A repository is the quickest and most straightforward way for a Linux user to find and install more applications on their system. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), being the giant it is in the Linux community, is more often than not selected because of the stability and reliability that it has to offer. That being said, to maintain it’s stable and reliable status, it sets a high bar on the kinds of softwares included in it’s official repositories.

For that case, install application software that has been tried and verified from official repositories is an excellent choice if mission-critical applications are running on your RHEL server. There is more than is included in the official repositories, and it is always helpful to be able to draw from a larger number of options, especially when debugging and developing, never mind normal use.

What is EPEL ?

Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) is a repository maintained by Fedora for use with CentOS Stream and RHEL. It’s an admittedly odd assortment of packages, probably mostly based on what other CentOS Stream and RHEL admins happen to be using. Personally, I find it indispensable whether it’s because I want to install the excellent inxi command or the entire KDE Plasma Desktop.

EPEL is short for ‘Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux‘, and is a package repository for RHEL and CentOS Stream distributions. The repository is maintained actively by the Fedora cmmunity packagers.

How to install EPEL on RHEL 10 and CentOS Stream 10

You can install EPEL on your RHEL | CentOS Stream with the following steps:

Step 1: Enable CodeReady Linux Builder (CRB) repository

Run the following commands to enable the CRB repository:

On RHEL 10:

sudo subscription-manager repos --enable codeready-builder-for-rhel-10-$(arch)-rpms

On CentOS Stream:

sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb

Step 2: Install the EPEL RPM

To install the EPEL RPM, run the following commands:

On RHEL 10:

sudo dnf install \
https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-10.noarch.rpm

On CentOS Stream 10:

sudo dnf install epel-release epel-next-release

Sample Output:

Step 3: Verify the EPEL Repository

After installation, EPEL should be enabled automatically. You can verify this by running:

sudo dnf repolist

Sample Output:

With that, you can now install packages from the EPEL repository, have fun.

Conclusion

EPEL is a wonderful repository to have around to help you get some software that you do not necessarily need, but you certainly want. I installed EPEL first on my RHEL server, and I love the software that is accessible through it, I hope you will too.