On an SMP machine, we are required to keep both kernel and kernel-smp. Kernel-smp should provide kernel in the RPM sense. Attempting to rpm -e kernel fails because removing kernel would break dependancies that should be satisfied by the SMP kernel. To wit: [root@bigbit /root]# uname -r 2.2.12-4smp [root@bigbit /root]# rpm -qa | grep kernel- kernel-2.2.12-4 kernel-smp-2.2.12-4 kernel-doc-2.2.12-4 kernel-headers-2.2.12-4 [root@bigbit /root]# rpm -e kernel-2.2.12-4 --test error: removing these packages would break dependencies: kernel >= 2.0.28 is needed by dosemu-0.99.10-4 kernel >= 2.2.5 is needed by knfsd-1.4.6-2 module-info is needed by kernelcfg-0.5-5 Thankyoupleasedrivethrough.
fixed in the current rawhide releases