RPM stands for "Redhat Package Manager" is a command-line package management tool for RHEL/CentOS based operating system. You can install, uninstall, update, query and verify package using the RPM command. This tool only works with packages built-in .rpm format. RPM command can only install the specified package, it can not install the dependencies required for that package.
Prerequisites:
- A server running CentOS, RHEL or Fedora.
- A root password is configured on your server.
Basic Syntax
The basic syntax of RPM command is shown below:
rpm [OPTION] [PACKAGENAME]
You can list all available options with RPM command using the following command:
rpm --help
Installing, Updating and Removing Package with RPM
Before installing any RPM package, you can list the dependencies for that package with the following command:
rpm -qpR epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm
Output: Output: warning: epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID 2f86d6a1: NOKEY config(epel-release) = 8-7.el8 redhat-release >= 8 rpmlib(CompressedFileNames) <= 3.0.4-1 rpmlib(FileDigests) <= 4.6.0-1 rpmlib(PayloadFilesHavePrefix) <= 4.0-1 rpmlib(PayloadIsXz) <= 5.2-1
You can also get the information of that package with the following command:
rpm -qip epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm
Output: warning: epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID 2f86d6a1: NOKEY Name : epel-release Version : 8 Release : 7.el8 Architecture: noarch Install Date: (not installed) Group : System Environment/Base Size : 30269 License : GPLv2 Signature : RSA/SHA256, Thursday 10 October 2019 12:19:30 PM EDT, Key ID 21ea45ab2f86d6a1 Source RPM : epel-release-8-7.el8.src.rpm Build Date : Thursday 10 October 2019 12:16:18 PM EDT Build Host : buildvm-04.phx2.fedoraproject.org Relocations : (not relocatable) Packager : Fedora Project Vendor : Fedora Project URL : http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel Bug URL : https://bugz.fedoraproject.org/epel-release Summary : Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux repository configuration Description : This package contains the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) repository GPG key as well as configuration for yum.
You can install this package using the following command:
rpm -ivh epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm
Output: Output: warning: epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID 2f86d6a1: NOKEY Verifying... ################################# [100%] Preparing... ################################# [100%] Updating / installing... 1:epel-release-8-7.el8 ################################# [100%]
You can install any RPM package without any dependencies using the following command:
rpm -ivh --nodeps epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm
To update the installed RPM package, run the following command:
rpm -Uvh epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm
Output: Output: warning: epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID 2f86d6a1: NOKEY Verifying... ################################# [100%] Preparing... ################################# [100%] package epel-release-8-7.el8.noarch is already installed
To remove the installed RPM package, run the following command:
rpm -ev epel-release
Output: Preparing packages... epel-release-8-7.el8.noarch
Display Package Information with RPM
To display the detail information of any package run the following command:
rpm -ql epel-release
Output: /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-8 /etc/yum.repos.d/epel-playground.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/epel-testing.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/epel.repo /usr/lib/systemd/system-preset/90-epel.preset /usr/share/doc/epel-release /usr/share/doc/epel-release/GPL /usr/share/doc/epel-release/README-epel-8-packaging.md
You can find the configuration files of any package with the following command:
rpm -qc httpd
Output: /etc/httpd/conf.d/autoindex.conf /etc/httpd/conf.d/userdir.conf /etc/httpd/conf.d/welcome.conf /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-base.conf /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-dav.conf /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-lua.conf /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-mpm.conf /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-optional.conf /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-proxy.conf /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-systemd.conf /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/01-cgi.conf /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf /etc/httpd/conf/magic /etc/logrotate.d/httpd /etc/sysconfig/htcacheclean
You can display more information about any package with the following command:
rpm -qi httpd
Output: Output: Name : httpd Version : 2.4.37 Release : 16.module_el8.1.0+256+ae790463 Architecture: x86_64 Install Date: Thursday 23 January 2020 11:48:36 PM EST Group : System Environment/Daemons Size : 5611291 License : ASL 2.0 Signature : RSA/SHA256, Monday 23 December 2019 05:22:02 PM EST, Key ID 05b555b38483c65d Source RPM : httpd-2.4.37-16.module_el8.1.0+256+ae790463.src.rpm Build Date : Monday 23 December 2019 03:46:30 PM EST Build Host : x86-02.mbox.centos.org Relocations : (not relocatable) Packager : CentOS Buildsys <bugs@centos.org> Vendor : CentOS URL : https://httpd.apache.org/ Summary : Apache HTTP Server Description : The Apache HTTP Server is a powerful, efficient, and extensible web server.
To find the package from the directory or file with the following command:
rpm -qf /etc/NetworkManager/
Output: Output: NetworkManager-1.14.0-14.el8.x86_64 dhcp-client-4.3.6-30.el8.x86_64
Verify Package with RPM
To verify any package before installing it using the following command:
rpm -Vp epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm
Output: warning: epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID 2f86d6a1: NOKEY
To verify all the installed rpm packages, run the following command:
rpm -Va
Output: Output: .......T. c /etc/kdump.conf .M....... g /var/lib/plymouth/boot-duration .M....... g /var/cache/dnf/packages.db .....UG.. g /var/lib/sss/mc/group .....UG.. g /var/lib/sss/mc/initgroups .....UG.. g /var/lib/sss/mc/passwd .M....... c /etc/rc.d/rc.local .M....... c /etc/machine-id
Check Information about Installed Package with RPM
To verify any package whether it is installed or not with the following command:
To verify the installed package, run the following command:
rpm -q epel-release
If the specified package is installed, you should see the following output:
epel-release-8-7.el8.noarch
To verify the package that is not installed, run the following command:
rpm -q mysql-server
You should get the following output:
package mysql-server is not installed
To list all the packages that are installed in your system, run the following command:
rpm -qa
Output: Output: dos2unix-7.4.0-3.el8.x86_64 platform-python-pip-9.0.3-13.el8.noarch geolite2-country-20180605-1.el8.noarch symlinks-1.4-19.el8.x86_64 python3-six-1.11.0-8.el8.noarch fontpackages-filesystem-1.44-22.el8.noarch rootfiles-8.1-22.el8.noarch polkit-0.115-6.el8.x86_64 xkeyboard-config-2.24-3.el8.noarch iwl6050-firmware-41.28.5.1-92.el8.1.noarch libmodulemd1-1.8.0-5.el8.x86_64 pkgconf-m4-1.4.2-1.el8.noarch iwl5000-firmware-8.83.5.1_1-92.el8.1.noarch samba-common-4.9.1-8.el8.noarch kbd-misc-2.0.4-8.el8.noarch
To list all installed package by name and size, run the following command:
rpm -qa --queryformat '%{name} %{size}\n'
Output: Output: dos2unix 682042 platform-python-pip 7746190 geolite2-country 3424334 symlinks 19682 python3-six 100282 fontpackages-filesystem 0 rootfiles 599
Find Manual Page of Any Package with RPM
You can run the following to know the list of documentation for a package that owns a file or folder.
rpm -qdf /etc/NetworkManager/
Output: Output: /usr/share/doc/NetworkManager/AUTHORS /usr/share/doc/NetworkManager/CONTRIBUTING /usr/share/doc/NetworkManager/NEWS /usr/share/doc/NetworkManager/README /usr/share/doc/NetworkManager/TODO /usr/share/doc/NetworkManager/examples/server.conf /usr/share/man/man1/nm-online.1.gz /usr/share/man/man1/nmcli.1.gz /usr/share/man/man5/NetworkManager.conf.5.gz /usr/share/man/man5/nm-settings-ifcfg-rh.5.gz /usr/share/man/man5/nm-settings-keyfile.5.gz /usr/share/man/man5/nm-settings.5.gz /usr/share/man/man5/nm-system-settings.conf.5.gz /usr/share/man/man7/nmcli-examples.7.gz /usr/share/man/man8/NetworkManager.8.gz /usr/share/doc/dhcp-client/README.dhclient.d /usr/share/doc/dhcp-client/dhclient-enter-hooks /usr/share/doc/dhcp-client/dhclient.conf.example /usr/share/doc/dhcp-client/dhclient6.conf.example /usr/share/man/man5/dhclient.conf.5.gz /usr/share/man/man5/dhclient.leases.5.gz /usr/share/man/man8/dhclient-script.8.gz /usr/share/man/man8/dhclient.8.gz
