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RPM Commands in Linux with Examples

Updated September 8, 2018HOWTOS, LINUX COMMANDS, LINUX HOWTO

RPM Commands Linux

RPM(Redhat Package Manager) is a command line package management utility used for installing, uninstalling, updating, querying and verifying software packages. This article I will explain some of the most common Linux rpm commands for a system admin. Some of the RPM Based Linux Distros are Redhat, Centos, Fedora, and OpenSuse. Yum and DNF are frontends for RPM Management which have more features and could overcome the limitations it has.

How to get RPM packages

There are several methods available to get RPM packages as shown below.

  1. software CD/DVD
  2. CentOS Mirror
  3. RedHat (Need account)
  4. Any open repository websites

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.
  • Query : It is used to query any RPM package.
  • Verify : It is used to verify RPM packages.

Examples for RPM package

GeoIP application GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.x86_64.rpm is a RPM Package Library for country/city/organization to IP address or hostname mapping . GeoIP is the package name, version is 1.5.0-11.el7, release is 7 and architecture .x86_64.

Install

1) How to know information of RPM package without installing

After we have downloaded a package and we want to know the information of a package before installing. We can use -qipoption (query info package) to list the information of a package.

$ sudo rpm -qip GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.x86_64.rpm
output
Name        : GeoIP
Version     : 1.5.0
Release     : 11.el7
Architecture: x86_64
Install Date: (not installed)
Group       : Development/Libraries
Size        : 2905020
License     : LGPLv2+ and GPLv2+ and CC-BY-SA
Signature   : RSA/SHA256, Sun 20 Nov 2016 05:49:19 PM UTC, Key ID 24c6a8a7f4a80eb5
Source RPM  : GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.src.rpm
Build Date  : Sat 05 Nov 2016 08:29:17 PM UTC
Build Host  : worker1.bsys.centos.org
Relocations : (not relocatable)
Packager    : CentOS BuildSystem 
Vendor      : CentOS
URL         : http://www.maxmind.com/app/c
Summary     : Library for country/city/organization to IP address or hostname mapping
Description :
GeoIP is a C library that enables the user to find the country that any IP
address or hostname originates from. It uses a file based database that is
accurate as of June 2007 and can optionally be updated on a weekly
basis by installing the GeoIP-update package. This database simply contains IP
blocks as keys, and countries as values. This database should be more complete
and accurate than using reverse DNS lookups.

This package includes GeoLite data created by MaxMind, available from
http://www.maxmind.com/

2) How to install RPM package

We can use -ivh parameters to install a particular package as shown below.

$ sudo rpm -ivh GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.x86_64.rpm
    Output
    Preparing...                          ################################# [100%]
        package GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.x86_64 is already installed

3) How to check an installed RPM package

We can use -q option with package name, It will show whether an rpm package installed or not.

$ sudo rpm -q GeoIP
output
GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.x86_64

4) How to List all files for particular installed RPM package

We can list all the files of an installed rpm packages, By using the -ql option with rpm command.

$ sudo rpm -ql GeoIP
output
/etc/GeoIP.conf
/etc/GeoIP.conf.default
/usr/bin/geoiplookup
/usr/bin/geoiplookup6
/usr/bin/geoipupdate
/usr/lib64/libGeoIP.so.1
/usr/lib64/libGeoIP.so.1.5.0
/usr/lib64/libGeoIPUpdate.so.0
/usr/lib64/libGeoIPUpdate.so.0.0.0
/usr/share/GeoIP
/usr/share/GeoIP/GeoIP-initial.dat
/usr/share/GeoIP/GeoIP.dat
/usr/share/GeoIP/GeoIPASNum.dat
/usr/share/GeoIP/GeoIPASNumv6.dat
/usr/share/GeoIP/GeoIPCity.dat
/usr/share/GeoIP/GeoIPCityv6.dat
/usr/share/GeoIP/GeoIPCountry.dat
/usr/share/GeoIP/GeoIPCountryv6.dat
/usr/share/GeoIP/GeoIPv6-initial.dat
...

5) How to list recently installed RPM packages

We can use -qa option with --last, It will list all the recently installed rpm packages.

$ sudo rpm -qa --last
output
GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.x86_64                     Sat 01 Sep 2018 11:34:09 AM UTC
wget-1.14-15.el7_4.1.x86_64                   Sun 26 Aug 2018 03:21:02 PM UTC
iwl7265-firmware-22.0.7.0-62.2.el7_5.noarch   Thu 16 Aug 2018 02:10:18 PM UTC
libgomp-4.8.5-28.el7_5.1.x86_64               Thu 16 Aug 2018 02:10:15 PM UTC
iwl2030-firmware-18.168.6.1-62.2.el7_5.noarch Thu 16 Aug 2018 02:10:15 PM UTC
iptables-1.4.21-24.1.el7_5.x86_64             Thu 16 Aug 2018 02:10:15 PM UTC
yum-plugin-fastestmirror-1.1.31-46.el7_5.noarch Thu 16 Aug 2018 02:10:14 PM UTC
iwl6000-firmware-9.221.4.1-62.2.el7_5.noarch  Thu 16 Aug 2018 02:10:14 PM UTC
iwl4965-firmware-228.61.2.24-62.2.el7_5.noarch Thu 16 Aug 2018 02:10:14 PM UTC
iwl105-firmware-18.168.6.1-62.2.el7_5.noarch  Thu 16 Aug 2018 02:10:14 PM UTC
iwl100-firmware-39.31.5.1-62.2.el7_5.noarch   Thu 16 Aug 2018 02:10:13 PM UTC
iwl1000-firmware-39.31.5.1-62.2.el7_5.noarch  Thu 16 Aug 2018 02:10:13 PM UTC
ca-certificates-2018.2.22-70.0.el7_5.noarch   Thu 16 Aug 2018 02:10:13 PM UTC
iwl6000g2b-firmware-17.168.5.2-62.2.el7_5.noarch Thu 16 Aug 2018 02:10:12 PM UTC
...

6) How to install RPM package without dependencies

We can use -ivh parameters with --nodeps stands for no dependencies check, To install a particular package without dependencies, As shown below.

$ sudo rpm -ivh --nodeps GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.x86_64.rpm
    Output
    Preparing...                          ################################# [100%]
        package GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.x86_64 is already installed

7) How to replace RPM package installed

We can use -ivh --replacepkgs parameters to replace a particular package installed as shown below.

$ sudo rpm -ivh --replacepkgs GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.x86_64.rpm
    Output
    Preparing...                          ################################# [100%]
    Updating / installing...
      1:GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7               ################################# [100%]

Remove

8) How to uninstall RPM package

We can use -e parameters to uninstall particular package installed without dependencies (don't check dependencies) as shown below.

$ sudo  rpm -e --nodeps GeoIP

Now type command below to ensure the GeoIP not installed.

$ sudo rpm -q GeoIP
    Output
    package GeoIP is not installed

Upgrade

9) How to upgrade RPM package installed

We can use -Uvh parameters to upgrade a particular package installed as shown below.

$ sudo rpm -Uvh GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.x86_64.rpm
    Output
    Preparing...                          ################################# [100%]
        package GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.x86_64 is already installed

Query

10) How to query all installed package

We can use -a parameters along with q to query all installed packages on the server as shown below.

$ sudo rpm -qa
    Output
    python-firewall-0.4.4.4-14.el7.noarch
    ncurses-base-5.9-14.20130511.el7_4.noarch
    plymouth-0.8.9-0.31.20140113.el7.centos.x86_64
    kbd-misc-1.15.5-13.el7.noarch
    vim-common-7.4.160-4.el7.x86_64
    bash-4.2.46-30.el7.x86_64
    dmidecode-3.0-5.el7.x86_64
    filesystem-3.2-25.el7.x86_64
    kbd-1.15.5-13.el7.x86_64
    vim-enhanced-7.4.160-4.el7.x86_64
    firewalld-0.4.4.4-14.el7.noarch
    ....

11) How to query particular package

We can use grep command to find about a particular package is installed or not as shown below.

$ sudo rpm -qa | grep GeoIP
    Output
    GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.x86_64

12) How to query a file that belongs which RPM Package

In example number 9 we type command to list all files of an installed RPM package, Now we want to know /usr/lib64/libGeoIP.so.1.5.0 file belongs which RPM Package.

$ sudo rpm -qf /usr/lib64/libGeoIP.so.1.5.0
output
GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.x86_64

Verify

13) How to get information for a particular package

We can use -i parameters along with q to get information for a particular package as shown below.

$ sudo rpm -qi GeoIP
Output
Name        : GeoIP
Version     : 1.5.0
Release     : 11.el7
Architecture: x86_64
Install Date: Thu 16 Aug 2018 02:04:09 PM UTC
Group       : Development/Libraries
Size        : 2905020
License     : LGPLv2+ and GPLv2+ and CC-BY-SA
Signature   : RSA/SHA256, Sun 20 Nov 2016 05:49:19 PM UTC, Key ID 24c6a8a7f4a80eb5
Source RPM  : GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.src.rpm
Build Date  : Sat 05 Nov 2016 08:29:17 PM UTC
Build Host  : worker1.bsys.centos.org
Relocations : (not relocatable)
Packager    : CentOS BuildSystem
Vendor      : CentOS
URL         : http://www.maxmind.com/app/c
Summary     : Library for country/city/organization to IP address or hostname mapping
Description :
GeoIP is a C library that enables the user to find the country that any IP
address or hostname originates from. It uses a file based database that is
accurate as of June 2007 and can optionally be updated on a weekly
basis by installing the GeoIP-update package. This database simply contains IP
blocks as keys, and countries as values. This database should be more complete
and accurate than using reverse DNS lookups.

This package includes GeoLite data created by MaxMind, available from http://www.maxmind.com/

14) How to verify a RPM package

We can verify a package by comparing information of installed files of the package to the rpm database, By using -Vp option (verify package).

$ sudo rpm -Vp GeoIP-1.5.0-11.el7.x86_64.rpm

15) How to verify all RPM packages

We can verify all the installed rpm packages, By using -Va option (verify all).

$ sudo rpm -Va
output
S.5....T.  c /etc/sysconfig/authconfig
S.5....T.  c /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo
.M.......  c /etc/machine-id
.M.......  g /etc/udev/hwdb.bin
.M.......  g /var/lib/systemd/random-seed
.M.......  c /etc/shadow
S.5....T.  c /etc/ssh/sshd_config
.M.......  c /etc/audit/rules.d/audit.rules
S.5....T.  c /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
....L....  c /etc/pam.d/fingerprint-auth
....L....  c /etc/pam.d/password-auth
....L....  c /etc/pam.d/postlogin
...

Read Also:

An rpm package consists of program files, config files and a list of compiled software programs and libraries needed by the packages(dependencies). This rpm utility only works with packages that built on '.rpm' format.

Bobbin Zachariah 1:30 am

About Bobbin Zachariah

Founder of LinOxide, passionate lover of Linux and technology writer. Started his career in Linux / Opensource from 2000. Love traveling, blogging and listening music. Reach Bobbin Zachariah about me page and google plus page.

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