Yum conflict between kernel-firmware and vzkernel-firmware

Problem

# yum update

Loaded plugins: changelog, downloadonly, fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * Webmin: download.webmin.com
 * base: be.mirror.eurid.eu
 * epel: be.mirror.eurid.eu
 * extras: be.mirror.eurid.eu
 * openvz-kernel-rhel6: openvz.proserve.nl
 * openvz-utils: openvz.proserve.nl
 * updates: be.mirror.eurid.eu
Setting up Update Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package bash.x86_64 0:4.1.2-14.el6 will be updated
---> Package bash.x86_64 0:4.1.2-15.el6_4 will be an update
---> Package irqbalance.x86_64 2:1.0.4-3.el6 will be updated
---> Package irqbalance.x86_64 2:1.0.4-4.el6_4 will be an update
---> Processing Dependency: kernel >= 2.6.32-279 for package: 2:irqbalance-1.0.4-4.el6_4.x86_64
---> Package ruby.x86_64 0:1.8.7.352-10.el6_4 will be updated
---> Package ruby.x86_64 0:1.8.7.352-12.el6_4 will be an update
---> Package ruby-libs.x86_64 0:1.8.7.352-10.el6_4 will be updated
---> Package ruby-libs.x86_64 0:1.8.7.352-12.el6_4 will be an update
---> Package vzctl.x86_64 0:4.3.1-1 will be updated
---> Package vzctl.x86_64 0:4.4-1 will be an update
---> Package vzctl-core.x86_64 0:4.3.1-1 will be updated
---> Package vzctl-core.x86_64 0:4.4-1 will be an update
--> Running transaction check
---> Package kernel.x86_64 0:2.6.32-358.14.1.el6 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: kernel-firmware >= 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6 for package: kernel-2.6.32-358.14.1.el6.x86_64
Package kernel-firmware-2.6.32-358.14.1.el6.noarch is obsoleted by vzkernel-firmware-2.6.32-042stab078.28.noarch which is already installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Error: Package: kernel-2.6.32-358.14.1.el6.x86_64 (updates)
		   Requires: kernel-firmware >= 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6
		   Installed: vzkernel-firmware-2.6.32-042stab078.28.noarch (@openvz-kernel-rhel6)
			   kernel-firmware = 2.6.32-358.6.2.el6
		   Available: kernel-firmware-2.6.32-358.el6.noarch (base)
			   kernel-firmware = 2.6.32-358.el6
		   Available: kernel-firmware-2.6.32-358.0.1.el6.noarch (updates)
			   kernel-firmware = 2.6.32-358.0.1.el6
		   Available: kernel-firmware-2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.noarch (updates)
			   kernel-firmware = 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6
		   Available: kernel-firmware-2.6.32-358.6.1.el6.noarch (updates)
			   kernel-firmware = 2.6.32-358.6.1.el6
		   Available: kernel-firmware-2.6.32-358.6.2.el6.noarch (updates)
			   kernel-firmware = 2.6.32-358.6.2.el6
		   Available: kernel-firmware-2.6.32-358.11.1.el6.noarch (updates)
			   kernel-firmware = 2.6.32-358.11.1.el6
		   Available: kernel-firmware-2.6.32-358.14.1.el6.noarch (updates)
			   kernel-firmware = 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6
 You could try using --skip-broken to work around the problem
 You could try running: rpm -Va --nofiles --nodigest

Solution

See: http://wiki.openvz.org/Vzkernel-firmware

Package vzkernel-firmware is provided for distributions other than RHEL/CentOS 6, which lacks the package. On a CentOS 6, this package is not needed and it conflicts with the kernel-firmware package.

The solution is to remove vzkernel-firmware package:

# rpm -e vzkernel-firmware

and exclude it by adding the line marked in bold to openvz yum repo file /etc/yum.repos.d/openvz.repo:

[openvz-kernel-rhel6]
name=OpenVZ RHEL6-based kernel
# baseurl=http://download.openvz.org/kernel/branches/rhel6-2.6.32/current/
mirrorlist=http://download.openvz.org/kernel/mirrors-rhel6-2.6.32
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://download.openvz.org/RPM-GPG-Key-OpenVZ
exclude=vzkernel-firmware

Do NOT forget to adjust /boot/grub/grub.conf afterwards!