have to try and fail each time (and thus. yum will be be much
          slower). If it is a very temporary problem though, this is often a nice
          compromise:
  
              yum-config-manager --save --setopt=&lt;repoid&gt;.skip_if_unavailable=true
  
  File /var/cache/yum/armhfp/7/epel/metalink.xml does not exist
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have tried million ways going around this already and nothing seems to help :(</p>
  
  <p>I reinstalled it like 5 times, I have done <code>sudo yum clean all</code>, I have tried uncommenting <code>baseurl</code> and commenting <code>metalink</code> in repo files and other way too, etc..., but nothing helps :(</p>
  
  <p>Can someone let me know, please, what is causing this error?</p>
  
  <p>I read somewhere that it might do with enabling / disabling certain repositories, but I don't understand how to cope with it..</p>
  
  <p>Many thanks !!!</p>
  
  <p><strong>epel.repo</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>[epel]
  name=Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 7 - $basearch
  baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/$basearch
  metalink=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=epel-7&amp;arch=$basearch
  failovermethod=priority
  enabled=1
  gpgcheck=1
  gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7
  
  [epel-debuginfo]
  name=Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 7 - $basearch - Debug
  baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/$basearch/debug
  metalink=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=epel-debug-7&amp;arch=$basearch
  failovermethod=priority
  enabled=0
  gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7
  gpgcheck=1
  
  [epel-source]
  name=Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 7 - $basearch - Source
  baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/SRPMS
  metalink=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=epel-source-7&amp;arch=$basearch
  failovermethod=priority
  enabled=0
  gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7
  gpgcheck=1
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>epel-testing.repo</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>[epel-testing]
  name=Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 7 - Testing - $basearch
  baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/testing/7/$basearch
  metalink=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=testing-epel7&amp;arch=$basearch
  failovermethod=priority
  enabled=0
  gpgcheck=1
  gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7
  
  [epel-testing-debuginfo]
  name=Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 7 - Testing - $basearch - Debug
  baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/testing/7/$basearch/debug
  metalink=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=testing-debug-epel7&amp;arch=$basearch
  failovermethod=priority
  enabled=0
  gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7
  gpgcheck=1
  
  [epel-testing-source]
  name=Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 7 - Testing - $basearch - Source
  baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/testing/7/SRPMS
  metalink=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=testing-source-epel7&amp;arch=$basearch
  failovermethod=priority
  enabled=0
  gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7
  gpgcheck=1
  </code></pre>