The previously noted upgrade-to-4.4 recipe: yum update yum sqlite python-sqlite ; yum update worked more consistently than running "yum upgrade," but it too fell victim to the futex hang. In my limited testing, a reboot of the machine before starting the upgrade gave me a 100% success rate. Given two identical machines, one that had been used for a few days and one that was freshly rebooted, the former would exhibit a futex hang, while the latter updated just fine. Cheers, Zube