In order to help the administrators of Fermi Linux machines, we have installed AutoRPM and a pre-configured configuration file that points to a Fermi administered package installation server. We have complete control over what packages get upgraded and when and will make announcements via the linux-users mailing list when we are about to release a patch.

From Kirk Bauer's AutoRPM page:

AutoRPM is a program that can do any combination of the following: mirror RPMs from an FTP site, keep installed RPMs consistent with an FTP site or local directory, and keep installed RPMs in a cluster or network of systems consistent. It is highly flexible... and if it can't do something, email me and I will probably implement that too... NOTE: You also need to download 'perl-libnet', listed next. NOTE: AutoRPM also requires the 'dialog' program that comes with Red Hat Linux.

The autorpm.conf file is located in /etc/autrpm.d/ and is configured to install/upgrade packages from 3 different places, all of which reside on our installation server:

• The workgroup RPMS directory. This is determined by which workgroup was selected when the machine was installed or upgraded. This is set in the /etc/workgroup file.
• The security updates directory. This is where we place the packages that need to be upgraded due to security holes. We test every package for compatibility and package inter-dependencies prior to releasing them.
• The omitted packages directory. On occassion we realize that we've accidentally omitted a package that needs to be installed in order for a security patch to be applied or because we accidentally left it out of the distribution.

When a package is upgraded or installed, AutoRPM will send mail to the root account on the machine detailing what changes have been made.