rpm

What are rpm packages?

• Software on RHEL is installed using packages in Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) format
• An RPM package contains a compressed archive, as well as package metadata
• In the metadata, package dependencies are identified
• To handle dependency management, RHEL uses repositories for package installation
• If a dependency was found, it is installed automatically from the repository
• Installed packages are registered in the RPM database

Querying RPM packages

• Some commands query(rpm -q[pafl--scripts--changelog]) the RPM database

• rpm -qa shows all packages that are currently installed
• rpm -qf filename shows from which package filename was installed
• rpm -ql lists files installed from a package
• rpm -q --scripts shows scripts executed while installing the package
• rpm -q --changelog shows the change log for a package
• Querying package files is also possible
  • Add -p to any of the commands above

Extracting RPM packages

• Contents of an RPM package can be extracted to the current directory (without installing).

rpm2cpio mypackage-1.0.rpm | cpio -tv

• rpm2cpio mypackage-1.0.rpm | cpio -tv will show the contents of a package

rpm2cpio mypackage-1.0.rpm | cpio -idmv

• rpm2cpio mypackage-1.0.rpm | cpio -idmv extracts the package contents to the current directory