RPM-COMMON(8) System Manager's Manual RPM-COMMON(8)

rpm-common - Operations and options common to the main rpm(8) executables

RPMCMD [options] {-?|--help}

RPMCMD [options] --showrc

RPMCMD [options] --version

The following RPMCMD executables share common configuration and the options and operations documented in this manual:

-?, --help

Print a longer usage message than normal.

--version

Print a single line containing the version number of rpm being used.

--showrc

Dump information about rpm configuration to standard output.

--color <MODE>

Use terminal colors for highlighting error and debug message, where MODE is one of:
  • always
  • auto (use color output on terminals)
  • never (default)

--dbpath DIRECTORY

Use the database in DIRECTORY rather than the default path /var/lib/rpm.

-D 'MACRO EXPR', --define='MACRO EXPR'

Defines MACRO with value EXPR.

-E 'EXPR', --eval='EXPR'

Prints rpm-macros(7) expansion of EXPR.

--load FILE

Load an individual rpm-macrofile(5).

--macros FILELIST

Replace the list of macro files to be loaded with FILELIST. See Macro Configuration for details.

--nodigest

Don't verify package or header digests when reading.

--nohdrchk

Don't verify database header(s) when retrieved.

--nosignature

Don't verify package or header signatures when reading.

--pipe CMD

Pipes the output of rpm to the command CMD.

--predefine='MACRO EXPR'

Defines MACRO with value EXPR before loading macro files. This is a very rare special-purpose switch, use --define for the common macro definition needs.

--target PLATFORM

Use PLATFORM configuration instead of detecting automatically. PLATFORM is formed as arch[-os].

--quiet

Print as little as possible - normally only error messages will be displayed.

--rcfile FILELIST

Replace the default list of configuration files to be read with FILELIST. See rpmrc Configuration for details.

--root DIRECTORY

Use the filesystem tree rooted at DIRECTORY for all operations. Note that this means the database within DIRECTORY will be used for dependency checks and any scriptlet(s) (e.g. %post if installing, or %prep if building, a package) will be run after a chroot(2) to DIRECTORY.

Note that rpm assumes the environment inside the root is set up by the caller, such as any mounts needed for the operation inside the root directory.

--undefine='MACRO'

Undefines MACRO.

-v, --verbose

Print verbose information - normally routine progress messages will be displayed. Supply more than once to increase verbosity, eg. -vv.

--debug

Print lots of debug information.

--fsmdebug

Print debug information about payload handling.

--rpmiodebug

Print debug information about file IO.

--stats

Print runtime statistics of often used functions.

These options are deprecated. Use special purpose software such as curl(1) or wget(1) for fetching data from the internet.

For some operations, rpm can act as an FTP and/or HTTP client so that packages can be queried or installed from the internet. Package files for install, upgrade, and query operations may be specified as an ftp or http style URL:

http://HOST[:PORT]/path/to/package.rpm

ftp://[USER:PASSWORD]@HOST[:PORT]/path/to/package.rpm

If both the user and password are omitted, anonymous ftp is used.

rpm allows the following options to be used with http and ftp URLs:

--httpproxy HOST

Use HOST as the proxy server for all http and ftp transfers. This option may also be specified by configuring the macro %_httpproxy.

--httpport PORT

The TCP PORT number to use for the http connection on the proxy http server instead of the default port. This option may also be specified by configuring the macro %_httpport.

RPM_CONFIGDIR

Used to override the default rpm configuration home, typically /usr/lib/rpm.

On success, 0 is returned, a nonzero failure code otherwise.

Not all options are meaningful or implemented in all the executables they show in. In particular, --root and the various verify-related options are only honored by rpm(8) and rpmdb(8).

/var/lib/rpm/

/var/tmp/rpm*

popt(3), rpm(8) rpm-config(5), rpm-rpmrc(5), rpm-macros(7)

2026-01-08 RPM 6.0.1