# Minicom version in Rocky 9 - can we go from 2.7 to the current version (2.8 or above?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Release Engineering\ **Created:** [October 31, 2025, 10:52am UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/minicom-version-in-rocky-9-can-we-go-from-2-7-to-the-current-version-2-8-or-above/19821 "2025-10-31T10:52:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twillkickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@twillkickers](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/twillkickers)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2025, 10:52am UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/minicom-version-in-rocky-9-can-we-go-from-2-7-to-the-current-version-2-8-or-above/19821/1 "2025-10-31T10:52:31Z")
I am new to Rocky Linux and am using it in industrial automation server applications. The latest version of minicom on Rocky 9 is 2.7. In 2.8 options for using minicom with RS-485 was added - would we be able to see this version (or later) added to Rocky 9? ---
**Author:** ![jlehtone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9a140/32.png) [@jlehtone](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/jlehtone)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2025, 12:02pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/minicom-version-in-rocky-9-can-we-go-from-2-7-to-the-current-version-2-8-or-above/19821/2 "2025-10-31T12:02:45Z")
Rocky 9 has package minicom-2.7.1-17-el9, because that is what RHEL 9 has. The style for Enterprise Linux is to take a version and then _backport_ fixes to it, rather than _rebase_. See [What is backporting and how does it affect Red Hat Enterprise Linux? - Red Hat Customer Portal](https://access.redhat.com/solutions/57665) It is Red Hat, who does decide when to rebase and what to backport. Anyway, the minicom in Rocky 9 is therefore not quite the “2.7” of upstream (minicom developers). * * * Put other way, Rocky 9 may – or most likely not – get in future package with that feature. * * * The minicom seems to be just four simple programs: ascii-xfr, minicom, runscript, xminicom. You can probably fetch the source code of the project and compile them as regular user. Then install to `$HOME/.local` or `/usr/local` That is not as convenient as managed packages since it will be up to you to re-fetch and re-install, whenever the source gets important fixes. ---
**Author:** ![iwalker](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.rockylinux.org/iwalker/32/2599_2.png) [@iwalker](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/iwalker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2025, 4:04pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/minicom-version-in-rocky-9-can-we-go-from-2-7-to-the-current-version-2-8-or-above/19821/3 "2025-10-31T16:04:55Z")
> [@twillkickers](#): > > In 2.8 options for using minicom with RS-485 was added - would we be able to see this version (or later) added to Rocky 9? You could make a package request to EPEL to see if someone would be willing to build it and add it to EPEL repository. Other alternatives, are for you visiting Fedora Source RPM’s page and downloading the minicom source and use mock to build it. This will then provide you with an rpm you can install yourself. Fedora Source RPM for minicom: [Making sure you're not a bot!](https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/minicom) There are some posts on this forum already on how to use mock, or probably tutorials also easy to find with google. ---
**Author:** ![twillkickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@twillkickers](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/twillkickers)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 1:45pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/minicom-version-in-rocky-9-can-we-go-from-2-7-to-the-current-version-2-8-or-above/19821/4 "2025-11-03T13:45:01Z")
Thanks for the tip! Looks like my version of autoconf is also too old - not sure if there is a way to fix that using mock. It is probably due to my inexperience. > configure.ac:9: error: Autoconf version 2.71 or higher is required > configure.ac:9: the top level > autom4te: /usr/bin/m4 failed with exit status: 63 > aclocal: error: echo failed with exit status: 63 > autoreconf: aclocal failed with exit status: 63 > > RPM build errors: > error: Bad exit status from /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.AGeB5f (%build) > Bad exit status from /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.AGeB5f (%build) > Finish: rpmbuild minicom-2.9-5.fc43.src.rpm > Finish: build phase for minicom-2.9-5.fc43.src.rpm > ERROR: Exception(minicom-2.9-5.fc43.src.rpm) Config(rocky+epel-9-x86\_64) 0 minutes 18 seconds > INFO: Results and/or logs in: /var/lib/mock/rocky+epel-9-x86\_64/result > ERROR: Command failed: > > # /usr/bin/systemd-nspawn -q -M 83da6622d5b84a568b36feb87b02f40f -D /var/lib/mock/rocky+epel-9-x86\_64/root -a -u mockbuild --capability=cap\_ipc\_lock --suppress-sync=yes --bind=/tmp/mock-resolv.f8kytivb:/etc/resolv.conf --bind=/dev/mapper/control --bind=/dev/fuse --bind=/dev/loop-control --bind=/dev/loop0 --bind=/dev/loop1 --bind=/dev/loop2 --bind=/dev/loop3 --bind=/dev/loop4 --bind=/dev/loop5 --bind=/dev/loop6 --bind=/dev/loop7 --bind=/dev/loop8 --bind=/dev/loop9 --bind=/dev/loop10 --bind=/dev/loop11 --console=pipe --setenv=TERM=vt100 --setenv=SHELL=/bin/bash --setenv=HOME=/builddir --setenv=HOSTNAME=mock --setenv=PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin ‘–setenv=PROMPT\_COMMAND=printf “\033]0;\007”’ '–setenv=PS1= \s-\v$ ’ --setenv=LANG=C.UTF-8 --resolv-conf=off bash --login -c ‘/usr/bin/rpmbuild -bb --noclean --target x86\_64 --nodeps /builddir/build/SPECS/minicom.spec’ My command was simply mock minicom-2.9-5.fc43.src.rpm - am I missing args? ---
**Author:** ![jlehtone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9a140/32.png) [@jlehtone](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/jlehtone)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/minicom-version-in-rocky-9-can-we-go-from-2-7-to-the-current-version-2-8-or-above/19821/5 "2025-11-03T14:07:33Z")
> [@twillkickers](#): > > minicom-2.9-5.fc43.src.rpm What if you try fc41 or fc42 version? (Even the sources of newer Fedora can have unreachable requirements for EL.) ---
**Author:** ![twillkickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@twillkickers](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/twillkickers)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 2:19pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/minicom-version-in-rocky-9-can-we-go-from-2-7-to-the-current-version-2-8-or-above/19821/6 "2025-11-03T14:19:50Z")
FC41 also requires autoconf 2.71 or greater ☹ > configure.ac:9: error: Autoconf version 2.71 or higher is required > configure.ac:9: the top level > autom4te: /usr/bin/m4 failed with exit status: 63 > aclocal: error: echo failed with exit status: 63 > autoreconf: aclocal failed with exit status: 63 > error: Bad exit status from /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.2lk0oA (%build) > Bad exit status from /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.2lk0oA (%build) > > RPM build errors: > Finish: rpmbuild minicom-2.9-3.fc41.src.rpm > Finish: build phase for minicom-2.9-3.fc41.src.rpm > ERROR: Exception(minicom-2.9-3.fc41.src.rpm) Config(rocky+epel-9-x86\_64) 0 minutes 21 seconds > INFO: Results and/or logs in: /var/lib/mock/rocky+epel-9-x86\_64/result > ERROR: Command failed: > > # /usr/bin/systemd-nspawn -q -M 9ed5e32548ba4eb7b3eff66bb48bbd2a -D /var/lib/mock/rocky+epel-9-x86\_64/root -a -u mockbuild --capability=cap\_ipc\_lock --suppress-sync=yes --bind=/tmp/mock-resolv.o2mslj4l:/etc/resolv.conf --bind=/dev/mapper/control --bind=/dev/fuse --bind=/dev/loop-control --bind=/dev/loop0 --bind=/dev/loop1 --bind=/dev/loop2 --bind=/dev/loop3 --bind=/dev/loop4 --bind=/dev/loop5 --bind=/dev/loop6 --bind=/dev/loop7 --bind=/dev/loop8 --bind=/dev/loop9 --bind=/dev/loop10 --bind=/dev/loop11 --console=pipe --setenv=TERM=vt100 --setenv=SHELL=/bin/bash --setenv=HOME=/builddir --setenv=HOSTNAME=mock --setenv=PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin ‘–setenv=PROMPT\_COMMAND=printf “\033]0;\007”’ '–setenv=PS1= \s-\v$ ’ --setenv=LANG=C.UTF-8 --resolv-conf=off bash --login -c ‘/usr/bin/rpmbuild -bb --noclean --target x86\_64 --nodeps /builddir/build/SPECS/minicom.spec’ ---
**Author:** ![iwalker](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.rockylinux.org/iwalker/32/2599_2.png) [@iwalker](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/iwalker)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 2:53pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/minicom-version-in-rocky-9-can-we-go-from-2-7-to-the-current-version-2-8-or-above/19821/7 "2025-11-03T14:53:22Z")
No, that’s basically due to the fact they are Fedora source rpms and they don’t always work when building against Rocky 9 or whatever. If you take into account that the equivalent Fedora version for RHEL9 is Fedora 34, then it’s not really surprising. Sometimes you can be lucky, sometimes not. For example: > [@Install recent HPLIP with GUI on Rocky Linux 8.x and 9.x](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/install-recent-hplip-with-gui-on-rocky-linux-8-x-and-9-x/19102/2): > > Hi Niki, According to [https://pkgs.org](https://pkgs.org) there doesn’t seem to be a third-party repo that we know of. However, this won’t be a huge problem, since we can grab the Fedora source rpm here: [https://kojipkgs.fedoraproject.org//packages/hplip/3.25.2/5.fc41/src/hplip-3.25.2-5.fc41.src.rpm](https://kojipkgs.fedoraproject.org//packages/hplip/3.25.2/5.fc41/src/hplip-3.25.2-5.fc41.src.rpm) we can build it ourselves. I’ve grabbed the Fedora 41 source rpm, because we are more likely to have success with this package under Rocky 8, than if we attempt the Fedora 42 one. Note that the version for Fedora 4… or: > [@How do I install this on Rocky Linux 8?](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/how-do-i-install-this-on-rocky-linux-8/18214/13): > > OK, so first install mock - in this example my username is ian so you will need to change that for yours: dnf install mock gpasswd -a ian mock you will now need to logout and log back in again for that to be active. Now we can start building audacity from the source rpm. First download the Audacity 3.5.1 source rpm from one of the two links: Main page with links: [audacity-3.5.1-4.fc41 | Build Info | koji](https://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=2559283) Direct download for source rpm: [https://kojipkgs.fedoraproject.org//packages/audacity/…](https://kojipkgs.fedoraproject.org//packages/audacity/3.5.1/4.fc41/src/audacity-3.5.1-4.fc41.src.rpm) both show it was possible to build a Fedora 41 on Rocky 8 or 9. If it relies on something more specific in terms of versions, then if that newer package doesn’t get installed as a dependency from EPEL or wherever because it doesn’t exist, then we are out of luck. Someone could potentially edit, fix and repackage the source rpm and make it work with an older version of autoconf but that would require far more advanced knowledge. Either that or download the minicom source, and just configure, make, make install etc assuming also that it doesn’t have strict dependency requirements. ---
**Author:** ![jlehtone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9a140/32.png) [@jlehtone](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/jlehtone)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/minicom-version-in-rocky-9-can-we-go-from-2-7-to-the-current-version-2-8-or-above/19821/8 "2025-11-03T20:38:27Z")
> [@iwalker](#): > > … download the minicom source … One could “install” the src.rpm (that mock tried to use) with `rpm` (as regular user). That unpacks the source (tarball?) from that package under `rpmbuild` subdirectory. The open sources from tarball. ---
**Author:** ![iwalker](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.rockylinux.org/iwalker/32/2599_2.png) [@iwalker](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/iwalker)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/minicom-version-in-rocky-9-can-we-go-from-2-7-to-the-current-version-2-8-or-above/19821/9 "2025-11-03T21:31:18Z")
Just for info, I have built the Fedora 43 minicom source rpm on Rocky 10: ```auto Finish: rpmbuild minicom-2.9-5.fc43.src.rpm Finish: build phase for minicom-2.9-5.fc43.src.rpm INFO: Done(minicom-2.9-5.fc43.src.rpm) Config(rocky+epel-10-x86_64) 1 minutes 46 seconds INFO: Results and/or logs in: /var/lib/mock/rocky+epel-10-x86_64/result Finish: run [root@rocky10 minicom]# tree /var/lib/mock/rocky+epel-10-x86_64/result/ /var/lib/mock/rocky+epel-10-x86_64/result/ ├── build.log ├── hw_info.log ├── installed_pkgs.log ├── minicom-2.9-5.el10.src.rpm ├── minicom-2.9-5.el10.x86_64.rpm ├── minicom-debuginfo-2.9-5.el10.x86_64.rpm ├── minicom-debugsource-2.9-5.el10.x86_64.rpm ├── root.log └── state.log 1 directory, 9 files ``` so if you could change from Rocky 9 to 10, then it would be pretty easy. If you are not wanting to upgrade from Rocky 9, then it won’t be as straightforward. Build finished in about 5-8 mins for me in total time from when I started after logging in, downloading source rpms with wget and running the commands. ---
**Author:** ![jlehtone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9a140/32.png) [@jlehtone](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/jlehtone)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 10:27am UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/minicom-version-in-rocky-9-can-we-go-from-2-7-to-the-current-version-2-8-or-above/19821/10 "2025-11-04T10:27:06Z")
I did (on AlmaLinux 9 host): ```bash $ wget https://kojipkgs.fedoraproject.org//packages/minicom/2.9/5.fc43/src/minicom-2.9-5.fc43.src.rpm $ rpm -ivh minicom-2.9-5.fc43.src.rpm $ cd /home/jlehtone/rpmbuild/SOURCES $ tar xf minicom-2.9.tar.gz $ ./configure --prefix=/home/jlehtone/.local $ make -j8 $ make install $ ls -ltr /home/jlehtone/.local/bin | tail -4 -rwxr-xr-x. 1 jlehtone jlehtone 621296 Nov 4 12:06 minicom -rwxr-xr-x. 1 jlehtone jlehtone 78184 Nov 4 12:06 runscript -rwxr-xr-x. 1 jlehtone jlehtone 29528 Nov 4 12:06 ascii-xfr -rwxr-xr-x. 1 jlehtone jlehtone 1506 Nov 4 12:06 xminicom ``` The twist is that the `/home/jlehtone/rpmbuild/SPECS/minicom.spec` has: ```auto %build #./autogen.sh autoreconf --verbose --force --install # Remove unused files to make sure we've got the License tag right. # It seems this needs to be done after autoreconf, otherwise it will fail. rm -f lib/snprintf.c ``` and running `autoreconf` does indeed spit the “configure.ac:9: error: Autoconf version 2.71 or higher is required”. Apparently, the `./configure` does not check those bits. Then again, the _configure_ merely checks for _must have_ and _may have_ bits, while the _mock_ obeys the `minicom.spec`’s: ```auto BuildRequires: make BuildRequires: lockdev-devel ncurses-devel autoconf automake gettext-devel BuildRequires: gcc # For %%autosetup -S git: BuildRequires: git Requires: lockdev lrzsz ``` Of which my system does lack one: ```bash $ rpm -q make lockdev-devel ncurses-devel autoconf automake gettext-devel gcc git lockdev lrzsz make-4.3-8.el9.x86_64 package lockdev-devel is not installed ncurses-devel-6.2-10.20210508.el9_6.2.x86_64 autoconf-2.69-39.el9.noarch automake-1.16.2-8.el9.noarch gettext-devel-0.21-8.el9.x86_64 gcc-11.5.0-5.el9_5.alma.1.x86_64 git-2.47.3-1.el9_6.x86_64 lockdev-1.0.4-0.38.20111007git.el9_6.x86_64 lrzsz-0.12.20-55.el9.x86_64 ``` I could install that `lockdev-devel` and rebuild. ---
**Author:** ![iwalker](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.rockylinux.org/iwalker/32/2599_2.png) [@iwalker](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/iwalker)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 12:29pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/minicom-version-in-rocky-9-can-we-go-from-2-7-to-the-current-version-2-8-or-above/19821/11 "2025-11-04T12:29:46Z")
Using some of the info you posted, I did slightly different. After extracting the source, I edited configure.ac and changed the value `2.71` to `2.69` so that it would use the autoconf version in Rocky 9 and repackaged the source file. Then I just did: ```auto cd SPECS rpmbuild -ba minicom.spec ``` after which: ```auto root@rocky9:~/rpmbuild# tree RPMS RPMS └── x86_64 ├── minicom-2.9-5.el9.x86_64.rpm ├── minicom-debuginfo-2.9-5.el9.x86_64.rpm └── minicom-debugsource-2.9-5.el9.x86_64.rpm 1 directory, 3 files ``` at which point, I could do: ```auto dnf install ./RPMS/x86_64/minicom-2.9-5.el9.x86_64.rpm ``` and checked/verified: ```auto root@rocky9:~/rpmbuild# rpm -qa | grep minicom minicom-2.9-5.el9.x86_64 root@rocky9:~/rpmbuild# minicom --version minicom version 2.9 (compiled Jul 24 2025) Copyright (C) Miquel van Smoorenburg. ``` obviously shouldn’t really do that as root, but it’s a test system so I’m not that fussed about it. I could also use mock with the generated srpm as well if required. There may be a better way to delete and regenerate `configure.ac` than manually editing, but it worked in this instance.