All software on a Linux system is divided into packages that can be installed, uninstalled, upgraded, queried, and verified. CentOS/RHEL uses the Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) to facilitate the installation, upgrade and removal of software packages.
The rpm utility provides many useful options for querying and verifying packages, as well as installing, upgrading, and removing packages. The following provides examples of these options.
Query Packages
1. Listing all installed packages
To list all installed packages, use the following command:
# rpm -qa | more NetworkManager-team-1.8.0-9.el7.x86_64 pyxattr-0.5.1-5.el7.x86_64 HPOvXpl-11.14.014-1.x86_64 bind-utils-9.9.4-51.el7.x86_64 pyOpenSSL-0.13.1-3.el7.x86_64 ....
The format of rpm package names is name-version-release.architecture. The example shows packages for version 7 of EnterPrise Linux (el7) with architectures of either:
- x86_64: Any AMD64 or Intel 64 CPUs
- noarch: Any CPU architecture
- i686: 32-bit OS
2. Display Package Information
To display detailed package information (of the bash package, for example), enter:
# rpm -ql bash /etc/skel/.bash_logout /etc/skel/.bash_profile /etc/skel/.bashrc /usr/bin/alias /usr/bin/bash /usr/bin/bashbug /usr/bin/bashbug-64 /usr/bin/bg
3. Find the package from a file
To perform a reverse search, that is to determine what package a specific file (/etc/hosts, for example) belongs to, enter:
# rpm -qf /etc/hosts setup-2.8.71-7.el7.noarch
4. Find configuration files of a package
To list configuration files associated with a package (the bash package, for example), enter:
# rpm -qc bash /etc/skel/.bash_logout /etc/skel/.bash_profile /etc/skel/.bashrc
Installing and Updating Packages
1. Installing or Upgrading packages
Using the rpm -U package_name command upgrades installed packages, as well as installs
new packages. For example, to install or upgrade the rsync package:
# rpm –Uvh rsync-3.0.9-18.el7.x86_64.rpm
- -v (verbose) option displays more information
- -h (hash) option displays progress.
2. Installing a New Kernel
When installing a new kernel, use the –i option so as not to upgrade the current kernel, for example:
# rpm –ivh kernel-3.10.0-229.el7.x86_64.rpm
Removing Packages
To remove a package (the rsync package, for example), enter:
# rpm –e rsync