rpm {-q|--query} [select-options]
[query-options]
rpm --querytags
rpm {-V|--verify} [select-options]
[verify-options]
rpm {-i|--install} [install-options]
PACKAGE_FILE ...
rpm {-U|--upgrade} [install-options]
PACKAGE_FILE ...
rpm {-F|--freshen} [install-options]
PACKAGE_FILE ...
rpm {--reinstall} [install-options]
PACKAGE_FILE ...
rpm {-e|--erase} [--allmatches] [--justdb]
[--nodeps] [--noscripts]
[--notriggers] [--test]
PACKAGE_NAME ...
rpm --showrc
rpm --setperms PACKAGE_NAME
...
rpm --setugids PACKAGE_NAME
...
rpm --setcaps PACKAGE_NAME
...
rpm --restore PACKAGE_NAME
...
[PACKAGE_NAME]
[-a,--all [SELECTOR]] [-f,--file FILE]
[-g,--group GROUP] {-p,--package
PACKAGE_FILE]
[--hdrid SHA1] [--pkgid MD5]
[--tid TID]
[--querybynumber HDRNUM] [--triggeredby
PACKAGE_NAME]
[--whatprovides CAPABILITY] [--whatrequires
CAPABILITY]
[--whatrecommends CAPABILITY] [--whatsuggests
CAPABILITY]
[--whatsupplements CAPABILITY] [--whatenhances
CAPABILITY]
[--whatobsoletes CAPABILITY] [--whatconflicts
CAPABILITY]
General:
[--changelog] [--changes] [--dupes] [-i,--info]
[--last] [--qf,--queryformat QUERYFMT]
[--xml]
Dependencies:
[--conflicts] [--enhances] [--obsoletes]
[--provides]
[--recommends] [-R,--requires] [--suggests]
[--supplements]
Files:
[-c,--configfiles] [-d,--docfiles] [--dump]
[--fileclass]
[--filecolor] [--fileprovide][--filerequire]
[--filecaps]
[--filesbypkg] [-l,--list] [-s,--state]
[--noartifact] [--noghost] [--noconfig
Scripts and triggers:
[--filetriggers] [--scripts]
[--triggers,--triggerscripts]
[--nodeps] [--nofiles] [--noscripts]
[--nodigest] [--nosignature]
[--nolinkto] [--nofiledigest] [--nosize]
[--nouser]
[--nogroup] [--nomtime] [--nomode] [--nordev]
[--nocaps]
[--allfiles] [--badreloc] [--excludepath
OLDPATH]
[--excludedocs] [--force] [-h,--hash]
[--ignoresize] [--ignorearch] [--ignoreos]
[--includedocs] [--justdb]
[--nodeps] [--nodigest] [--noplugins]
[--nocaps] [--noorder]
[--nosignature] [--noscripts] [--notriggers]
[--oldpackage] [--percent] [--prefix
NEWPATH]
[--relocate OLDPATH=NEWPATH]
[--replacefiles] [--replacepkgs]
[--test]
rpm is a powerful Package Manager, which can be used
to build, install, query, verify, update, and erase individual software
packages. A package consists of an archive of files and meta-data
used to install and erase the archive files. The meta-data includes helper
scripts, file attributes, and descriptive information about the package.
Packages come in two varieties: binary packages, used to encapsulate
software to be installed, and source packages, containing the source code
and recipe necessary to produce binary packages.
One of the following basic modes must be selected: Query,
Verify, Install/Upgrade/Freshen/Reinstall, Uninstall,
Set Owners/Groups, Show Querytags, and Show
Configuration.
These options can be used in all the different modes.
- -?, --help
- Print a longer usage message then normal.
- --version
- Print a single line containing the version number of rpm being
used.
- --quiet
- Print as little as possible - normally only error messages will be
displayed.
- -v, --verbose
- Print verbose information - normally routine progress messages will be
displayed.
- -vv
- Print lots of ugly debugging information.
- --rcfile
FILELIST
- Replace the list of configuration files to be read. Each of the files in
the colon separated FILELIST is read sequentially by rpm for
configuration information. Only the first file in the list must exist, and
tildes will be expanded to the value of $HOME. The default
FILELIST is
/usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc:/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/rpmrc:/etc/rpmrc:~/.rpmrc.
- --macros
FILELIST
- Replace the list of macro files to be loaded. Each of the files in the
colon separated FILELIST is read sequentially by rpm for
macro definitions. Only the first file in the list must exist, and tildes
will be expanded to the value of $HOME. The default FILELIST
is
/usr/lib/rpm/macros:/usr/lib/rpm/macros.d/macros.*:/usr/lib/rpm/platform/%{_target}/macros:/usr/lib/rpm/fileattrs/*.attr:/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/macros:/etc/rpm/macros.*:/etc/rpm/macros:/etc/rpm/%{_target}/macros:~/.rpmmacros
- --pipe
CMD
- Pipes the output of rpm to the command CMD.
- --dbpath
DIRECTORY
- Use the database in DIRECTORY rather than the default path
/var/lib/rpm
- --root
DIRECTORY
- Use the file system tree rooted at DIRECTORY for all operations.
Note that this means the database within DIRECTORY will be used for
dependency checks and any scriptlet(s) (e.g. %post if installing,
or %prep if building, a package) will be run after a chroot(2) to
DIRECTORY.
- -D, --define='MACRO
EXPR'
- Defines MACRO with value EXPR.
- --undefine='MACRO'
- Undefines MACRO.
- -E,
--eval='EXPR'
- Prints macro expansion of EXPR.
More - less often needed - options can be found on the
rpm-misc(8) man page.
In these options, PACKAGE_FILE can be either rpm
binary file or ASCII package manifest (see PACKAGE SELECTION
OPTIONS), and may be specified as an ftp or http URL, in
which case the package will be downloaded before being installed. See
FTP/HTTP OPTIONS for information on rpm's internal ftp
and http client support.
The general form of an rpm install command is
rpm {-i|--install} [install-options]
PACKAGE_FILE ...
This installs a new package.
The general form of an rpm upgrade command is
rpm {-U|--upgrade} [install-options]
PACKAGE_FILE ...
This upgrades or installs the package currently installed to a
newer version. This is the same as install, except all other version(s) of
the package are removed after the new package is installed.
rpm {-F|--freshen} [install-options]
PACKAGE_FILE ...
This will upgrade packages, but only ones for which an earlier
version is installed.
The general form of an rpm reinstall command is
rpm {--reinstall} [install-options]
PACKAGE_FILE ...
This reinstalls a previously installed package.
- --allfiles
- Installs or upgrades all the missingok files in the package, regardless if
they exist.
- --badreloc
- Used with --relocate, permit relocations on all file paths, not
just those OLDPATH's included in the binary package relocation
hint(s).
- --excludepath
OLDPATH
- Don't install files whose name begins with OLDPATH.
- --excludedocs
- Don't install any files which are marked as documentation (which includes
man pages and texinfo documents).
- --force
- Same as using --replacepkgs, --replacefiles, and
--oldpackage.
- -h, --hash
- Print 50 hash marks as the package archive is unpacked. Use with
-v|--verbose for a nicer display.
- --ignoresize
- Don't check mount file systems for sufficient disk space before installing
this package.
- --ignorearch
- Allow installation or upgrading even if the architectures of the binary
package and host don't match.
- --ignoreos
- Allow installation or upgrading even if the operating systems of the
binary package and host don't match.
- --includedocs
- Install documentation files. This is the default behavior.
- --justdb
- Update only the database, not the filesystem.
- --nodigest
- Don't verify package or header digests when reading.
- --nomanifest
- Don't process non-package files as manifests.
- --nosignature
- Don't verify package or header signatures when reading.
- --nodeps
- Don't do a dependency check before installing or upgrading a package.
- --nocaps
- Don't set file capabilities.
- --noorder
- Don't reorder the packages for an install. The list of packages would
normally be reordered to satisfy dependencies.
- --noplugins
- Do not load and execute plugins.
- --noscripts,
--nopre, --nopost, --nopreun, --nopostun,
--nopretrans, --noposttrans
- Don't execute the scriptlet of the same name. The --noscripts
option is equivalent to
--nopre --nopost --nopreun
--nopostun --nopretrans --noposttrans
and turns off the execution of the corresponding %pre,
%post, %preun, %postun %pretrans, and
%posttrans scriptlet(s).
- --notriggers,
--notriggerin, --notriggerun, --notriggerprein,
--notriggerpostun
- Don't execute any trigger scriptlet of the named type. The
--notriggers option is equivalent to
--notriggerprein --notriggerin
--notriggerun --notriggerpostun
and turns off execution of the corresponding
%triggerprein, %triggerin, %triggerun, and
%triggerpostun scriptlet(s).
- --oldpackage
- Allow an upgrade to replace a newer package with an older one.
- --percent
- Print percentages as files are unpacked from the package archive. This is
intended to make rpm easy to run from other tools.
- --prefix
NEWPATH
- For relocatable binary packages, translate all file paths that start with
the installation prefix in the package relocation hint(s) to
NEWPATH.
- --relocate
OLDPATH=NEWPATH
- For relocatable binary packages, translate all file paths that start with
OLDPATH in the package relocation hint(s) to NEWPATH. This
option can be used repeatedly if several OLDPATH's in the package
are to be relocated.
- --replacefiles
- Install the packages even if they replace files from other, already
installed, packages.
- --replacepkgs
- Install the packages even if some of them are already installed on this
system.
- --test
- Do not install the package, simply check for and report potential
conflicts.
The general form of an rpm erase command is
rpm {-e|--erase} [--allmatches] [--justdb]
[--nodeps] [--noscripts] [--notriggers]
[--test] PACKAGE_NAME ...
The following options may also be used:
- --allmatches
- Remove all versions of the package which match PACKAGE_NAME.
Normally an error is issued if PACKAGE_NAME matches multiple
packages.
- --justdb
- Update only the database, not the filesystem.
- --nodeps
- Don't check dependencies before uninstalling the packages.
- --noscripts,
--nopreun, --nopostun
- Don't execute the scriptlet of the same name. The --noscripts
option during package erase is equivalent to
--nopreun --nopostun
and turns off the execution of the corresponding
%preun, and %postun scriptlet(s).
- --notriggers,
--notriggerun, --notriggerpostun
- Don't execute any trigger scriptlet of the named type. The
--notriggers option is equivalent to
--notriggerun --notriggerpostun
and turns off execution of the corresponding
%triggerun, and %triggerpostun scriptlet(s).
- --test
- Don't really uninstall anything, just go through the motions. Useful in
conjunction with the -vv option for debugging.
The general form of an rpm query command is
rpm {-q|--query} [select-options]
[query-options]
You may specify the format that package information should be
printed in. To do this, you use the
--qf|--queryformat QUERYFMT
option, followed by the QUERYFMT format string. Query
formats are modified versions of the standard printf(3) formatting.
The format is made up of static strings (which may include standard C
character escapes for newlines, tabs, and other special characters) and
printf(3) type formatters. As rpm already knows the type to
print, the type specifier must be omitted however, and replaced by the name
of the header tag to be printed, enclosed by {} characters. Tag names
are case insensitive, and the leading RPMTAG_ portion of the tag name
may be omitted as well.
Alternate output formats may be requested by following the tag
with :typetag. Currently, the following types are
supported:
- :armor
- Wrap a public key in ASCII armor.
- :arraysize
- Display number of elements in array tags.
- :base64
- Encode binary data using base64.
- :date
- Use strftime(3) "%c" format.
- :day
- Use strftime(3) "%a %b %d %Y" format.
- :depflags
- Format dependency comparison operator.
- :deptype
- Format dependency type.
- :expand
- Perform macro expansion.
- :fflags
- Format file flags.
- :fstate
- Format file state.
- :fstatus
- Format file verify status.
- :hex
- Format in hexadecimal.
- :octal
- Format in octal.
- :humaniec
- Human readable number (in IEC 80000). The suffix K = 1024, M = 1048576,
...
- :humansi
- Human readable number (in SI). The suffix K = 1000, M = 1000000, ...
- :perms
- Format file permissions.
- :pgpsig
- Display signature fingerprint and time.
- :shescape
- Escape single quotes for use in a script.
- :triggertype
- Display trigger suffix.
- :vflags
- File verification flags.
- :xml
- Wrap data in simple xml markup.
For example, to print only the names of the packages queried, you
could use %{NAME} as the format string. To print the packages name
and distribution information in two columns, you could use
%-30{NAME}%{DISTRIBUTION}. rpm will print a list of all of the
tags it knows about when it is invoked with the --querytags
argument.
There are two subsets of options for querying: package selection,
and information selection.
- PACKAGE_NAME
- Query installed package named PACKAGE_NAME. To specify the package
more precisely the package name may be followed by the version or version
and release both separated by a dash or an architecture name separated by
a dot. See the output of rpm -qa or rpm -qp
PACKAGE_FILE as an example.
- -a, --all
[SELECTOR]
- Query all installed packages.
An optional SELECTOR in the form of tag=pattern can be
provided to narrow the selection, for example name="b*" to
query packages whose name starts with "b".
- --dupes
- List duplicated packages.
- -f, --file
FILE
- Query package owning FILE.
- --filecaps
- List file names with POSIX1.e capabilities.
- --fileclass
- List file names with their classes (libmagic classification).
- --filecolor
- List file names with their colors (0 for noarch, 1 for 32bit, 2 for 64
bit).
- --fileprovide
- List file names with their provides.
- --filerequire
- List file names with their requires.
- -g, --group
GROUP
- Query packages with the group of GROUP.
- --hdrid
SHA1
- Query package that contains a given header identifier, i.e. the
SHA1 digest of the immutable header region.
- -p, --package
PACKAGE_FILE
- Query an (uninstalled) package PACKAGE_FILE. The
PACKAGE_FILE may be specified as an ftp or http style
URL, in which case the package header will be downloaded and queried. See
FTP/HTTP OPTIONS for information on rpm's internal
ftp and http client support. The PACKAGE_FILE
argument(s), if not a binary package, will be interpreted as an ASCII
package manifest unless --nomanifest option is used. In manifests,
comments are permitted, starting with a '#', and each line of a package
manifest file may include white space separated glob expressions,
including URL's, that will be expanded to paths that are substituted in
place of the package manifest as additional PACKAGE_FILE arguments
to the query.
- --pkgid
MD5
- Query package that contains a given package identifier, i.e. the
MD5 digest of the combined header and payload contents.
- --querybynumber
HDRNUM
- Query the HDRNUMth database entry directly; this is useful only for
debugging.
- --specfile
SPECFILE
- Parse and query SPECFILE as if it were a package. Although not all
the information (e.g. file lists) is available, this type of query permits
rpm to be used to extract information from spec files without having to
write a specfile parser.
- --tid
TID
- Query package(s) that have a given TID transaction identifier. A
unix time stamp is currently used as a transaction identifier. All
package(s) installed or erased within a single transaction have a common
identifier.
- --triggeredby
PACKAGE_NAME
- Query packages that are triggered by package(s) PACKAGE_NAME.
- --whatobsoletes
CAPABILITY
- Query all packages that obsolete CAPABILITY for proper
functioning.
- --whatprovides
CAPABILITY
- Query all packages that provide the CAPABILITY capability.
- --whatrequires
CAPABILITY
- Query all packages that require CAPABILITY for proper
functioning.
- --whatconflicts
CAPABILITY
- Query all packages that conflict with CAPABILITY.
- --whatrecommends
CAPABILITY
- Query all packages that recommend CAPABILITY.
- --whatsuggests
CAPABILITY
- Query all packages that suggest CAPABILITY.
- --whatsupplements
CAPABILITY
- Query all packages that supplement CAPABILITY.
- --whatenhances
CAPABILITY
- Query all packages that enhance CAPABILITY.
- -d,
--artifactfiles
- List only artifact files (implies -l).
- --changelog
- Display change information for the package.
- --changes
- Display change information for the package with full time stamps.
- -c, --configfiles
- List only configuration files (implies -l).
- --conflicts
- List capabilities this package conflicts with.
- -d, --docfiles
- List only documentation files (implies -l).
- --dump
- Dump file information as follows (implies -l):
path size mtime digest mode owner group isconfig isdoc rdev symlink
- --enhances
- List capabilities enhanced by package(s)
- --filesbypkg
- List all the files in each selected package.
- --filetriggers
- List filetrigger scriptlets from package(s).
- -i, --info
- Display package information, including name, version, and description.
This uses the --queryformat if one was specified.
- --last
- Orders the package listing by install time such that the latest packages
are at the top.
- -L, --licensefiles
- List only license files (implies -l).
- -l, --list
- List files in package.
- --obsoletes
- List packages this package obsoletes.
- --provides
- List capabilities this package provides.
- --recommends
- List capabilities recommended by package(s)
- -R, --requires
- List capabilities on which this package depends.
- --suggests
- List capabilities suggested by package(s)
- --supplements
- List capabilities supplemented by package(s)
- --scripts
- List the package specific scriptlet(s) that are used as part of the
installation and uninstallation processes.
- -s, --state
- Display the states of files in the package (implies -l). The
state of each file is one of normal, not installed, or
replaced.
- --triggers,
--triggerscripts
- Display the trigger scripts, if any, which are contained in the
package.
- --noartifact
- Don't display artifact files. --noghost Don't display ghost files.
Useful in combination with option --list.
- --noconfig
- Don't display config files.
- --xml
- Format package headers as XML.
The general form of an rpm verify command is
rpm {-V|--verify} [select-options]
[verify-options]
Verifying a package compares information about the installed files
in the package with information about the files taken from the package
metadata stored in the rpm database. Among other things, verifying compares
the size, digest, permissions, type, owner and group of each file. Any
discrepancies are displayed. Files that were not installed from the package,
for example, documentation files excluded on installation using the
"--excludedocs" option, will be silently ignored.
The package selection options are the same as for package querying
(including package manifest files as arguments). Other options unique to
verify mode are:
- --nodeps
- Don't verify dependencies of packages.
- --nodigest
- Don't verify package or header digests when reading.
- --nofiles
- Don't verify any attributes of package files.
- --noghost
- Don't verify ghost files.
- --noconfig
- Don't verify config files.
- --noscripts
- Don't execute the %verifyscript scriptlet (if any).
- --nosignature
- Don't verify package or header signatures when reading.
- --nolinkto
- --nofiledigest
(formerly --nomd5)
- --nosize
- --nouser
- --nogroup
- --nomtime
- --nomode
- --nordev
- Don't verify the corresponding file attribute.
- --nocaps
- Don't verify file capabilities.
The format of the output is a string of 9 characters, a possible
attribute marker:
c %config configuration file.
d %doc documentation file.
g %ghost file (i.e. the file contents are not included in the package payload).
l %license license file.
r %readme readme file.
from the package header, followed by the file name. Each of the 9
characters denotes the result of a comparison of attribute(s) of the file to
the value of those attribute(s) recorded in the database. A single
"." (period) means the test passed, while a single
"?" (question mark) indicates the test could not be
performed (e.g. file permissions prevent reading). Otherwise, the
(mnemonically emBoldened) character denotes failure of the
corresponding --verify test:
S file Size differs
M Mode differs (includes permissions and file type)
5 digest (formerly MD5 sum) differs
D Device major/minor number mismatch
L readLink(2) path mismatch
U User ownership differs
G Group ownership differs
T mTime differs
P caPabilities differ
rpm can act as an FTP and/or HTTP client so that packages
can be queried or installed from the internet. Package files for install,
upgrade, and query operations may be specified as an ftp or
http style URL:
ftp://USER:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT/path/to/package.rpm
If the :PASSWORD portion is omitted, the password will be
prompted for (once per user/hostname pair). If both the user and password
are omitted, anonymous ftp is used. In all cases, passive (PASV)
ftp transfers are performed.
rpm allows the following options to be used with ftp
URLs:
- --ftpproxy
HOST
- The host HOST will be used as a proxy server for all ftp transfers,
which allows users to ftp through firewall machines which use proxy
systems. This option may also be specified by configuring the macro
%_ftpproxy.
- --ftpport
PORT
- The TCP PORT number to use for the ftp connection on the proxy ftp
server instead of the default port. This option may also be specified by
configuring the macro %_ftpport.
rpm allows the following options to be used with
http URLs:
- --httpproxy
HOST
- The host HOST will be used as a proxy server for all http
transfers. This option may also be specified by configuring the macro
%_httpproxy.
- --httpport
PORT
- The TCP PORT number to use for the http connection on the
proxy http server instead of the default port. This option may also be
specified by configuring the macro %_httpport.