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RPM Package Manager

lastmod 2025-12-08created 2015-04-1510 edits

RPM Package Manager (RPM Package Manager←Red Hat Package Manager) was originally the package file used by Red Hat, but it is now used by many RPM-based distributions. The term refers to two things: the RPM package itself, and the tool for managing RPM packages. RPM makes installing and updating all kinds of software very convenient.

RPM is one of the standard package formats of the Linux Standard Base. It was originally made for Red Hat Linux, but has been ported to many Linux distributions, Novell NetWare (6.5 SP3 and later), IBM AIX 5, and others. The current name "RPM" is a kind of recursive acronym.

What is EL

The "el4", "el5", ... attached to package names and the like stand for "Enterprise Linux"; "el4" means "Enterprise Linux 4".

Category

Usage

Usage is as follows. 

$ rpm [-옵션] [패키지경로] [--추가옵션]

Filename rule 

[패키지이름]-[버전]-[릴리즈번호].[OS버전].[아키텍처].rpm
  • Package name: the name of the package (program).
  • Version: usually made up of three parts, [major version].[minor version].[patch version]; the higher the version, the newer it is.
  • Release number: a number assigned each time problems are fixed.
  • OS version: the type and version of the operating system.
  • Architecture: the CPU architecture, i.e., the CPUs the package can be installed on.
    • i386, i486, i586, i686: INTEL or AMD family.
    • alpha, sprc, ia64: the respective CPU.
    • src: a source file package; requires separate compilation after search.
    • noarch: can be installed on any CPU (NO ARCHitecture).

Example

rpm -ivh 패키지명
Install a package.
rpm -q [패키지경로]
Check whether a package is installed.
rpm -qa
List all packages.
rpm -qa | grep 패키지명
Check whether it is installed. Note that there is a -q option for checking installation, but grepping the full package list (-qa option) is another way.
rpm -ql 패키지경로
Check the package's install paths.
rpm -ev 패키지명
Remove a package.
rpm -Uvh 패키지명
Upgrade a package.

Flags

The options available in rpm are as follows.

  • -i: normal installation.
  • -U: installs normally like -i, but upgrades if the package is already installed.
  • -F: installs only if a previous version is installed.
  • -v: shows the installation process.
  • -h: prints installation progress with # marks.
  • -q: checks whether a package is installed.
  • -qa: prints a list of all installed packages.
  • -qi: prints brief information about an installed package.
  • -ql: prints the contents (locations) of an installed package.
  • -Vf: verifies currently installed files. Shown as '.' if there are no problems.
  • -Va: verifies one package.
  • --force: installs unconditionally, ignoring conflicts and the like.
  • --nodeps: installs ignoring dependency problems.

Install RPMforge 

$ wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el7/en/x86_64/rpmforge/RPMS/rpmforge-release-0.5.3-1.el7.rf.x86_64.rpm
$ rpm -Uvh rpmforge-release*rpm

Removing RPMforge Repository

remove rpmforge as package repository 

$ rpm -e rpmforge

Package repository

Check http://apt.sw.be/.

Linux Package management systems

Linux package management systems

dpkg

APT (Synaptic, Ubuntu Software Center, KPackage, Adept Manager), aptitude, dselect

RPM

APT-RPM, up2date, urpmi (Rpmdrake), ZYpp, YUM, DNF

Others

Pacman, ipkg, opkg, PPM, Upkg, PISI, Conary, Portage, Entropy, slapt-get, slackpkg, netpkg, swaret

Front-ends

PackageKit (GNOME Software, Apper), Autopackage, klik, Listaller, Zero Install

Related topics

AppData, AppStream, Application Packaging, Package format

See also

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