diff --git a/roles/extra_packages/README.md b/roles/extra_packages/README.md
index ffa7d0b01fbadf231490c94caecde085275ef2fc..29b7f54a025d5b3dd94084e616eb5b6e05b6e4b9 100644
--- a/roles/extra_packages/README.md
+++ b/roles/extra_packages/README.md
@@ -1 +1,11 @@
 This role adds all the packages we think are useful but aren't clearly a dependency of some function.
+
+Before calling, you may want to  define the following lists:
+
+extra_packages  #list of yum packages. Or see code on how to it loads an  alternative file  if not defined
+exclude 	#list of packages to exclude
+
+
+Usage:
+  roles:
+  - { role: extra_packages, tags: [ other, extra_packages ] }
diff --git a/roles/extra_packages/tasks/main.yml b/roles/extra_packages/tasks/main.yml
index 031a5663452c49494aa9006f0aa44ccdde8f418c..a12c678120a8c06fee218a41e68a962def58e148 100644
--- a/roles/extra_packages/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/extra_packages/tasks/main.yml
@@ -13,12 +13,12 @@
   become: true
   when: ansible_os_family == 'RedHat'
  
-- name: "Install extra packages"
-  yum: "name={{ item }}  update_cache=yes state=present enablerepo=epel" # exclude={{ excludes|join(',') }}
+- name: "Install extra packages with the epel repo enabled"
+  yum: "name={{ item }} exclude={{ excludes|join(',') }} update_cache=yes state=present enablerepo=epel"
   with_items: "{{ extra_packages }}"
   become: true
   become_user: root
-  when: ansible_os_family == 'RedHat'
+  when: ansible_os_family == 'RedHat' 
   register: result
 
 - name: "Install extra packages from epel only"