Basic RPM and Yum Queries

Let’s have a look at examples how to manage software packages from the command line interface. As we run CentOS we will use yum and rpm utilities.

RPM Queries

Show packages in the rpm database:

[[email protected] ~]# rpm -qa
libnice-0.1.3-4.el7.x86_64
mozjs24-24.2.0-6.el7.x86_64
telepathy-haze-0.8.0-1.el7.x86_64
[. . .]

Show packages in the rpm database:

[[email protected] ~]# rpm -qa | grep bash
bash-completion-2.1-6.el7.noarch
bash-4.2.46-21.el7_3.x86_64

List files in the rpm package:

[[email protected] ~]# rpm -ql bash-completion
/etc/bash_completion.d
/etc/bash_completion.d/redefine_filedir
/etc/profile.d/bash_completion.sh
/usr/share/bash-completion
/usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion
/usr/share/bash-completion/completions
[. . .]

List files in the rpm package:

[[email protected] etc]# rpm -ql libnfsidmap
/etc/idmapd.conf
/lib64/libnfsidmap.so.0
/lib64/libnfsidmap.so.0.3.0
/lib64/libnfsidmap/nsswitch.so
/lib64/libnfsidmap/static.so
/lib64/libnfsidmap/umich_ldap.so
/usr/share/doc/libnfsidmap-0.25
/usr/share/doc/libnfsidmap-0.25/AUTHORS
/usr/share/doc/libnfsidmap-0.25/COPYING
/usr/share/doc/libnfsidmap-0.25/ChangeLog
/usr/share/doc/libnfsidmap-0.25/NEWS
/usr/share/doc/libnfsidmap-0.25/README
/usr/share/man/man3/nfs4_uid_to_name.3.gz
/usr/share/man/man5/idmapd.conf.5.gz

Find rpm package given files are coming from

[[email protected] etc]# rpm -qf /etc/idmapd.conf
libnfsidmap-0.25-15.el7.x86_64

Find the rpm package configuration file(s):

[[email protected] etc]# rpm -qc libnfsidmap
/etc/idmapd.conf

Find the rpm package documentation files:

[[email protected] etc]# rpm -qd libnfsidmap
/usr/share/doc/libnfsidmap-0.25/AUTHORS
/usr/share/doc/libnfsidmap-0.25/COPYING
/usr/share/doc/libnfsidmap-0.25/ChangeLog
/usr/share/doc/libnfsidmap-0.25/NEWS
/usr/share/doc/libnfsidmap-0.25/README
/usr/share/man/man3/nfs4_uid_to_name.3.gz
/usr/share/man/man5/idmapd.conf.5.gz

Query Packages in Repositories

How to query an rpm package before installing it?

Query repository:

[[email protected] etc]# repoquery nginx
nginx-1:1.10.2-1.el7.x86_64

Get info about the package:

[[email protected] etc]# repoquery -i nginx

Name : nginx
Version : 1.10.2
Release : 1.el7
Architecture: x86_64
Size : 1459372
Packager : Fedora Project
Group : System Environment/Daemons
URL : http://nginx.org/
Repository : epel
Summary : A high performance web server and reverse proxy server
Source : nginx-1.10.2-1.el7.src.rpm
Description :
Nginx is a web server and a reverse proxy server for HTTP, SMTP, POP3 and
IMAP protocols, with a strong focus on high concurrency, performance and low
memory usage.

List the package content:

[[email protected] etc]# repoquery -l nginx
/etc/logrotate.d/nginx
/etc/nginx/fastcgi.conf
/etc/nginx/fastcgi.conf.default
[. . .]
var/log/nginx

Download rpm package and check scripts are included in the rpm:

Note: It is especially useful if we have the rpm package downloaded from not reliable source and we want to check what scripts would be executed when installing the package.

[[email protected] etc]# yumdownloader httpd
[[email protected] etc]# ls -lt | grep httpd
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2831588 Apr 13 02:04 httpd-2.4.6-45.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm

[[email protected] etc]# rpm -qpi httpd-2.4.6-45.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm
Name : httpd
Version : 2.4.6
Release : 45.el7.centos.4
Architecture: x86_64
Install Date: (not installed)
Group : System Environment/Daemons
Size : 9823677
License : ASL 2.0
Signature : RSA/SHA256, Thu 13 Apr 2017 02:04:44 IST, Key ID 24c6a8a7f4a80eb5
Source RPM : httpd-2.4.6-45.el7.centos.4.src.rpm
Build Date : Wed 12 Apr 2017 22:05:23 IST
Build Host : c1bm.rdu2.centos.org
Relocations : (not relocatable)
Packager : CentOS BuildSystem <http://bugs.centos.org>
Vendor : CentOS
URL : http://httpd.apache.org/
Summary : Apache HTTP Server
Description :
The Apache HTTP Server is a powerful, efficient, and extensible
web server.

List files in the rpm package:

[[email protected] etc]# rpm -qpl httpd-2.4.6-45.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm
/etc/httpd
/etc/httpd/conf
/etc/httpd/conf.d
/etc/httpd/conf.d/README
/etc/httpd/conf.d/autoindex.conf
/etc/httpd/conf.d/userdir.conf
/etc/httpd/conf.d/welcome.conf
[. . .]
/var/www/cgi-bin
/var/www/html