Summary

The rpm command is used to install/uninstall package.

Usage

Test install rpm package

At times you want to perform a test run of a packages installation.

# rpm -ivh --test <package>.rpm

Install rpm package only

To just install a package which does not include upgrading an already installed package:

# rpm -ivh kernel-<kernel_version>.<arch>.rpm

The above example is great for when upgrading kernels. Best practice is to install the second kernel along side the existing kernel in case there are issues with installing the new kernel. With both installed, it makes it easy to rollback the changes.

Install an old rpm package

# rpm -ivh --oldpackage kernel-<kernel_version>.<arch>.rpm

Install/Upgrade rpm package

To upgrade/install a package, log in as root and type the following command at a shell prompt:

# rpm -Uvh foo-1.0-1.i386.rpm

Uninstall rpm package

# rpm -e <package>.rpm

Reinstall rpm package

# rpm -iv --replacepkgs <package>.rpm

List config files of package

# rpm -q --configfiles <package>.rpm

List contents of an uninstalled rpm

# rpm -qpl <rpm>.rpm

Viewing the contents of an uninstalled package may be useful when building your own rpms with rpmbuild.

Check if config files have been modified from the default

# rpm -V <package>.rpm

Modify the output of rpm using queryformat parameters

Query formats are modified versions of printf. The format is made up of static strings of allowed tag surrounded by %{}.

View available tags

# rpm --querytags

Print only the name of pakcages

Print only the names of the packages queried, you could use %{NAME} as the format string.

# rpm -qa --qf "%{NAME}\n"

Referenced commands: rpmbuild