Using RPM


Using RPM

Here are my most commonly used RPM commands.

See more sections on Gnu/Linux .

RPM is a handy way to ship and install code for most linux distributions. See an excellent introduction at http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-rpm1/ and many referencees at http://www.rpm.org/

First look for rpms on your installation disks.

If you are installing from Redhat or Fedora you can find and install packages with yum. These will download rpm's appropriate for your distribution, then install or upgrade.

Not every rpm is assembled correctly. If you cannot find an rpm for your distribution, then download and compile the source code. Source rpms are available that install only source code under /usr/src.

The CD's that install RedHat and Mandrake come with large directories of rpms. If I have a large disk drive, then I copy iso images of the CDs to a directory under /usr/src. You can then read the disk image by mounting it as a file system:
mount -o loop -t iso9660 imagefile.iso imagedir

Most CD installs come with a directory of rpm files for additional features. (Look in /mnt/cdrom.) Install as root, with the single command
rpm -Uvh psutils-1.17-5.i386.rpm

You will be told if you need to install other software first. (Using -U instead of -i will replace previous versions.) You can test dependencies without installing, and without becoming root, by adding the --test flag:
rpm -Uvh --test xsane-0.77-4.i386.rpm 
error: failed dependencies:
     sane-backends >= 1.0.5-3 is needed by xsane-0.77-4
     libsane.so.1   is needed by xsane-0.77-4

Include all dependencies in a single install command:
rpm -Uvh --test xsane-0.77-4.i386.rpm sane-backends-1.0.5-4.i386.rpm
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]

See what files will be installed by an rpm with
 rpm -qlp psutils-1.17-5.i386.rpm
or
 less psutils-1.17-5.i386.rpm

less nicely formats the contents and descriptive information inside an rpm.

See what rpm package and version was used to install a file by
  rpm -qf /usr/bin/latex2html 
tetex-latex-1.0.7-30

See dependencies with
  rpm -qRf /usr/bin/latex2html 
or
  rpm -qR tetex-latex-1.0.7-30

See what other files were installed by the package with
  rpm -qlf /usr/bin/latex2html 
or
  rpm -ql tetex-latex-1.0.7-30

List all installed packages with
  rpm -qa | sort

If you do not want to install in public system directories, specify an alternative like --prefix /my/usr/local/.

To uninstall, use the --erase option, and test first.

If you download the entire updates directory for your distribution, then you can upgrade all packages you have installed without installing anything new:
  rpm -Fvh *.rpm

Rpm updates have been known to hang because a previous one was killed and left a lock file behind. Delete the lock files with rm -f /var/lib/rpm/__*

See if you have accidentally deleted any dependencies with
rpm -Va

Verify a particular program with
rpm -Vf /usr/bin/program

Extract all rpm files locally with
cat src.rpm | rpm2cpio | pax -r

Bill Harlan, 2004


Return to parent directory.