RPM(8) System Manager's Manual RPM(8) NAME rpm - RPM Package Manager SYNOPSIS Querying and verifying packages rpm {-q|--query} [select-options] [query-options] [PACKAGE_FILE ...] [PACKAGE_NAME ...] rpm {-V|--verify} [select-options] [verify-options] [PACKAGE_NAME ...] Installing, upgrading and removing packages rpm {-i|--install} [transaction-options] [install-options] PACKAGE_FILE ... rpm {-U|--upgrade} [transaction-options] [install-options] PACKAGE_FILE ... rpm {-F|--freshen} [transaction-options] [install-options] PACKAGE_FILE ... rpm --reinstall [transaction-options] [install-options] PACKAGE_FILE ... rpm --restore [transaction-options] [select-options] PACKAGE_NAME ... rpm {-e|--erase} [transaction-options] [erase-options] PACKAGE_NAME ... Misc operations rpm --querytags See rpm-common(8) for operations common to all rpm executables. DESCRIPTION rpm is a powerful Package Manager, which can be used to build, install, query, verify, update, and erase individual software packages. A package consists of an archive of files and meta-data used to install and erase the archive files. The meta-data includes helper scripts, file attributes, and descriptive information about the package. Packages come in two varieties: binary packages, used to encapsulate software to be installed, and source packages, containing the source code and recipe necessary to produce binary packages. OPERATIONS Querying and verifying packages -V, --verify Verify package(s), comparing information about the installed files in the package with information about the files taken from the package metadata stored in the rpm database. Among other things, verifying compares the size, digest, permissions, type, owner and group of each file. Any discrepancies are displayed. -q, --query Query package files or installed package(s). Installing, upgrading and removing packages -i, --install Install new package(s) without considering upgrade scenarios. This is considered special usage, normally installations should be done with --upgrade. -U, --upgrade Install or upgrade package(s) to a newer version. Old and/or obsoleted package(s) are removed after the new package is installed. -F, --freshen Upgrade package(s), but only ones for which an earlier version is installed. --reinstall Reinstall previously installed package(s). --restore Restore file metadata such as timestamp, owner, group, permissions and capabilities of files of installed package(s). -e, --erase Erase installed packages. Misc operations --querytags Dump known querytags. Useful with the --queryformat option. Obsolete compatibility aliases These are obsolete popt(3) aliases for backwards compatibility only, and their use is discouraged. --initdb, --rebuilddb, --verifydb See rpmdb(8). --addsign, --delsign, --resign See rpmsign(1). -K, --checksig, --import See rpmkeys(8). --specfile See rpmspec(1). See rpm-common(8) for the operations common to all rpm executables. ARGUMENTS PACKAGE_FILE Either an rpm package or an rpm-manifest(5) file. May also be specified as an ftp or http URL, in which case the package will be downloaded before being installed. See FTP/HTTP OPTIONS for information on rpm's ftp and http client support. PACKAGE_NAME Installed package named PACKAGE_NAME. To specify the package more precisely the package name may be followed by the version or version and release both separated by a dash or an architecture name separated by a dot. See the output of rpm -qa or rpm -qp PACKAGE_FILE as an example. OPTIONS See rpm-common(8) for the options common to all operations. INSTALL AND UPGRADE OPTIONS --allfiles Installs or upgrades all the missingok files in the package, regardless if they exist. --badreloc Used with --relocate, permit relocations on all file paths, not just those OLDPATH's included in the binary package relocation hint(s). --excludepath OLDPATH Don't install files whose name begins with OLDPATH. --excludeartifacts Don't install any files which are marked as artifacts, such as build-id links. --excludeconfigs, --noconfigs Do not install configuration files. --excludedocs Don't install any files which are marked as documentation (which includes man pages and texinfo documents). --force Same as using --replacepkgs, --replacefiles, and --oldpackage. --ignoresize Don't check mount filesystems for sufficient disk space before installing this package. --ignorearch Allow installation or upgrading even if the architectures of the binary package and host don't match. --ignoreos Allow installation or upgrading even if the operating systems of the binary package and host don't match. --includedocs Install documentation files. This is the default behavior. --nocontexts Don't set SELinux contexts for files and scriptlets. Only effective if rpm-plugin-selinux(8) is installed and active. --nocaps Don't set file capabilities. --noverify Don't perform verify package files prior to installation. --nosysusers Don't create sysusers from packages --oldpackage Allow an upgrade to replace a newer package with an older one. --prefix NEWPATH For relocatable binary packages, translate all file paths that start with the installation prefix in the package relocation hint(s) to NEWPATH. --relocate OLDPATH=NEWPATH For relocatable binary packages, translate all file paths that start with OLDPATH in the package relocation hint(s) to NEWPATH. This option can be used repeatedly if several OLDPATH's in the package are to be relocated. --replacefiles Install the packages even if they replace files from other, already installed, packages. --replacepkgs Install the packages even if some of them are already installed on this system. ERASE OPTIONS --allmatches Remove all versions of the package which match PACKAGE_NAME. Normally an error is issued if PACKAGE_NAME matches multiple packages. TRANSACTION OPTIONS The transaction options are common to --install, --upgrade, --reinstall and --erase operations. --deploops Print dependency loops as warnings. -h, --hash Print 50 hash marks as the package archive is unpacked. Use with -v|--verbose for a nicer display. --justdb Update only the database, not the filesystem. --nodb Update only the filesystem, not the database. --nodeps Don't check dependencies before uninstalling the packages. --noorder Don't reorder the packages for an install. The list of packages would normally be reordered to satisfy dependencies. --noplugins Do not load and execute plugins. --noscripts Disables execution of package scriptlets. Equivalent to --nopre --nopost --nopreun --nopostun --nopretrans --noposttrans --nopreuntrans --nopostuntrans --nopre --nopost --nopreun --nopostun --nopretrans --noposttrans --nopreuntrans --nopostuntrans Don't execute the scriptlets of the named type. --notriggers Disable execution of package triggers. Equivalent to --notriggerprein --notriggerin --notriggerun --notriggerpostun --notriggerin --notriggerun --notriggerprein --notriggerpostun Disable execution of the trigger scriptlets of the named type. --percent Print percentages as files are unpacked from the package archive. This is intended to make rpm easy to run from other tools. --test Don't really execute anything, just go through the motions. Useful in conjunction with the -vv option for debugging. QUERY OPTIONS --qf QUERYFMT, --queryformat QUERYFMT Output format of each queried package, as described by rpm- queryformat(7). If omitted, uses the format defined by %_query_all_fmt in rpm-config(5). There are three subsets of options for querying: package selection, file selection and information selection. PACKAGE SELECTION OPTIONS -a, --all [SELECTOR ...] Query all installed packages. Optional SELECTOR's in the form of tag=pattern can be provided to narrow the selection, for example name="b*" to query packages whose name starts with "b". --dupes List duplicated packages. -f, --file FILE Query package owning installed FILE. --filecaps List filenames with POSIX1.e capabilities. --fileclass List filenames with their classes (libmagic classification). --filecolor List filenames with their colors (0 for noarch, 1 for 32bit, 2 for 64 bit). --fileprovide List filenames with their provides. --filerequire List filenames with their requires. -g, --group GROUP Query packages with the group of GROUP. --noglob Do not glob arguments when installing package files. --nomanifest Don't process non-package files as rpm-manifest(5) files. -p, --package PACKAGE_FILE Query an (uninstalled) package PACKAGE_FILE. --path PATH Query package(s) owning PATH, whether the file is installed or not. Multiple packages may own a PATH, but the file is only owned by the package installed last. --querybynumber HDRNUM Query the HDRNUM database entry directly; this is useful only for debugging. --specfile SPECFILE Obsolete, use rpmspec(1) instead. --tid TID Query package(s) that have a given TID transaction identifier. A UNIX timestamp is currently used as a transaction identifier. All package(s) installed or erased within a single transaction have a common identifier. --triggeredby PACKAGE_NAME Query packages that are triggered by package(s) PACKAGE_NAME. --whatobsoletes CAPABILITY Query all packages that obsolete CAPABILITY for proper functioning. --whatprovides CAPABILITY Query all packages that provide the CAPABILITY capability. --whatrequires CAPABILITY Query all packages that require CAPABILITY for proper functioning. --whatconflicts CAPABILITY Query all packages that conflict with CAPABILITY. --whatrecommends CAPABILITY Query all packages that recommend CAPABILITY. --whatsuggests CAPABILITY Query all packages that suggest CAPABILITY. --whatsupplements CAPABILITY Query all packages that supplement CAPABILITY. --whatenhances CAPABILITY Query all packages that enhance CAPABILITY. PACKAGE QUERY OPTIONS --changelog Display change information for the package. --changes Display change information for the package with full timestamps. --conflicts List capabilities this package conflicts with. --dump Dump file information as follows (implies -l): path size mtime digest mode owner group isconfig isdoc rdev symlink --enhances List capabilities enhanced by package(s). --filesbypkg List all the files in each selected package. --filetriggers List filetrigger scriptlets from package(s). -i, --info Display package information, including name, version, and description. This uses the --queryformat if one was specified. --last Orders the package listing by install time such that the latest packages are at the top. -l, --list List files in package. --obsoletes List packages this package obsoletes. --provides List capabilities this package provides. --recommends List capabilities recommended by package(s). -R, --requires List capabilities on which this package depends. --suggests List capabilities suggested by package(s). --supplements List capabilities supplemented by package(s). --scripts List the package specific scriptlet(s) that are used as part of the installation and uninstallation processes. -s, --state Display the states of files in the package (implies -l). The state of each file is one of normal, not installed, or replaced. --triggers, --triggerscripts Display the trigger scripts, if any, which are contained in the package. --xml Format package headers as XML. FILE SELECTION OPTIONS -A, --artifactfiles Only include artifact files (implies -l). -c, --configfiles Only include configuration files (implies -l). -d, --docfiles Only include documentation files (implies -l). -L, --licensefiles Only include license files (implies -l). --noartifact Exclude artifact files. --noconfig Exclude config files. --noghost Exclude ghost files. VERIFY OPTIONS The package and file selection options are the same as for package querying (including rpm-manifest(5) files as arguments). Other options unique to verify mode are: --nodeps Don't verify dependencies of packages. --nodigest Don't verify package or header digests when reading. --nofiles Don't verify any attributes of package files. --noscripts Don't execute the %verifyscript scriptlet (if any). --nosignature Don't verify package or header signatures when reading. --nolinkto --nofiledigest (formerly --nomd5) --nosize --nomtime --nomode --nordev Don't verify the corresponding file attribute. --nouser --nogroup Don't verify file user/group ownership. Note that only local passwd(5) and group(5) databases are consulted. --nocaps Don't verify file capabilities. OUTPUT --verify The format of the output is a string of 9 result characters a possible attribute from the package, followed by the filename. Each of the 9 characters denotes the result of a comparison of attribute(s) of the file to the value of those attribute(s) recorded in the database. A single "." (period) means the test passed, while a single "?" (question mark) indicates the test could not be performed (e.g. file permissions prevent reading). Otherwise, the (mnemonically emBoldened) character denotes failure of the corresponding --verify test: Result Description S file Size differs M Mode differs (includes permissions and file type) 5 digest (formerly MD5 sum) differs D Device major/minor number mismatch L readLink(2) path mismatch U User ownership differs G Group ownership differs T mTime differs P caPabilities differ Attribute Description a %artifact - an implicit side-effect file (eg. build-id links) c %configuration file d %documentation file g %ghost file l %license file m %missingok - file missing is not a verify failure n %config(noreplace) - do not replace (a %config file) r %readme file s rpm-spec(5) file in a source package EXIT STATUS On success, 0 is returned, a nonzero failure code otherwise. EXAMPLES rpm -Uvh hello-2.0-1.noarch.rpm Install or upgrade hello-2.0-1.noarch.rpm package with verbose output and progress meters. -Uvh is probably the most common of all the rpm operations. rpm -Uvh --excludedocs --root /srv/test mydist-23.mft Install packages described by the mydist-23.mft rpm-manifest(5) file into the alternative system root at /srv/test, excluding all documentation files. rpm -Fvh *.rpm Freshen installed packages from a local directory, with verbose output and progress meters. rpm -i kernel-6.15.4-200.x86_64.rpm Install kernel-6.15.4-200.x86_64.rpm package quietly. On some Linux distributions, different kernel versions are intended to be installed in parallel like this, without erasing older ones to ensure there's a bootable kernel in case of problems. It's one of the few cases where -i is the right thing to use. rpm -evh --allmatches libhello Erase all versions of package libhello on the system, with verbose output and progress meters. Typically there is only one version of a package installed at a time, but in some cases it's possible to have different versions or different architectures of a package installed in parallel, in which case --allmatches can be handy. rpm -vh --reinstall hello-2.0-1.noarch.rpm Reinstall previously installed hello-2.0-1.noarch.rpm package, with verbose output and progress labels. Useful if eg. the files of a package get corrupted or erased accidentally. rpm -v --restore --all Restore permissions of files in all installed packages to their packaged specifications, with verbose output. rpm --verify --noconfig openssh-server Verify the integrity of the installed openssh-server package, ignoring changes in configuration. rpm -qa List all installed packages, using the default formatting. rpm -qlv --noartifact glibc List the files of the glibc package in style similar to ls(1) command output with ls -l, omitting "artifact" files such as build- id's which are not usually the main interest. rpm -q --qf "[%{filenames} %{filedigests}\n]" openssh-server List filenames and their corresponding digests of installed openssh-server package. rpm -qp --scripts --triggers --filetriggers myserver-1.0-1.x86_64.rpm Show all scriptlets and triggers from the myserver-1.0-1.x86_64.rpm package file. Before installing unknown packages, at least do this! rpm --target ppc64le --eval "%optflags" Print the expansion of the %optflags macro for the ppc64le architecture. FILES See rpm-common(8), rpm-config(5) and rpm-rpmrc(5). SEE ALSO rpm-common(8), popt(3), rpm2cpio(1), rpmbuild(1), rpmdb(8), rpmkeys(8), rpmsign(1), rpmspec(1), rpm-queryformat(7) rpm-manifest(5) rpm- version(7) rpm-plugins(8) rpm --help - as rpm supports customizing the options via popt aliases it's impossible to guarantee that what's described in the manual matches what's available. http://www.rpm.org/ RPM 6.0.1 2026-03-06 RPM(8)