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.
GENERAL OPTIONS
These options can be used in all the different modes.
-?, --help
Print a longer usage message than 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.
--load FILE
Load an individual macro file.
--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.
INSTALL AND UPGRADE OPTIONS
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 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.
--excludeartifacts
Don't install any files which are marked as artifacts,
such as build-id links.
--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.
--noverify
Don't perform verify package files prior to installation.
--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.
ERASE OPTIONS
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.
QUERY OPTIONS
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.
:string
Display string format. (default)
:tagname
Display tag name.
:tagnum
Display tag number.
: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 three subsets of options for querying: package
selection, file selection and information selection.
PACKAGE SELECTION OPTIONS:
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
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.
PACKAGE QUERY OPTIONS:
--changelog
Display change information for the package.
--changes
Display change information for the package with full time
stamps.
--conflicts
List capabilities this package conflicts with.
--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, --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. --xml Format package headers as XML.
FILE SELECTION OPTIONS:
-A, --artifactfiles
Only include artifact files (implies -l).
-c, --configfiles
Only include configuration files (implies -l).
-d, --docfiles
Only include documentation files (implies -l).
-L, --licensefiles
Only include license files (implies -l).
--noartifact
Exclude artifact files.
--noconfig
Exclude config files.
--noghost
Exclude ghost files.
VERIFY OPTIONS
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 and file 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.
--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
MISCELLANEOUS COMMANDS
rpm --showrc
shows the values rpm will use for all of the options are
currently set in rpmrc and macros configuration file(s).
rpm --setperms PACKAGE_NAME
sets permissions of files in the given package. Consider
using --restore instead.
rpm --setugids PACKAGE_NAME
sets user/group ownership of files in the given package.
This command can change permissions and capabilities of
files in that package. In most cases it is better to use
--restore instead.
rpm --setcaps PACKAGE_NAME
sets capabilities of files in the given package. Consider
using --restore instead.
rpm --restore PACKAGE_NAME
The option restores owner, group, permissions and
capabilities of files in the given package.
Options --setperms, --setugids, --setcaps and
--restore are mutually exclusive.
FTP/HTTP OPTIONS
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:
http://HOST[:PORT]/path/to/package.rpm
ftp://[USER:PASSWORD]@HOST[:PORT]/path/to/package.rpm
If both the user and password are omitted, anonymous ftp is used.
rpm allows the following options to be used with ftp URLs:
rpm allows the following options to be used with
http and ftp URLs:
--httpproxy HOST
The host HOST will be used as a proxy server for all http
and ftp 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.
