4. Using RPM

Contents of this section

In its simplest form, RPM can be used to install packages:

        rpm -i foobar-1.0-1.i386.rpm

        rpm -u foobar

One of the more complex but highly useful commands allows you to install packages via FTP. If you are connected to the net and want to install a new package, all you need to do is specify the file with a valid URL, like so:

        rpm -i ftp://ftp.pht.com/pub/linux/redhat/rh-2.0-beta/RPMS/foobar-1.0-1.i386.rpm

Please note, however, that the current version of RPM will only do installs via FTP. You cannot run any of the more complex query options on packages at an FTP site.

While these are simple commands, rpm can be used in a multitude of ways as seen from the Usage message:

rpm version 1.4.5
Copyright (C) 1995 - Red Hat Software
This may be freely redistributed under the terms of the GNU Public License

usage: rpm {--help}
       rpm {--version}
       rpm {--install -i} [-v] [--hash -h] [--percent] [--force] [--test]
                          [--search] [--root <dir>] file1.rpm ... filen.rpm
       rpm {--upgrade -U} [-v] [--hash -h] [--percent] [--force] [--test]
                          [--search] [--root <dir>] file1.rpm ... fileN.rpm
       rpm {--query -q} [-afFpP] [-i] [-l] [-s] [-d] [-c] [-v] 
                        [--root <dir>] [targets]
       rpm {--verify -V -y] [-afFpP] [--root <dir>] [targets]
       rpm {--uninstall -u] [--root <dir>] package1 package2 ... packageN
       rpm {-b}[plciba] [-v] [--short-circuit] [--clean] [--keep-temps]
                        [--test] [--time-check <s>] specfile
       rpm {--rebuild} [-v] source1.rpm source2.rpm ... sourceN.rpm
       rpm {--where} package1 package2 ... packageN

First, I'll go through a synopsis of what all the options mean (don't worry, there may be alot of options, but we tried to make them all as intuitive as possible).

Options are nested, so the possible options are many. Here's a description in parallel with the Usage message:

• help prints the usage message
• -i installs an rpm file.
  • --hash, -h is a very cool option for watching the package install (much like 'hash' in ftp).
  • --percent prints the percentages as a package installs (but is only useful for interfacing with other tools...is not really human readable).
  • --force will force an install of a binary package even though it may already exist in the database.
  • --test will tell you if installing would work or not (do you have a conflict with an already installed package).
  • --root will install a package using the root prefix specified instead of using the default of /.
• --install installs an rpm file.
• -U upgrades a package. This option installs the new package and then uninstalls the old one without hurting the new one. The upgrade option takes the same options as the install option.
• -q is the query option. In its simplest form, you can do rpm -q foobar which would return foobar-1.0-1. (1.0 is the version number, 1 is the release number.)
• Several options may be used with -q:
  • -a will query all currently installed packages.
  • -f <file> will query the package owning <file>.
  • -F is the same as -f except you can give it filenames via stdin (ie. ls /usr/bin | rpm -qF).
  • -p <packagefile> will query the package. It is really only useful when combined with one of the Information Selection Options below.
  • -P is like -p, except it takes its package filenames from stdin (ie. ls /mnt/redhat/redhat-2.0/RPMS | rpm -qP).
  • --root will query a mounted filesystem.
• Several Information Selection Options can be used with any combination of the above options. If none is given, the package name only is displayed.
  • -i displays package information such as Name, Description, Release, etc.
  • -l will display the file list from the entire package (all files that get installed). You can also use a -v with this to make the file list much more verbose.
  • -s shows you the state of all the files in the package. There are only two possible states, normal and missing.
  • -d outputs a list of just the files marked as documentation (man pages, info pages, READMEs, etc). -v will give even more info.
  • -c outputs a list of only the configuration files (sendmail.cf, passwd, inittab, etc.) -v will give more info about the files.
• {-V,-y,--verify} are the verify options. All are interchangeable. They all take the same Package Specification and Information Selection options as the -q option. I'll list some examples:
  • To verify a package containing particular file, do:

    rpm -yf /bin/vi
    

  • To verify ALL your files, do:

    rpm -ya
    

  • To verify files on your system versus the files in a .rpm file, do:

    rpm -Vp foobar-1.0-1.rpm
    

• --uninstall, -u <package> to uninstall a package
• -b to build a package (from sources and a spec file). This option will be discussed more at length in the next section, Building RPMs.
• -v be verbose in the output of what's going on.
• -vv be very verbose in the output of what's going on.

Next Chapter, Previous Chapter

Table of contents of this chapter, General table of contents

Top of the document, Beginning of this Chapter