4. Using RPM

Contents of this section

In its simplest form, RPM can be used to install packages:

        rpm -i foobar-1.0-1.i386.rpm
The next simplest command is to uninstall a package:
        rpm -e foobar

One of the more complex but highly useful commands allows you to install packages via FTP. If you are connected to the net and want to install a new package, all you need to do is specify the file with a valid URL, like so:

        rpm -i ftp://ftp.pht.com/pub/linux/redhat/rh-2.0-beta/RPMS/foobar-1.0-1.i386.rpm

Please note, that RPM will now query and/or install via FTP.

While these are simple commands, rpm can be used in a multitude of ways as seen from the Usage message:

RPM version 2.3.9
Copyright (C) 1997 - Red Hat Software
This may be freely redistributed under the terms of the GNU Public License

usage: rpm {--help}
       rpm {--version}
       rpm {--initdb}   [--dbpath <dir>]
       rpm {--install -i} [-v] [--hash -h] [--percent] [--force] [--test]
                        [--replacepkgs] [--replacefiles] [--root <dir>]
                        [--excludedocs] [--includedocs] [--noscripts]
                        [--rcfile <file>] [--ignorearch] [--dbpath <dir>]
                        [--prefix <dir>] [--ignoreos] [--nodeps]
                        [--ftpproxy <host>] [--ftpport <port>]
                        file1.rpm ... fileN.rpm
       rpm {--upgrade -U} [-v] [--hash -h] [--percent] [--force] [--test]
                        [--oldpackage] [--root <dir>] [--noscripts]
                        [--excludedocs] [--includedocs] [--rcfile <file>]
                        [--ignorearch]  [--dbpath <dir>] [--prefix <dir>] 
                        [--ftpproxy <host>] [--ftpport <port>]
                        [--ignoreos] [--nodeps] file1.rpm ... fileN.rpm
       rpm {--query -q} [-afpg] [-i] [-l] [-s] [-d] [-c] [-v] [-R]
                        [--scripts] [--root <dir>] [--rcfile <file>]
                        [--whatprovides] [--whatrequires] [--requires]
                        [--ftpuseport] [--ftpproxy <host>] [--ftpport <port>]
                        [--provides] [--dump] [--dbpath <dir>] [targets]
       rpm {--verify -V -y} [-afpg] [--root <dir>] [--rcfile <file>]
                        [--dbpath <dir>] [--nodeps] [--nofiles] [--noscripts]
                        [--nomd5] [targets]
       rpm {--setperms} [-afpg] [target]
       rpm {--setugids} [-afpg] [target]
       rpm {--erase -e} [--root <dir>] [--noscripts] [--rcfile <file>]
                        [--dbpath <dir>] [--nodeps] [--allmatches]
                        package1 ... packageN
       rpm {-b|t}[plciba] [-v] [--short-circuit] [--clean] [--rcfile  <file>]
                        [--sign] [--test] [--timecheck <s>] specfile
       rpm {--rebuild} [--rcfile <file>] [-v] source1.rpm ... sourceN.rpm
       rpm {--recompile} [--rcfile <file>] [-v] source1.rpm ... sourceN.rpm
       rpm {--resign} [--rcfile <file>] package1 package2 ... packageN
       rpm {--addsign} [--rcfile <file>] package1 package2 ... packageN
       rpm {--checksig -K} [--nopgp] [--nomd5] [--rcfile <file>]
                           package1 ... packageN
       rpm {--rebuilddb} [--rcfile <file>] [--dbpath <dir>]
       rpm {--querytags}

You can find more details on what those options do in the RPM man page.


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