aha! this is why.. [root at centos7 yum.repos.d]# rpm -qf /etc/centos-release file /etc/centos-release is not owned by any package not sure how it got that way, but after a reinstall of centos-release-7-1.1503.el7.centos.2.8.x86_64.rpm my system is happy again. thanks/regards, Jason