There is a feature apt-get has and yum misses: the ability to show installed packages versions, when asking confirmation about upgrading. There is a list of the about-to-be-installed packages version numbers, but not the already installed versions.
For example yum might tell you that you’re about to upgrade to apache v2.2.14-2, but from which version? If you’re upgrading from v2.2.14-1, you should have nothing to worry about. If you’re upgrading to v2.2.13-4, maybe you’ll want to have a look to the changelog to check which features were added. If you’re upgrading to v1.3 (!), well, you might run into a couple of problems when trying to restart it afterwards :)
Well, this is what this plugin is made for. Here’s how it looks like:
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# yum upgrade
Loaded plugins: changelog, dellsysidplugin2, fastestmirror, presto, priorities, refresh-packagekit, show-upgrade-versions
[...]
Setting up Upgrade Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
[...]
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
The following packages are release updates:
bind-libs (9.6.1) 13.P2.fc12 => 15.P3.fc12
bind-utils (9.6.1) 13.P2.fc12 => 15.P3.fc12
dhclient (4.1.0p1) 13.fc12 => 17.fc12
dhcp (4.1.0p1) 13.fc12 => 17.fc12
fluidsynth-libs (1.0.9) 4.fc12 => 5.fc12
policycoreutils (2.0.78) 7.fc12 => 10.fc12
policycoreutils-gui (2.0.78) 7.fc12 => 10.fc12
policycoreutils-python (2.0.78) 7.fc12 => 10.fc12
The following packages are version updates:
genisoimage 1.1.9 => 1.1.10
gocr 0.46 => 0.48
homebank 4.0.4 => 4.1
icedax 1.1.9 => 1.1.10
perf 2.6.31.9 => 2.6.31.12
wodim 1.1.9 => 1.1.10
Dependencies Resolved
[...]
Total download size: 33 M
Is this ok [y/N]:
I’ve made an rpm package for this plugin, if you want to try it, you can grab it here: yum-plugin-show-upgrade-versions-1.00-1.fc12.noarch.rpm.
It’s tagged for Fedora 12, but it should work on older versions I suppose…