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In this article, learn to use the RPM and YUM tools to manage the packages on your Linux system. Learn to:
- Install, reinstall, upgrade, and remove packages using RPM and YUM
- Obtain information about RPM packages including version, status, dependencies, integrity, and signatures
- Determine what files a package provides, as well as find which package a specific file comes from.
This article helps you prepare for Objective 102.5 in Topic 102 of the Linux Professional Institute's Junior Level Administration (LPIC-1) exam 101. The objective has a weight of 3.
To get the most from the articles in this series, you should have a basic knowledge of Linux and a working Linux system on which you can practice the commands covered in this article. Sometimes different versions of a program will format output differently, so your results may not always look exactly like the listings and figures shown here. In particular, much of the output we show is highly dependent on the packages that are already installed on our systems. Your own output may be quite different, although you should be able to recognize the important commonalities.
Introducing package management
In the past, many Linux programs were distributed as source code, which a user would build into the required program or set of programs, along with the required man pages, configuration files, and so on. Nowadays, most Linux distributors use prebuilt programs or sets of programs called packages, which ship ready for installation on that distribution. In this article, you will learn about package management tools that help you install, update, and remove packages. This article focuses on the Red Hat Package Manager (RPM), which was developed by Red Hat, as well as the Yellowdog Updater Modified (YUM), which was originally developed to manage Red Hat Linux systems at Duke University's Physics department. Another article in this series, "Learn Linux 101: Debian package management," covers the package management tools used on Debian systems.
From a user perspective, the basic package management function is provided by commands. As Linux developers have striven to make Linux easier to use, the basic tools have been supplemented by other tools, including GUI tools, which hide some of the complexities of the basic tools from the end user. In this article and in the article on Debian package management, we focus on the basic tools, although we mention some of the other tools so you can pursue them further.
RPM, YUM, and APT (for Debian systems) have many similarities. All can install and remove packages. Information about installed packages is kept in a database. All have basic command-line functionality, while additional tools can provide more user-friendly interfaces. All can retrieve packages from the Internet.
When you install a Linux system, you typically install a large selection of packages. The set may be customized to the intended use of the system, such as a server, desktop, or developer workstation. And at some time you will probably need to install new packages for added functionality, update the packages you have, or even remove packages that you no longer need or that have been made obsolete by newer packages. Let's look at how you do these tasks, and at some of the related challenges such as finding which package might contain a particular command.
Red Hat introduced RPM in 1995. RPM is now the package management system
used for packaging in the Linux Standard Base (LSB). The rpm command
options are grouped into three subgroups for:
- Querying and verifying packages
- Installing, upgrading, and removing packages
- Performing miscellaneous functions
We will focus on the first two sets of command options in this article. You will find information about the miscellaneous functions in the man pages for RPM.
We should also note that rpm is the command name for the main
command used with RPM, while .rpm is the extension used for RPM
files. So "an rpm" or "the xxx rpm" will generally refer to an RPM file,
while rpm will usually refer to the command.
YUM adds automatic updates and package management, including dependency management, to RPM systems. In addition to understanding the installed packages on a system, YUM, like the Debian Advanced Packaging Tool (APT), works with repositories, which are collections of packages, typically accessible over a network connection.
Suppose you want to learn Lisp, and a colleague tells you to use the
gcl command. You might try
gcl --help, or you might try
which gcl, or
type gcl. But if your system can't
find gcl, you might see output similar to that
shown in Listing 1.
Listing 1. Missing gcl command
[ian@echidna ~]$ gcl --help bash: gcl: command not found [ian@echidna ~]$ which gcl /usr/bin/which: no gcl in (/usr/lib64/qt-3.3/bin:/usr/kerberos/sbin:/usr/kerber os/bin:/usr/lib64/ccache:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:/ sbin:/home/ian/bin) [ian@echidna ~]$ type gcl bash: type: gcl: not found |
You might check back with your colleague to find out which package to
install, or you might just guess that the gcl
command is in the gcl package. This is often a good guess, but not always
the right one. We'll see later how to find the right package. In this
case, you do need the gcl package. Assuming you have downloaded or
otherwise acquired a copy of the package, you might try installing it
using the rpm command with the
-i (for install) option, as shown in Listing
2.
Listing 2. Installing gcl with rpm - take 1
[root@echidna ~]# rpm -i gcl-2.6.8-0.6.20090701cvs.fc12.x86_64.rpm error: Failed dependencies: gcl-selinux is needed by gcl-2.6.8-0.6.20090701cvs.fc12.x86_64 |
The rpm command knows that the
package has a dependency, but unfortunately, it won't help you resolve that
dependency. You will need to get the dependent package or packages, try
again, and see if there are additional dependencies—and keep doing this
until all dependencies are satisfied. One good thing is that you can give
the rpm command a list of packages to install
and it will install them all in the right order if all dependencies are
satisfied. So you at least don't have to manually install each piece in
the right order.
If you've used Debian's APT, by this time you're probably wishing you had
something like the apt-get command, which would
simply go and find what you need, including dependencies, and just install
it. For RPM-based systems, YUM (or Yellowdog Updater Modified) provides
just such a function. Listing 3 shows how to install gcl and the required
gcl-selinux prerequisite using the yum command
with the install option.
Listing 3. Installing gcl using yum
[root@echidna ~]# yum install gcl Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit Setting up Install Process Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package gcl.x86_64 0:2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 set to be updated --> Processing Dependency: gcl-selinux for package: gcl-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64 --> Running transaction check ---> Package gcl-selinux.x86_64 0:2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 set to be updated --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ===================================================================================== Package Arch Version Repository Size ===================================================================================== Installing: gcl x86_64 2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 updates 6.3 M Installing for dependencies: gcl-selinux x86_64 2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 updates 17 k Transaction Summary ===================================================================================== Install 2 Package(s) Upgrade 0 Package(s) Total download size: 6.4 M Installed size: 40 M Is this ok [y/N]: y Downloading Packages: Setting up and reading Presto delta metadata updates/prestodelta | 964 kB 00:01 Processing delta metadata Package(s) data still to download: 6.4 M (1/2): gcl-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64.rpm | 6.3 MB 00:12 (2/2): gcl-selinux-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64.rpm | 17 kB 00:00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 398 kB/s | 6.4 MB 00:16 Running rpm_check_debug Running Transaction Test Transaction Test Succeeded Running Transaction Installing : gcl-selinux-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64 1/2 Installing : gcl-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64 2/2 Installed: gcl.x86_64 0:2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 Dependency Installed: gcl-selinux.x86_64 0:2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 Complete! |
The output in Listing 3 shows that YUM has found the gcl.x86_64 0:2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 and gcl-selinux.x86_64 0:2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 in a repository called "updates" (more on that shortly), and determined the total download size. After you respond "y" to agree to the transaction, it downloaded both packages, and then installed the dependency, followed by gcl. You will learn more about dependencies later in this article.
Note: In Listing 3, YUM found a later version of the gcl package than the one we attempted to install in Listing 2. You will usually want the latest version of a package, but you can provide additional qualification if you need an earlier version. See the section on specifying package names in the man pages for the yum command.
In the previous section, you learned how to install an RPM package. But
where do the packages come from? How does yum
know where to download packages from? The starting point is the
/etc/yum.repos.d/ directory, which usually contains several repo
files. This is the default location for repos, but other locations may be
specified in the YUM configuration file, normally /etc/yum.conf. Listing 4
shows the fedora-updates.repo corresponding to the location from which we
installed gcl on our Fedora 12 system.
A typical repo file is divided into three sections, one for normal
packages, one for debug packages, and the last for source packages.
Usually there will be several copies of a distribution's packages
available from different locations, or mirrors. So the repo file
tells yum where to find the latest list of
mirrors for each section. Note that the distribution release level and
machine architecture are parameterized, so yum
would download the list for my x86_64 Fedora 12 system from https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=updates-released-f12&arch=x86_64.
In addition to the repository location, the repo file tells whether a particular repository is enabled and whether GPG signatures should be used to check the downloaded packages.
Listing 4. /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo
[ian@echidna ~]$ cat /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-updates.repo [updates] name=Fedora $releasever - $basearch - Updates failovermethod=priority #baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/updates/$releasever /$basearch/ mirrorlist=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=updates-released-f$r eleasever&arch=$basearch enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-$basearch [updates-debuginfo] name=Fedora $releasever - $basearch - Updates - Debug failovermethod=priority #baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/updates/$releasever /$basearch/debug/ mirrorlist=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=updates-released-deb ug-f$releasever&arch=$basearch enabled=0 gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-$basearch [updates-source] name=Fedora $releasever - Updates Source failovermethod=priority #baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/updates/$releasever /SRPMS/ mirrorlist=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=updates-released-sou rce-f$releasever&arch=$basearch enabled=0 gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-$basearch |
YUM and RPM use a local database to determine what packages are installed.
The metadata about packages that is stored in the local database is
retrieved from the enabled repositories. Although you will seldom need to
worry about the local database, you use the command
yum clean to clean out various
parts of the locally stored information and
yum makecache to create the
information in your local database for the enabled repos. You might do
this if you change your repo configuration, for example.
If you want to remove a package, you can use the
remove option of
yum, or the -e
option of rpm. A test run to remove gcl using
rpm -e is shown in Listing 5. If
the package can be removed, there is no output.
Listing 5. Test removal of gcl
[root@echidna ~]# rpm -e --test gcl |
Unlike the simulated removal of Debian packages using
apt-get, the RPM system does not maintain
information on packages that were automatically added, so there is no
trivial way to find out which dependencies might also be removed. However,
if you specify multiple packages for removal on a single command, then
packages without dependencies will be removed before packages that have
dependencies.
When you remove packages using rpm, there is no
prompt before the packages are removed, unlike when you install
packages. However, if you attempt to remove a package that is required for
some other package, the operation is not performed and you get an error
message as shown in Listing 6.
Listing 6. Removing a dependent package with rpm
[root@echidna ~]# rpm -e gcl-selinux error: Failed dependencies: gcl-selinux is needed by (installed) gcl-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64 |
If you use yum remove instead, then
you will be prompted after the transaction tests are performed. If the
package you are trying to remove is a dependent package for some other installed
packages, then YUM will offer to remove those as well as the dependent
package, as shown in Listing 7.
Listing 7. Removing a dependent package with yum
[root@echidna ~]# yum remove gcl-selinux Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit Setting up Remove Process Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package gcl-selinux.x86_64 0:2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 set to be erased --> Processing Dependency: gcl-selinux for package: gcl-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64 --> Running transaction check ---> Package gcl.x86_64 0:2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 set to be erased --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ===================================================================================== Package Arch Version Repository Size ===================================================================================== Removing: gcl-selinux x86_64 2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 @updates 90 k Removing for dependencies: gcl x86_64 2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 @updates 40 M Transaction Summary ===================================================================================== Remove 2 Package(s) Reinstall 0 Package(s) Downgrade 0 Package(s) Is this ok [y/N]: n Exiting on user Command Complete! |
Now that you know how to install and remove an RPM, let's look at upgrading
RPM packages to a newer level. You can use
yum update to update your entire
system, or you can specify a single package or a wildcard specification.
Listing 8 shows how to update all the packages whose names start with
"gr". Note the use of apostrophes to prevent shell expansion of the
"*".
Listing 8. Updating using yum update
[root@echidna ~]# yum update 'gr*' Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit Setting up Update Process Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package grep.x86_64 0:2.6.3-1.fc12 set to be updated ---> Package groff.x86_64 0:1.18.1.4-20.fc12 set to be updated --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ===================================================================================== Package Arch Version Repository Size ===================================================================================== Updating: grep x86_64 2.6.3-1.fc12 updates 228 k groff x86_64 1.18.1.4-20.fc12 updates 1.5 M Transaction Summary ===================================================================================== Install 0 Package(s) Upgrade 2 Package(s) Total download size: 1.7 M Is this ok [y/N]: y Downloading Packages: Setting up and reading Presto delta metadata Processing delta metadata Download delta size: 854 k http://fedora.fastsoft.net/pub/linux/fedora/linux/updates/12/x86_64/drpms/grep-2.5.3- 6.fc12_2.6.3-1.fc12.x86_64.drpm: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404 : http://fedora.fastsoft.n et/pub/linux/fedora/linux/updates/12/x86_64/drpms/grep-2.5.3-6.fc12_2.6.3-1.fc12.x86_ 64.drpm Trying other mirror. (1/2): grep-2.5.3-6.fc12_2.6.3-1.fc12.x86_64.drpm | 214 kB 00:00 (2/2): groff-1.18.1.4-18.fc12_1.18.1.4-20.fc12.x86_64.drpm | 640 kB 00:00 Finishing rebuild of rpms, from deltarpms <delta rebuild> | 1.7 MB 00:02 Presto reduced the update size by 52% (from 1.7 M to 854 k). Running rpm_check_debug Running Transaction Test Transaction Test Succeeded Running Transaction Updating : grep-2.6.3-1.fc12.x86_64 1/4 Updating : groff-1.18.1.4-20.fc12.x86_64 2/4 Cleanup : grep-2.5.3-6.fc12.x86_64 3/4 Cleanup : groff-1.18.1.4-18.fc12.x86_64 4/4 Updated: grep.x86_64 0:2.6.3-1.fc12 groff.x86_64 0:1.18.1.4-20.fc12 Complete! |
If you know where the RPM files are located, or have downloaded them, you
can also update using the rpm command. This is
similar to installing, except that you use the
-U or the -F option
instead of the -i option. The difference
between these two options is that the -U option
will upgrade an existing package or install the package if it is
not already installed, while the -F option will
only upgrade or freshen a package that is already installed.
Because of this, the -U option is frequently
used, particularly when the command line contains a list of RPMs. This
way, uninstalled packages are installed, while installed packages are
upgraded. Two other options, -v (verbose) and
-h (hash marks), are often used to give progress
indication. Listing 9 shows how to update the vim-common, vim-enhanced, and
vim-minimal packages using the rpm command. We
have the vim-common and vim-enhanced packages already downloaded in root's
home directory, while we retrieve the vim-minimal package from one of the
update mirrors.
Listing 9. Updating packages with rpm
[root@echidna ~]# ls *.rpm vim-common-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64.rpm vim-enhanced-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64.rpm [root@echidna ~]# rpm -Uvh *.rpm http://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/distributions\ > /fedora/linux/updates/12/x86_64/vim-minimal-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64.rpm Retrieving http://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/distributions/fedora/linux/updates/12/x86 _64/vim-minimal-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64.rpm Preparing... ########################################### [100%] 1:vim-common ########################################### [ 33%] 2:vim-enhanced ########################################### [ 67%] 3:vim-minimal ########################################### [100%] |
In our examples you saw that installing an rpm with the
rpm command requires the full name of the
package file (or URL), such as gcl-2.6.8-0.6.20090701cvs.fc12.x86_64.rpm.
On the other hand, installing with yum, or
removing an rpm with either command requires only the package name, such
as gcl. As with APT, RPM maintains an internal database of your installed
packages, allowing you to manipulate installed packages using the package
name. In this section, we look at some of the information that is
available to you from this database using the
-q (for query) option of the
rpm command, or the associated
yum queries.
The basic query simply asks if a package is installed, and, if so, what
version. Add the -i option and you get
information about the package. Note that you need to have root authority
to install, upgrade, or remove packages, but non-root users can perform
queries against the rpm database.
Listing 10. Displaying information about gcl
[ian@echidna ~]$ yum list gcl
Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit
Installed Packages
gcl.x86_64 2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 @updates
[ian@echidna ~]$ rpm -q gcl
gcl-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64
[ian@echidna ~]$ yum info gcl
Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit
Installed Packages
Name : gcl
Arch : x86_64
Version : 2.6.8
Release : 0.7.20100201cvs.fc12
Size : 40 M
Repo : installed
From repo : updates
Summary : GNU Common Lisp
URL : http://www.gnu.org/software/gcl/
License : GPL+ and LGPLv2+
Description: GCL is a Common Lisp currently compliant with the ANSI standard.
: Lisp compilation produces native code through the intermediary of
: the system's C compiler, from which GCL derives efficient
: performance and facile portability. Currently uses TCL/Tk as GUI.
[ian@echidna ~]$ rpm -qi gcl
Name : gcl Relocations: (not relocatable)
Version : 2.6.8 Vendor: Fedora Project
Release : 0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 Build Date: Tue 23 Mar 2010 03:20:36 PM EDT
Install Date: Wed 05 May 2010 01:01:34 PM EDT Build Host: x86-02.phx2.fedoraproject.
org
Group : Development/Languages Source RPM: gcl-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.sr
c.rpm
Size : 41667750 License: GPL+ and LGPLv2+
Signature : RSA/8, Tue 23 Mar 2010 04:14:06 PM EDT, Key ID 9d1cc34857bbccba
Packager : Fedora Project
URL : http://www.gnu.org/software/gcl/
Summary : GNU Common Lisp
Description :
GCL is a Common Lisp currently compliant with the ANSI standard. Lisp
compilation produces native code through the intermediary of the
system's C compiler, from which GCL derives efficient performance and
facile portability. Currently uses TCL/Tk as GUI. |
The more extensive listings show you some of the tags that can be
associated with an RPM package. You will notice that
rpm and yum show
slightly different information in slightly different formats. For this
article, we will stick to the basic output provided by standard command
options. See the man page if you would like to use the
rpm --queryformat option to build
custom query output. Try running
rpm --querytags if you want to
know all the tags supported by your version of
rpm.
As shown in Listing 10, you can use yum to
list installed packages. You can also use it to list packages that have
updates available, packages that are available for installation, and
packages with other characteristics, such as obsolete, or recently added
to a repository. You can even use yum to search
for packages. In Listing 11, you see that the texmacs package is not
installed, but is available from the fedora repository. If you search for
"texmacs" you see four packages that mention it. You can easily see why
the TeXmacs* packages were found. Use
yum info pydot to find out why
the pydot package is also mentioned.
Listing 11. Displaying information about gcl
[ian@echidna ~]$ yum list texmacs
Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit
Available Packages
TeXmacs.x86_64 1.0.7.2-2.fc12 fedora
[ian@echidna ~]$ yum search texmacs
Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit
================================= Matched: texmacs ==================================
TeXmacs-devel.i686 : Development files for TeXmacs
TeXmacs-devel.x86_64 : Development files for TeXmacs
TeXmacs.x86_64 : Structured wysiwyg scientific text editor
pydot.noarch : Python interface to Graphviz's Dot language
|
For the remaining query examples, we will mostly use
rpm, as it has a more extensive set of options.
Many of the examples can also be done with yum,
and yum has some capabilities that are not in
the basic rpm options. See the man pages to
learn more.
RPM packages and files in them
You will often want to know what is in a package or what package a
particular file came from. To list the files in the gcl package, use the
-ql option as shown in Listing 12. There are
many files in this package, so we've only shown part of the output.
Listing 12. Displaying files in the gcl package
[ian@echidna ~]$ rpm -ql gcl /usr/bin/gcl /usr/lib/gcl-2.6.8 /usr/lib/gcl-2.6.8/clcs /usr/lib/gcl-2.6.8/clcs/sys-proclaim.lisp /usr/lib/gcl-2.6.8/cmpnew /usr/lib/gcl-2.6.8/cmpnew/gcl_cmpmain.lsp /usr/lib/gcl-2.6.8/cmpnew/gcl_cmpopt.lsp /usr/lib/gcl-2.6.8/cmpnew/gcl_collectfn.lsp . . . /usr/share/info/gcl-tk.info.gz /usr/share/info/gcl.info-1.gz /usr/share/info/gcl.info-2.gz /usr/share/info/gcl.info-3.gz /usr/share/info/gcl.info-4.gz /usr/share/info/gcl.info-5.gz /usr/share/info/gcl.info-6.gz /usr/share/info/gcl.info-7.gz /usr/share/info/gcl.info-8.gz /usr/share/info/gcl.info-9.gz /usr/share/info/gcl.info.gz /usr/share/man/man1/gcl.1.gz |
You can restrict the files listed to just configuration files by adding the
-c option to your query. Similarly, the
-d option limits the display to just
documentation files.
The above package query commands query the RPM database for installed
packages. If you've just downloaded a package and want the same kind of
information, you can get this using the -p
option (for package file) on your query along with specifying the
package file name (as used for installing the package). Listing 13
shows this for the two vim packages that we downloaded earlier. We run it
as root only because the files were in root's home directory. You can add
other query options, such as -l to list files
or -i to list information.
Listing 13. Displaying package file information for two vim packages
[root@echidna ~]# rpm -qp *.rpm vim-common-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64 vim-enhanced-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64 |
Querying all installed packages
The -a option applies your query to all
installed packages. This can generate a lot of output, so you will usually
use it in conjunction with one or more filters, such as
sort to sort the listing,
more or less to page
through it, wc to obtain package or file
counts, or grep to search for packages if you
aren't sure of the name. Listing 14 shows the following queries:
- A sorted list of all packages on the system
- A count of all packages on the system
- A count of all files in all packages on the system
- A count of all documentation files installed with RPMs
- A search for all packages with "gcl" (case-insensitive) as part of their name
Listing 14. Queries against all packages
[ian@echidna ~]$ rpm -qa | sort | more
aalib-libs-1.4.0-0.18.rc5.fc12.x86_64
abrt-1.0.8-2.fc12.x86_64
abrt-addon-ccpp-1.0.8-2.fc12.x86_64
abrt-addon-kerneloops-1.0.8-2.fc12.x86_64
abrt-addon-python-1.0.8-2.fc12.x86_64
abrt-desktop-1.0.8-2.fc12.x86_64
abrt-gui-1.0.8-2.fc12.x86_64
abrt-libs-1.0.8-2.fc12.x86_64
abrt-plugin-bugzilla-1.0.8-2.fc12.x86_64
abrt-plugin-logger-1.0.8-2.fc12.x86_64
abrt-plugin-runapp-1.0.8-2.fc12.x86_64
abyssinica-fonts-1.0-5.fc12.noarch
acl-2.2.49-2.fc12.x86_64
...
[ian@echidna ~]$ rpm -qa | wc -l
1792
[ian@echidna ~]$ rpm -qal | wc -l
281052
[ian@echidna ~]$ rpm -qad | wc -l
45686
[ian@echidna ~]$ rpm -qa | grep -i gcl
gcl-selinux-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64
gcl-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64
|
Using rpm -qa can ease the administration of
multiple systems. If you redirect the sorted output to a file on one
machine, and then do the same on the other machine, you can use the
diff program to find differences.
Given that you can list all packages and all files in a package, you now
have all the information you need to find which package owns a file.
However, the rpm command provides a
-f (or --file)
option to help you locate the package that owns a file. Suppose you want
to know which of the vim packages we saw earlier actually provides the vim
command. You will need to provide the full path to the file. Listing 15 shows how to
use the which command to get the full path to
the vim command, and a handy tip for using this output as input to the
rpm -qf command. Note that the tick marks
surrounding `which vim` are back-ticks. Another way of using this
in the Bash shell is to use $(which vim).
Listing 15. Which package supplies the vim executable
[ian@echidna ~]$ which vim
/usr/bin/vim
[ian@echidna ~]$ rpm -qf `which vim`
vim-enhanced-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64
[ian@echidna ~]$ rpm -qf $(which vim)
vim-enhanced-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64 |
You saw earlier that our attempt to erase the gcl-selinux package failed because of dependencies. In addition to files, an RPM package may contain arbitrary capabilities that other packages may depend on.
As you have seen, this usually works out fine. If you need to install
several packages at once, some of which may depend on others, simply use
yum, or give the whole list to your
rpm -Uvh command, and it will analyze the
dependencies and perform the installs in the right order.
Besides trying to install or erase a package and getting an error message, there are ways to find out what files or capabilities a package requires or depends on.
The rpm command provides an option to interrogate installed packages or
package files to find out what capabilities they depend on or
require.This is the --requires
option, which may be abbreviated to -R. Listing
16 shows the capabilities required by gcl. Add the
-p option and use the full RPM file name if you
want to query the package file instead of the RPM database.
Listing 16. What does gcl require
[ian@echidna ~]$ rpm -qR gcl /bin/sh /bin/sh /bin/sh /sbin/install-info /sbin/install-info gcl-selinux libX11.so.6()(64bit) libc.so.6()(64bit) libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.11)(64bit) libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.2.5)(64bit) libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.3)(64bit) libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.3.4)(64bit) libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.4)(64bit) libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.7)(64bit) libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.8)(64bit) libdl.so.2()(64bit) libgmp.so.3()(64bit) libm.so.6()(64bit) libm.so.6(GLIBC_2.2.5)(64bit) libreadline.so.6()(64bit) libtcl8.5.so()(64bit) libtk8.5.so()(64bit) libz.so.1()(64bit) rpmlib(CompressedFileNames) <= 3.0.4-1 rpmlib(FileDigests) <= 4.6.0-1 rpmlib(PayloadFilesHavePrefix) <= 4.0-1 rtld(GNU_HASH) rpmlib(PayloadIsXz) <= 5.2-1 |
It can be somewhat tricky to match capabilities to the packages that
provide them. The yum command with the
deplist option can help here. If you just give
a package name that is not qualified by version, you may get a listing for
other known versions. Listing 17 shows how to get the dependency list
for just the version of gcl that is installed.
Listing 17. Using yum deplist to find what gcl requires
[ian@echidna ~]$ yum deplist $(rpm -q gcl) Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit Finding dependencies: package: gcl.x86_64 2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 dependency: libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.3.4)(64bit) provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11-2 provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11.1-6 dependency: gcl-selinux provider: gcl-selinux.x86_64 2.6.8-0.6.20090701cvs.fc12 provider: gcl-selinux.x86_64 2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 dependency: libgmp.so.3()(64bit) provider: gmp.x86_64 4.3.1-5.fc12 dependency: libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.8)(64bit) provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11-2 provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11.1-6 dependency: libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.4)(64bit) provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11-2 provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11.1-6 dependency: libc.so.6()(64bit) provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11-2 provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11.1-6 dependency: /sbin/install-info provider: info.x86_64 4.13a-7.fc12 provider: info.x86_64 4.13a-9.fc12 dependency: libX11.so.6()(64bit) provider: libX11.x86_64 1.3-1.fc12 dependency: libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.7)(64bit) provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11-2 provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11.1-6 dependency: libtcl8.5.so()(64bit) provider: tcl.x86_64 1:8.5.7-4.fc12 provider: tcl.x86_64 1:8.5.7-5.fc12 dependency: libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.11)(64bit) provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11-2 provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11.1-6 dependency: libtk8.5.so()(64bit) provider: tk.x86_64 1:8.5.7-2.fc12 provider: tk.x86_64 1:8.5.7-3.fc12 dependency: libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.3)(64bit) provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11-2 provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11.1-6 dependency: libm.so.6()(64bit) provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11-2 provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11.1-6 dependency: libz.so.1()(64bit) provider: zlib.x86_64 1.2.3-23.fc12 dependency: rtld(GNU_HASH) provider: glibc.i686 2.11-2 provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11-2 provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11.1-6 provider: glibc.i686 2.11.1-6 dependency: libdl.so.2()(64bit) provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11-2 provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11.1-6 dependency: libreadline.so.6()(64bit) provider: readline.x86_64 6.0-3.fc12 dependency: /bin/sh provider: bash.x86_64 4.0.33-1.fc12 provider: bash.x86_64 4.0.35-3.fc12 dependency: libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.2.5)(64bit) provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11-2 provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11.1-6 dependency: libm.so.6(GLIBC_2.2.5)(64bit) provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11-2 provider: glibc.x86_64 2.11.1-6 |
This list also shows possible providers for each capability. You can see that most dependencies could be provided by more than one alternative level of a package. For example, /bin/sh could come from either of two levels of bash. With a little creative filtering, you can reduce this output to a list of package names as shown in Listing 18.
Listing 18. Reducing the yum deplist output to just list package names
[ian@echidna ~]$ yum deplist $(rpm -q gcl) | grep "provider:" | \
> awk '{ print $2 }'|sort|uniq
bash.x86_64
gcl-selinux.x86_64
glibc.i686
glibc.x86_64
gmp.x86_64
info.x86_64
libX11.x86_64
readline.x86_64
tcl.x86_64
tk.x86_64
zlib.x86_64 |
If you just need to know what packages need to be installed, you can always
run yum install and see the list before
you are prompted to accept the installation proposal.
In addition to finding out what capabilities a package requires, you may
need to find what package provides some capability. You saw above how to
find which package owns a file. Listing 19 shows how to use
rpm or yum to find
what package provides the gcl-selinux(x86-64) capability.
In addition to
information about installed packages providing the capability, YUM also
shows the packages or versions available in repositories. These are the original 2.6.8-0.6
version from the fedora repository and the updated 2.6.8-0.7 version
available from the updates repository.
Listing 19. What packages provide gcl-selinux(x86-64) capability
[ian@echidna ~]$ rpm -q --whatprovides 'gcl-selinux(x86-64)' gcl-selinux-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64 [ian@echidna ~]$ yum whatprovides 'gcl-selinux(x86-64)' Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit gcl-selinux-2.6.8-0.6.20090701cvs.fc12.x86_64 : SELinux policy for GCL images Repo : fedora Matched from: Other : gcl-selinux(x86-64) gcl-selinux-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64 : SELinux policy for GCL images Repo : updates Matched from: Other : gcl-selinux(x86-64) gcl-selinux-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64 : SELinux policy for GCL images Repo : installed Matched from: Other : Provides-match: gcl-selinux(x86-64) |
To ensure their integrity, RPM packages include a digest, such as MD5
or SHA1, and are usually digitally signed. Packages that are
digitally signed need a public key for verification. To check the
integrity of an RPM package file, use the
--checksig (abbreviated to
-K) option of rpm. You will usually find it
useful to add the -v option for more verbose
output. Listing 20 shows an example for the vim-enhanced RPM.
Listing 20. Checking the integrity of the vim-enhanced package file
[root@echidna ~]# rpm -vK vim-enhanced-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64.rpm
vim-enhanced-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64.rpm:
Header V3 RSA/SHA256 signature: OK, key ID 57bbccba
Header SHA1 digest: OK (f9a199545a515f7ff0716729768b41eb68fe29a8)
V3 RSA/SHA256 signature: OK, key ID 57bbccba
MD5 digest: OK (d4045f1f72d48073e3f401ee9d1f71cf) |
You may get an output line like:
V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 16a61572
This means that you have a signed package, but you do not have the needed public key in your RPM database. Note that earlier versions of RPM may present the verification differently.
If a package is signed and you want to verify it against a signature, then
you will need to locate the appropriate signature file and import it into
your RPM database. You should first download the key and then check its
fingerprint before importing it using the
rpm
--import command. For
more information, see the RPM man pages. You will also find more
information on signed binaries at the RPM home page (see Resources for
a link).
Verifying an installed package
Like checking the integrity of an rpm, you can also check the
integrity of your installed files using rpm -V.
This step makes sure that the files haven't been modified since they were
installed from the rpm. As shown in Listing 21, there is no output from
this command if the package is still good, but you can add the
-v option to get much more detailed output.
Listing 21. Verifying the installed vim-common package
[ian@echidna ~]$ rpm -V vim-common |
Let's become root and corrupt our vim-common installation by deleting /usr/bin/xxd and replacing /usr/share/vim/vim72/syntax/bindzone.vim with /bin/bash. Let's try the verification again. The results are shown in Listing 22.
Listing 22. Tampering with the vim-common package
[root@echidna ~]# rpm -qf /usr/bin/xxd /usr/share/vim/vim72/syntax/bindzone.vim
vim-common-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64
vim-common-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64
[root@echidna ~]# rm /usr/bin/xxd
rm: remove regular file `/usr/bin/xxd'? y
[root@echidna ~]# cp /bin/bash /usr/share/vim/vim72/syntax/bindzone.vim
cp: overwrite `/usr/share/vim/vim72/syntax/bindzone.vim'? y
[root@echidna ~]# rpm -V vim-common
missing /usr/bin/xxd
S.5....T. /usr/share/vim/vim72/syntax/bindzone.vim |
This output shows us that the /usr/share/vim/vim72/syntax/bindzone.vim file
fails MD5 sum, file size, and mtime tests.
One way to solve the problem
would be to remove the package and then reinstall it, but there are other
packages that depend on vim-common and that are installed and still OK. The
solution is to forcibly reinstall it using the
--force option of
rpm, or the
reinstall function of
yum. Listing 23 shows how to reinstall with
yum, and then verify that the package is now OK
and the deleted file has been restored.
Listing 23. Reinstalling the vim-common package
[root@echidna ~]# yum reinstall vim-common
Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit
Setting up Reinstall Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package vim-common.x86_64 2:7.2.411-1.fc12 set to be updated
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Dependencies Resolved
=====================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
=====================================================================================
Reinstalling:
vim-common x86_64 2:7.2.411-1.fc12 updates 6.0 M
Transaction Summary
=====================================================================================
Remove 0 Package(s)
Reinstall 1 Package(s)
Downgrade 0 Package(s)
Total download size: 6.0 M
Installed size: 17 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
Setting up and reading Presto delta metadata
updates/prestodelta | 969 kB 00:00
Processing delta metadata
Package(s) data still to download: 6.0 M
vim-common-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64.rpm | 6.0 MB 00:01
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
Warning: RPMDB altered outside of yum.
Installing : 2:vim-common-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64 1/1
Installed:
vim-common.x86_64 2:7.2.411-1.fc12
Complete!
[root@echidna ~]# rpm -V vim-common
[root@echidna ~]# ls /usr/bin/xxd
/usr/bin/xxd
|
Usually the package management system keeps your packages in order.
However, if you manage to delete some file that is an important part of a
package—and reinstalling the package without removing does not fix the
problem—then you may need to remove the package before reinstalling. For
such a case, you probably want to delete the existing copy and reinstall
it, without needing to uninstall and reinstall all the packages that
depend on it. For this, you can use the rpm
command's --nodeps option to bypass dependency
checking when you remove a package. Listing 24 shows how this might work
if you accidentally removed the /usr/bin/xxd file, which is part of the
vim-common package, as we did earlier.
Listing 24. Updating packages with rpm
[root@echidna ~]# rm /usr/bin/xxd rm: remove regular file `/usr/bin/xxd'? y [root@echidna ~]# # Oops! we needed that file [root@echidna ~]# rpm -Fvh vim-common-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64.rpm [root@echidna ~]# ls /usr/bin/xxd ls: cannot access /usr/bin/xxd: No such file or directory [root@echidna ~]# # Oh! Freshening the package didn't replace the missing file [root@echidna ~]# rpm -e vim-common error: Failed dependencies: vim-common = 2:7.2.411-1.fc12 is needed by (installed) vim-enhanced-2:7.2.411-1.f c12.x86_64 [root@echidna ~]# # Can't remove vim-common because vim-enhanced needs it [root@echidna ~]# rpm -e --nodeps vim-common [root@echidna ~]# # Bypassing the dependency check allowed removal [root@echidna ~]# rpm -Uvh vim-common-7.2.411-1.fc12.x86_64.rpm Preparing... ########################################### [100%] 1:vim-common ########################################### [100%] [root@echidna ~]# # Update (or install) vim-common again [root@echidna ~]# ls /usr/bin/xxd /usr/bin/xxd [root@echidna ~]# # And /usr/bin/xxd is back |
So now you have some approaches to updating or repairing if accidents happen and the ordinary update process fails. Note that you can also bypass dependency checking when installing an RPM, but this not usually a good idea.
Downloading RPMs from repositories
Although yum will automatically retrieve
packages from repositories, you may want to download RPMs and save them,
perhaps to install them on a non-networked system, or to examine their
contents, or for some other reason. You can use the
yumdownloader command as shown in Listing 25.
In our case, the package is already installed, so there are no additional
packages to download. If there were such packages, the
--resolve option would cause them to be
downloaded too.
Listing 25. Downloading the gcl package
[ian@echidna ~]$ yumdownloader --resolve gcl Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit adobe-linux-i386 17/17 --> Running transaction check ---> Package gcl.x86_64 0:2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12 set to be updated --> Finished Dependency Resolution gcl-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64.rpm | 6.3 MB 00:01 |
If you download an RPM and need to examine its contents, rather than
install it, you can use the rpm2cpiocommand to convert
the contents to a cpio archive and then filter
that through the cpio command to extract individual files or all the
files in the package. Listing 26 shows how to do this for the gcl-selinux
package and then shows what files (and directories) were unpacked. See the
man pages for rpm2cpio and
cpio for additional details on these
commands.
Listing 26. Unpacking the gcl-selinux package with rpm2cpio
[ian@echidna ~]$ yumdownloader gcl-selinux Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit gcl-selinux-2.6.8-0.7.20100201cvs.fc12.x86_64.rpm | 17 kB 00:00 [ian@echidna ~]$ mkdir gcl-selinux [ian@echidna ~]$ cd gcl-selinux [ian@echidna gcl-selinux]$ rpm2cpio ../gcl-selinux*.rpm | cpio -idv ./usr/share/selinux/packages/gcl ./usr/share/selinux/packages/gcl/gcl.pp 182 blocks [ian@echidna gcl-selinux]$ find . . ./usr ./usr/share ./usr/share/selinux ./usr/share/selinux/packages ./usr/share/selinux/packages/gcl ./usr/share/selinux/packages/gcl/gcl.pp |
We saw earlier that YUM offers a search capability, which searches descriptions as well as package names. If you need to find what package contains a program that you do not have installed, there are a few other ways:
- You can guess what package might contain it and download the package without installing. Once you have the package, you can interrogate it.
- You can search the Internet.
- You may be able to use the command-not-found capability described below.
If you can't find a particular RPM through your system tools, a good Internet resource for locating RPMs is the Rpmfind.Net server (see Resources for a link).
When the Bash shell searches for a command and does not find it, then the
shell searches for a shell function named command_not_found_handle. If the
command_not_found_handle function exists, it is invoked with the original
command and original arguments as its arguments, and the function's exit
status becomes the exit status of the shell. If the function is not
defined, the shell prints an error message and returns an exit status of
127. The function is usually set in the system /etc/bash.bashrc file.
Listing 27 shows how we searched for the command-not-found capability and
then installed it.
Listing 27. Locating and installing the command-not-found capability
[root@echidna ~]# yum search command-not-found
Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit
========================== Matched: command-not-found ==========================
PackageKit-command-not-found.x86_64 : Ask the user to install command line
: programs automatically
You have new mail in /var/spool/mail/root
[root@echidna ~]# yum install PackageKit-command-not-found.x86_64
Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package PackageKit-command-not-found.x86_64 0:0.5.7-2.fc12 set to be updated
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Dependencies Resolved
================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
================================================================================
Installing:
PackageKit-command-not-found x86_64 0.5.7-2.fc12 updates 102 k
Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install 1 Package(s)
Upgrade 0 Package(s)
Total download size: 102 k
Installed size: 262 k
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
Setting up and reading Presto delta metadata
Processing delta metadata
Package(s) data still to download: 102 k
PackageKit-command-not-found-0.5.7-2.fc12.x86_64.rpm | 102 kB 00:00
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
Installing : PackageKit-command-not-found-0.5.7-2.fc12.x86_64 1/1
Installed:
PackageKit-command-not-found.x86_64 0:0.5.7-2.fc12
Complete!
|
Listing 28 shows how the function handle is defined after installing PackageKit-command-not-found. If the function cannot perform the search, then it mimics the standard system behavior and returns 127.
Listing 28. The command_not_found_handle
[ian@echidna ~]$ type command_not_found_handle
command_not_found_handle is a function
command_not_found_handle ()
{
runcnf=1;
retval=127;
[ ! -S /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket ] && runcnf=0;
[ ! -x /usr/sbin/packagekitd ] && runcnf=0;
if [ $runcnf -eq 1 ]; then
/usr/libexec/pk-command-not-found $1;
retval=$?;
else
echo "bash: $1: command not found";
fi;
return $retval
} |
If this had been installed before we running gcl as we did back in Listing 1, you might have seen something like Listing 29.
Listing 29. Attempting gcl with a command_not_found_handle
[ian@echidna ~]$ gcl Command not found. Install package 'gcl' to provide command 'gcl'? [N/y] |
In addition to yum and
rpm, your distributor may provide other tools
for installing packages from the repository or updating your entire
system. These tools may be graphical or command line or both. Some
examples include:
- YaST (SUSE)
- up2date (Red Hat)
- Mandrake Software Management (Mandriva)
Usually these tools will handle multiple package updates in an automatic or semi-automatic fashion. They may also provide capabilities to display contents of repositories or search for packages. Consult the documentation for your distribution for more details.
No discussion of package installation would be complete without mentioning
PackageKit, which is a system designed to make installing and updating
software easier. The intent is to unify all the software graphical tools
used in different distributions. PackageKit uses a system activated
daemon, which means that the daemon is activated only when needed.
PackageKit has version for Gnome (gnome-packagekit) and KDE KPackageKit).
The command-not-found handle described above is also part of PackageKit.
It includes the commands pkcon to perform
package management functions from the console, and
pkmon to monitor package kit activity. It also
includes graphical tools for adding software packages, or for updating
your system. Figure 1 shows an example of the Software Update graphical
interface.
Figure 1. Software Update graphical interface on Fedora 12 (Gnome)
There is a lot more to the RPM and YUM package management systems than covered here. See Resources for additional links.
Learn
- Use the developerWorks roadmap for
LPIC-1 to find the developerWorks articles to help you study for
LPIC-1 certification based on the April 2009 objectives.
- At the LPIC
Program site, find detailed objectives, task lists, and sample
questions for the three levels of the Linux Professional Institute's Linux
system administration certification. In particular, see their April 2009
objectives for LPI exam 101 and LPI exam 102. Always refer to the LPIC Program site for the
latest objectives.
- Review the entire LPI exam prep series on
developerWorks to learn Linux fundamentals and prepare for system
administrator certification based on earlier LPI exam objectives prior to
April 2009.
- At the RPM home page find current information on the RPM software
packaging tool and pointers to more information on RPM.
- The book
Maximum RPM
offers a comprehensive and systematic treatment of all aspects of
RPM. It's available in both hard and soft copy formats.
- At the LSB Home, learn about the Linux
Standard Base (LSB), a Free Standards Group (FSG) project to develop a
standard binary operating environment.
- See the PackageKit home
page to learn more about PackageKit.
- The Linux
Documentation Project has a variety of useful documents,
especially its HOWTOs.
-
In the developerWorks Linux zone,
find hundreds of how-to
articles
and tutorials, as well as downloads, discussion forums,
and a wealth other resources for Linux developers and administrators.
-
Stay current with
developerWorks technical events and webcasts focused on a variety of IBM products and IT industry topics.
-
Attend a free developerWorks Live!
briefing to get up-to-speed quickly on IBM products and tools as well as IT industry trends.
-
Watch developerWorks on-demand demos
ranging from product installation and setup demos for beginners, to advanced functionality for experienced developers.
-
Follow developerWorks on Twitter, or subscribe
to a
feed of Linux tweets on developerWorks.
Get products and technologies
- Find packages on
one of your distribution's mirrors, such as Fedora/12 Public Active Mirrors.
- Search for RPMs
for your distribution at Rpmfind.Net and
RPM Search.
-
Evaluate IBM products
in the way that suits you best: Download a product trial, try a product online, use a product in a cloud environment, or spend a few hours in the
SOA Sandbox
learning how to implement Service Oriented Architecture efficiently.
Discuss
- Participate in the discussion forum.
-
Get involved in the My developerWorks community.
Connect with other developerWorks users while exploring the developer-driven blogs, forums, groups, and wikis.
Ian Shields works on a multitude of Linux projects for the developerWorks Linux zone. He is a Senior Programmer at IBM at the Research Triangle Park, NC. He joined IBM in Canberra, Australia, as a Systems Engineer in 1973, and has since worked on communications systems and pervasive computing in Montreal, Canada, and RTP, NC. He has several patents and has published several papers. His undergraduate degree is in pure mathematics and philosophy from the Australian National University. He has an M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from North Carolina State University. Learn more about Ian in in Ian's profile on My developerWorks.
Table of contents
- Overview
- Introducing package management
- Installing RPM packages
- Package locations
- Removing RPM packages
- Upgrading RPM packages
- Querying RPM packages
- RPM package file integrity
- Verifying an installed package
- Downloading RPMs from repositories
- Using rpm2cpio
- Finding RPMs
- Other tools
- PackageKit
- Resources
- About the author
- Comments
