What were you trying to do that didn't work?

Update a RHEL 7 repo's metatdata on RHEL 8.10, Satellite 6.14.4.

# createrepo -v --compatibility x86_64

Please provide the package NVR for which bug is seen:

createrepo_c-1.0.2

How reproducible:

Always

Steps to reproduce

Update repositories metadata

createrepo -v --compatibility x86_64

Expected results

Create metadata with either no compression, using gz or using bz2 (whatever is most appropriate for compatibility with RHEL 7).

{{

1. createrepo -v --compatibility x86_64
   [ snip ]
   Directory walk done - 319 packages
   Temporary output repo path: x86_64/.repodata/
   12:02:17: Creating .xml..bz2 files
   [snip]
   12:02:25: All done
2. ls -l x86_64/repodata/
   total 3404
   rw-rr-. 1 root root 3342997 Jun 24 12:21 06ebddc02991e8138cecca2df352c2561b9880fded15938947ad092a3fa87b49-filelists.xml.bz2
   rw-rr-. 1 root root 51454 Jun 24 12:21 712dc3de4b9f4ed9a8ad8ddbad24808dcc55d62ad7b239d10dca739ee1810d5c-other.xml.bz2
   rw-rr-. 1 root root 77943 Jun 24 12:21 e4afff4b566317051009684aefdb4b9cff4d0633ca761156e5fe5a68a10cf2b0-primary.xml.bz2
   rw-rr-. 1 root root 1568 Jun 24 12:21 repomd.xml
   }}

Man page supply correct options for '-compress-type=', '-general-compress-type='

{{ --compress-type=COMPRESSION_TYPE Which compression type to use for additional metadata files (comps, updateinfo, etc). Supported compressions are: bz2, gzip, zck, zstd, xz.
--general-compress-type=COMPRESSION_TYPE Which compression type to use (even for primary, filelists and other xml). Supported compressions are: bz2, gzip, zck, zstd, xz.}}

Actual results

Currently creates .zst metadata files which are not compatible with RHEL 7.

{{ # createrepo -v --compatibility x86_64
[ snip ]
Directory walk done - 319 packages
Temporary output repo path: x86_64/.repodata/
12:02:17: Creating .xml..zst files
[snip]
12:02:25: All done

1. ls -l x86_64/repodata/
   total 1976
   rw-rr-. 1 root root 1869633 Jun 24 12:02 339b026b1bfa8c6e6febbfdc1ad0835fb073bec25e788c0f764de3f18b249409-filelists.xml.zst
   rw-rr-. 1 root root 75504 Jun 24 12:02 3ea37c39bf56d750a3122fabe201db8fc6aa1fe7fefa9a7b8b8db9541703db8d-primary.xml.zst
   rw-rr-. 1 root root 66221 Jun 24 12:02 7737e641b7c2bf5bbe1a7cf9c6fafd05b6f8651727fa79c6d39d32b5ceb4c794-other.xml.zst
   rw-rr-. 1 root root 1568 Jun 24 12:02 repomd.xml
   }}

Man page currently gives bzip2 instead of bz2 as COMPRESSION_TYPE.
{{
--compress-type=COMPRESSION_TYPE Which compression type to use for additional metadata files (comps, updateinfo, etc). Supported compressions are: bzip2, gzip, zck, zstd, xz.
--general-compress-type=COMPRESSION_TYPE Which compression type to use (even for primary, filelists and other xml). Supported compressions are: bzip2, gzip, zck, zstd, xz.
}}

Related references

1. Github upstream bug; 'Newer createrepo_c doesn't generate comps readable EL7'; https://github.com/rpm-software-management/createrepo_c/issues/403

Discusses changing '--compatability' to compression (or no compression) that works for RHEL 7.

Discusses changing '-compress-type=', '-general-compress-type' to allow 'none' as option.

2. https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:1061
3. https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2257300