Monday, January 22, 2018

RPM Commands in Linux - Part(1)

RPM (Red Hat Package Manager) is an default open source and most popular package management utility for Red Hat based systems like (RHELCentOS and Fedora). The tool allows system administrators and users to installupdateuninstallqueryverify and manage system software packages in Unix/Linux operating systems. The RPM formerly known as .rpm file, that includes compiled software programs and libraries needed by the packages. This utility only works with packages that built on .rpm format.

This blog provides some useful 20 RPM command examples that might be helpful to you. With the help of these rpm command you can managed to install, update, remove packages in your Linux systems.

Some Facts about RPM (RedHat Package Manager)

§  RPM is free and released under GPL (General Public License).
§  RPM keeps the information of all the installed packages under /var/lib/rpm database.
§  RPM is the only way to install packages under Linux systems, if you’ve installed packages using source code, then rpm won’t manage it.
§  RPM deals with .rpm files, which contains the actual information about the packages such as: what it isfrom where it comesdependencies infoversion info etc.


There are five basic modes for RPM command

§  Install : It is used to install any RPM package.
§  Remove : It is used to erase, remove or un-install any RPM package.
§  Upgrade : It is used to update the existing RPM package.
§  Verify : It is used to verify an RPM packages.
§  Query : It is used query any RPM package.

1. How to Check an RPM Signature Package


Always check the PGP signature of packages before installing them on your Linux systems and make sure its integrity and origin is OK. Use the following command with –checksig (check signature) option to check the signature of a package called pidgin.

[root@localhost]# rpm --checksig pidgin-2.7.9-5.el6.2.i686.rpm
pidgin-2.7.9-5.el6.2.i686.rpm: rsa sha1 (md5) pgp md5 OK


2. How to Install an RPM Package

For installing an rpm software package, use the following command with -i option. For example, to install an rpm package called pidgin-2.7.9-5.el6.2.i686.rpm.

[root@localhost]# rpm -ivh pidgin-2.7.9-5.el6.2.i686.rpm
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
1:pidgin                 ########################################### [100%]

RPM command and options
§  -i : install a package
§  -v : verbose for a nicer display
§  -h: print hash marks as the package archive is unpacked.

3. How to check dependencies of RPM Package before Installing

Let’s say you would like to do a dependency check before installing or upgrading a package. For example, use the following command to check the dependencies of BitTorrent-5.2.2-1-Python2.4.noarch.rpm package. It will display the list of dependencies of package.

[root@localhost]# rpm -qpR BitTorrent-5.2.2-1-Python2.4.noarch.rpm
/usr/bin/python2.4
python >= 2.3
python(abi) = 2.4
python-crypto >= 2.0
python-psyco
python-twisted >= 2.0
python-zopeinterface
rpmlib(CompressedFileNames) = 2.6

RPM command and options
§  -q : Query a package
§  -p : List capabilities this package provides.
§  -R: List capabilities on which this package depends..

4. How to Install a RPM Package Without Dependencies

If you know that all needed packages are already installed and RPM is just being stupid, you can ignore those dependencies by using the option –nodeps (no dependencies check) before installing the package.

[root@localhost]# rpm -ivh --nodeps BitTorrent-5.2.2-1-Python2.4.noarch.rpm
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
1:BitTorrent             ########################################### [100%]

The above command forcefully install rpm package by ignoring dependencies errors, but if those dependency files are missing, then the program will not work at all, until you install them.

5. How to check an Installed RPM Package

Using -q option with package name, will show whether an rpm installed or not.

[root@localhost]# rpm -q BitTorrent
BitTorrent-5.2.2-1.noarch


6. How to List all files of an installed RPM package

To view all the files of an installed rpm packages, use the -ql (query list) with rpm command.

[root@localhost]# rpm -ql BitTorrent
/usr/bin/bittorrent
/usr/bin/bittorrent-console
/usr/bin/bittorrent-curses
/usr/bin/bittorrent-tracker
/usr/bin/changetracker-console
/usr/bin/launchmany-console
/usr/bin/launchmany-curses
/usr/bin/maketorrent
/usr/bin/maketorrent-console
/usr/bin/torrentinfo-console


7. How to List Recently Installed RPM Packages

Use the following rpm command with -qa (query all) option, will list all the recently installed rpm packages.

[root@localhost]# rpm -qa --last
BitTorrent-5.2.2-1.noarch                     Tue 04 Dec 2012 05:14:06 PM BDT
pidgin-2.7.9-5.el6.2.i686                     Tue 04 Dec 2012 05:13:51 PM BDT
cyrus-sasl-devel-2.1.23-13.el6_3.1.i686       Tue 04 Dec 2012 04:43:06 PM BDT
cyrus-sasl-2.1.23-13.el6_3.1.i686             Tue 04 Dec 2012 04:43:05 PM BDT
cyrus-sasl-md5-2.1.23-13.el6_3.1.i686         Tue 04 Dec 2012 04:43:04 PM BDT
cyrus-sasl-plain-2.1.23-13.el6_3.1.i686       Tue 04 Dec 2012 04:43:03 PM BDT


8. How to List All Installed RPM Packages

Type the following command to print the all the names of installed packages on your Linux system.
[root@localhost]# rpm -qa
initscripts-9.03.31-2.el6.centos.i686
polkit-desktop-policy-0.96-2.el6_0.1.noarch
thunderbird-17.0-1.el6.remi.i686


9. How to Upgrade a RPM Package

If we want to upgrade any RPM package “–U” (upgrade) option will be used. One of the major advantages of using this option is that it will not only upgrade the latest version of any package, but it will also maintain the backup of the older package so that in case if the newer upgraded package does not run the previously installed package can be used again.

[root@localhost]# rpm -Uvh nx-3.5.0-2.el6.centos.i686.rpm
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
1:nx                     ########################################### [100%]


10. How to Remove a RPM Package

To un-install an RPM package, for example we use the package name nx, not the original package name nx-3.5.0-2.el6.centos.i686.rpm. The -e (erase) option is used to remove package.
[root@localhost]# rpm -evv nx

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