RPM Package Manager

RPM Package Manager (originally Red Hat Package Manager, abbreviated RPM) is a package management system.

Usage

NOTE: RPM file names normally have the following format:

<name>-<version>-<release>.<arch>.rpm

Examples

• Install/upgrade packages verbosely:

rpm -Uvh package_name(s)

• Install/upgrade packages verbosely ignoring dependencies and/or conflicts. (Note: Only do this if you really know what you are doing; the warnings are there for a reason!)

rpm -Uvh --force package_name(s):

• Return information about a package that is already installed:

rpm -qi package_name

• Return information about a package that is not necessarily installed:

rpm -qpi package_name

• Return the ChangeLog of the installed package:

rpm -q --changelog package_name

• List the absolute paths of all files installed from a given package:

rpm -ql package_name

• Return glibc-version (if installed):

rpm -qa |grep glibc

• Returns glibc-version:

rpm -q --whatprovides /lib/libc.so.6

• Example of what packages Python requires:

rpm -q --whatrequires python
  lib64xml2-python-2.6.27-3mdv2007.1
  tkinter-2.5-4mdv2007.1
  python-imaging-1.1.4-11mdv2007.1
  python-numpy-1.0.1-2mdv2007.1
  python-numeric-24.2-4mdv2007.1
  lib64python2.5-devel-2.5-4.1mdv2007.1
  lib64python2.5-devel-2.5-4.1mdv2007.1

You can alter the output from a query using "querytags". To find out which querytags are available, execute the following command:

rpm --querytags

You can then display selected information on that package(s) in question. For an example, if you only wish to display the names of all packages having "auto" in them (i.e., not version, release, arch, etc.), execute the following command

rpm -qa --qf '%{NAME}\n'|grep auto

This is useful if you want to compare installed packages on two machines with different versions (and/or architectures).

Source code may also be distributed in RPM packages. Such package labels do not have an architecture part and replace it with "src". E.g.:

libgnomeuimm2.0-2.0.0-3.src.rpm

An SRPM is an RPM package with source code. Unlike a tarball (or an RPM), an SRPM package can be automatically compiled and installed, following instructions in the .spec file included in the SRPM.

Recompile with -fPIC

see: HOWTO fix -fPIC errors for some background.

Some 64-bit packages require the source to be compiled with the -fPIC option. For this example, I will be using LAPACK (64-bit version).

• Step #1: Download the source rpm (e.g., lapack.src.rpm)
• Step #2: Install/unpack the package

rpm -i lapack.src.rpm

• Step #3: Add the -fPIC flag to the .SPEC file

vi /usr/src/rpm/SPECS/lapack.spec
   %define optflags ... -fPIC -DPIC ...

• Step #4: Check that the option was compiled into the libary:

nm /usr/lib64/liblapack.a|more

That should take care of errors that look something like this:

/usr/lib64/liblapack.a: relocation R_X86_64_32 against `a local symbol' can not 
be used when making a shared object; recompile with -fPIC

See also

• urpmi
• yum
• YaST

External links

• Red Hat RPM Guide from the Fedora project.
• Fox, Pennington, Red Hat (2003): Fedora Project Developer's Guide: Chapter 4. Building RPM Packages
• RPM Package Manager homepage
• The story of RPM by Matt Frye in Red Hat Magazine
• RPM Building as a User
• Bailey, Edward C. (2000): Maximum RPM, an outdated but popular rpm reference
• Bailey, Edward C. (2000): Maximum RPM, actualized Maximum RPM edition
• SUSE Package Conventions
• Package File Format - Linux Standards Base
• RPM -- plans, goals, etc. - Fedora announcement about RPM.
• RPM.org's wiki
• wikipedia:RPM Package Manager