ELRepo is a community repository for Enterprise Linux distributions (e.g, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and its rebuild projects).
ELRepo currently focuses on hardware related packages to boost your experience with Enterprise Linux. For example, this includes storage, network, graphics, hardware monitoring, sound and webcam drivers.
All our packages are built against the RHEL kernel and are compatible with rebuild distributions who maintain compatibility with the RHEL kernel. ELRepo packages are not compatible with the CentOS Stream kernel or rebuild distributions known to break kernel ABI compatibility.
ELRepo exists to meet a need within the community for packages that enhance Enterprise Linux that aren't currently met by the distributions themselves or other 3rd party repositories.
One of the main strengths of Enterprise Linux is its stability. However, this stability sometimes means the latest hardware may not be supported in the distribution kernel. Given the tremendous progress made during the last few years in terms of supported hardware in the mainline kernel, ELRepo aims to backport kernel drivers in kABI-tracking kmod packages to extend and enhance the functionality of the distribution kernel. Drivers may be backported directly from upstream projects (e.g, ALSA sound drivers), from the mainline kernel (e.g, coretemp and it87 hardware monitoring drivers) or direct from device vendors such as Intel or Realtek. ELRepo is often able to backport the latest versions of drivers quicker than Red Hat is able to do within the RHEL kernel.
ELRepo also provides legacy drivers that Red Hat has chosen to disable within the RHEL kernel or no longer wishes to support or maintain. These legacy drivers include SCSI/SAS storage drivers, Ethernet and WiFi drivers. More details on hardware deprecation in the RHEL kernel can be found in this article.
If your hardware works out of the box then you have no need to use ELRepo.
However, if your network card or sound isn't working or your webcam isn't detected, then an updated driver might be what you need. Maybe you require functionality that isn't present in the distribution kernel such as support for alternative filesystems (NTFS, JFS). All of these may be addressed using kmod driver packages rather than having to compile a whole new kernel or wait on upstream to add support for your device.
The ELRepo team comprises of members active in the RHEL and its rebuild projects communities:
Tuan Hoang
Phil Perry
Stephen Tindall
Akemi Yagi (aka toracat)
Alan Bartlett (aka burakkucat, deceased)
Dag Wieers (honorable member)
ELRepo stands for Enterprise Linux Repository or, in Spanish, “The Repo”.
Absolutely. ELRepo welcomes community participation. If you are a packager then you are welcome to submit packages. If you are a user then you are welcome to get in touch and make suggestions. Please join our MailingLists for new package suggestions/requests.
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