Chapter 2. Introduction to modules

Module streams are filters that can be imagined as virtual repositories in the AppStream physical repository. Module streams represent versions of the AppStream components. Each of the streams receives updates independently.

Module streams can be active or inactive. Active streams give the system access to the RPM packages within the particular module stream, allowing installation of the respective component version. Streams are active either if marked as default or if they are explicitly enabled by a user action.

Only one stream of a particular module can be active at a given point in time. Therefore, only one version of a component can be installed on a system. Different versions can be used in separate containers.

Each module can have a default stream. Default streams make it easy to consume RHEL packages the usual way without the need to learn about modules. The default stream is active, unless the whole module has been disabled or another stream of that module enabled.

Certain module streams depend on other module streams. For example, the perl-App-cpanminus, perl-DBD-MySQL, perl-DBD-Pg, perl-DBD-SQLite, perl-DBI, perl-YAML, and freeradius module streams depend on certain perl module streams.

To select a particular stream for a runtime user application or a developer application, consider the following:

For a list of all available modules and streams, see the Package manifest. For per-component changes, see the Release Notes.

Always decide which module stream you want to use, and install the version explicitly.

A profile is a list of recommended packages that are installed together for a particular use case, such as a server, client, development, minimal install, or other. These package lists can contain packages outside the module stream, usually from the BaseOS repository or the dependencies of the stream.

Installing packages by using a profile is a one-time action provided for the user’s convenience. It does not prevent installing or uninstalling any of the packages provided by the module. It is also possible to install packages by using multiple profiles of the same module stream without any further preparatory steps.

Each module stream can have any number of profiles, including none. For any given module stream, some of its profiles can be marked as default and are then used for profile installation actions when no profile is explicitly specified. However, existence of a default profile for a module stream is not required.