Rpm (8) Linux Manual Page

rpm – RPM Package Manager

Synopsis

Querying And Verifying Packages:

rpm {-q|–query} [select-options] [query-options] rpm {-V|–verify} [select-options] [verify-options]

Installing, Upgrading, And Removing Packages:

rpm {-i|–install} [install-options] PACKAGE_FILE … rpm {-U|–upgrade} [install-options] PACKAGE_FILE … rpm {-F|–freshen} [install-options] PACKAGE_FILE … rpm {-e|–erase} [–allmatches] [–justdb] [–nodeps] [–noscripts]
[–notriggers] [–test] PACKAGE_NAME …

Miscellaneous:

rpm {–querytags|–showrc} rpm {–setperms|–setugids} PACKAGE_NAME …

select-options

[PACKAGE_NAME] [-a,–all] [-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]

query-options

[–changelog] [-c,–configfiles] [–conflicts]
[-d,–docfiles] [–dump] [–filesbypkg] [-i,–info]
[–last] [-l,–list] [–obsoletes] [–provides]
[–qf,–queryformat QUERYFMT] [-R,–requires]
[–scripts] [-s,–state] [–triggers,–triggerscripts]

verify-options

[–nodeps] [–nofiles] [–noscripts]
[–nodigest] [–nosignature]
[–nolinkto] [–nofiledigest] [–nosize] [–nouser]
[–nogroup] [–nomtime] [–nomode] [–nordev]
[–nocaps]

install-options

[--allfiles] [--badreloc] [--excludepath OLDPATH]

[--excludedocs] [--force] [-h,--hash]

[--ignoresize] [--ignorearch] [--ignoreos]

[--includedocs] [--justdb] [--nocollections]

[--nodeps] [--nodigest] [--nosignature] [--noplugins]

[--noorder] [--noscripts] [--notriggers]

[--oldpackage] [--percent] [--prefix NEWPATH]

[--relocate OLDPATH=NEWPATH]

[--replacefiles] [--replacepkgs]

[--test]

Description

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, 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 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: Print verbose information – normally routine progress messages will be displayed.
-vv: Print lots of ugly debugging information.
–rcfile FILELIST: 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.
–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.

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 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.

–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.
–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: Don’t execute the scriptlet of the same name. The –noscripts option is equivalent to –nopre –nopost –nopreun –nopostun and turns off the execution of the corresponding %pre, %post, %preun, and %postun 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.
: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 Selection Options:

PACKAGE_NAME: Query installed package named PACKAGE_NAME.
-a, –all: Query all installed packages.
-f, –file FILE: Query package owning FILE.
-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.
–whatprovides CAPABILITY: Query all packages that provide the CAPABILITY capability.
–whatrequires CAPABILITY: Query all packages that require CAPABILITY for proper functioning.

Package Query Options:

–changelog

Display change information for the package.

-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

–filesbypkg

List all the files in each selected package.

-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.

-R, –requires

List capabilities on which this package depends.

–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.

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 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.

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.
rpm –setugids PACKAGE_NAME: sets user/group ownership of files in the given package.
Options –setperms and –setugids 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: 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.

Legacy Issues

Executing rpmbuild

The build modes of rpm are now resident in the /usr/bin/rpmbuild executable. Install the package containing rpmbuild (usually rpm-build) and see rpmbuild(8) for documentation of all the rpm build modes.

Files

rpmrc Configuration

/usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc
/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/rpmrc
/etc/rpmrc
~/.rpmrc

Macro Configuration

/usr/lib/rpm/macros
/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/macros
/etc/rpm/macros
~/.rpmmacros

Database

/var/lib/rpm/Basenames
/var/lib/rpm/Conflictname
/var/lib/rpm/Dirnames
/var/lib/rpm/Group
/var/lib/rpm/Installtid
/var/lib/rpm/Name
/var/lib/rpm/Obsoletename
/var/lib/rpm/Packages
/var/lib/rpm/Providename
/var/lib/rpm/Requirename
/var/lib/rpm/Sha1header
/var/lib/rpm/Sigmd5
/var/lib/rpm/Triggername

Temporary

/var/tmp/rpm*

Authors

Marc Ewing <marc [at] redhat.com>
Jeff Johnson <jbj [at] redhat.com>
Erik Troan <ewt [at] redhat.com>

rpm (8) Linux Manual Page