Script for installing yum on CentOS 5.3

You need to have rpm and wget already installed. Create a temporary directory, paste the following code in a file in that directory, make it executable and run it:
mkdir temp && cd temp
vi yumdownload

#!/bin/bash

for file in \
elfutils-0.137-3.el5.i386.rpm \
elfutils-libs-0.137-3.el5.i386.rpm \
elfutils-libelf-0.137-3.el5.i386.rpm \
expat-1.95.8-8.2.1.i386.rpm \
gmp-4.1.4-10.el5.i386.rpm \
libxml2-2.6.26-2.1.2.7.i386.rpm \
libxml2-python-2.6.26-2.1.2.7.i386.rpm \
m2crypto-0.16-6.el5.3.i386.rpm \
python-2.4.3-24.el5.i386.rpm \
python-elementtree-1.2.6-5.i386.rpm \
python-iniparse-0.2.3-4.el5.noarch.rpm \
python-sqlite-1.1.7-1.2.1.i386.rpm \
python-urlgrabber-3.1.0-5.el5.noarch.rpm \
readline-5.1-1.1.i386.rpm \
rpm-4.4.2.3-9.el5.i386.rpm \
rpm-libs-4.4.2.3-9.el5.i386.rpm \
rpm-python-4.4.2.3-9.el5.i386.rpm \
sqlite-3.3.6-2.i386.rpm \
yum-3.2.19-18.el5.centos.noarch.rpm \
yum-fastestmirror-1.1.16-13.el5.centos.noarch.rpm \
yum-metadata-parser-1.1.2-2.el5.i386.rpm
do wget http://mirror.centos.org/centos-5/5.3/os/i386/CentOS/$file;
done
chmod a+x yumdownload
./yumdownload

This will get you all rpms you might need before be able to install yum.

Now try installing them all by typing:

rpm -Uvh *.rpm

This might not work, at least not for us. So try to install yum directly with rpm -Uvh yum-3.2.19-18.el5.centos.noarch.rpm and let the errors guide you. When you run into a circular dependencies, install the rpm by ignoring the dependencies. eg.

rpm -Uvh --nodeps yum-fastestmirror*

Then feel free to # yum -y update to bring your system up to date.

This should finally allow you to install yum.