102.5 Use RPM and YUM package management.

What file holds the basic options for yum? Chances are, you won't need to modify this file.

/etc/yum.conf

What directory holds files that describe yum repositories?

/etc/yum.repos.d/

What is the main rpm config file?

/usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc You shouldn't edit this file.

What does "rpm --test" do? What switches can it be used with?

Checks for dependencies, conflicts, and other problems without actually installing the package. Used with -i, -U, -F

What does "rpm -h" or "rpm --hash" do? What switches can it be used with?

Displays a series of hash marks (#) to indicate the progress of the operation. Used with -i, -U, -F

What does "rpm -qi" do? What switches can it be used with? (This i is only applicable for its used with the -q switch)

Displays package information, including the package maintainer, a short description, and so on. Used with the -q switch.

What does "rpm -l or --list" do? What switches can it be used with?

Displays the files contained in the package. Used with the -q switch.

What does "rpm -R or --requires" do? What switches can it be used with?

Displays the packages and files on which this one depends. Used with the -q switch.

What does "rpm --force" do? What switches can it be used with?

Forces installation of a package even when it means overwriting existing files or packages. Used with -i, -U, -F

What does "rpm -a" or "rpm --all" do? What switches can it be used with?

Queries or verifies all packages. Used with -q, -V

What does "rpm -f <file>" or "rpm --file <file>" do? What switches can it be used with?

Queries or verifies the package that owns file. Used with -q, -V

What does "rpm -p <package-file>" do? What switches can it be used with?

Queries the uninstalled RPM package-file. Used with -q

What does RPM stand for?

RPM Package Manager

What does "rpm --prefix <path>" do? What switches can it be used with?

Sets the installation directory to path (works only for some packages). Used with -i, -U, -F

What does "rpm --nodeps" do? What switches can it be used with?

Specifies that no dependency checks be performed. Installs or removes the package even if it relies on a package or file that's not present or is required by a package that's not being uninstalled. Used with -i, -U, -F, -e

What does "rpm --root <dir>" do? What switches can it be used with?

This modifies the Linux system having a root directory located at <dir>. This option can be used to maintain one Linux installation discrete from another one (say, during OS installation or emergency maintenance). Used with any options.

What Linux distributions use RPM?

Those that are Red Hat based. For example, Fedora, RHEL, CentOS.

What does "rpm -v" do? What switches can it be used with?

Used in conjunction with the -h option to produce a uniform number of hash marks for each package. (or is a verbose option?) Used with -i, -U, -F

What meta-packager enables you to install a package and all its dependencies easily using a single command line? This specific one is tied to RPM files.

YUM

What can yumdownloader help with if you are not connected to the internet?

You can use another computer that runs the same distribution to obtain the packages and then transfer them to the target system.

What should you do if you want to manually add a yum repository?

You should manually download the rpm that includes the repository configuration and install it using rpm.

What command is used to extract data from a cpio file? What switches are needed to do this?

cpio -i --make-directories < <cpio-file> -i is the option used to extract an archive --make-directories creates applicable directories for the file

What files should you modify instead of /usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc to modify the rpm configs globally or an a per-user basis?

global: /etc/rpmrc user: ~/.rpmrc

What are the GUI tools for yum?

kyum or yumex

What is the naming convention for rpm packages?

packagename-a.b.c-x.arch.rpm Package Name, Version Number(a.b.c), Build Number(-x), Architecture.

What utility program is used to install rpm packages?

rpm

What switch is used with rpm to build a binary package, given a source rpm file; moved to the rpmbuild program with RPM version 4.2.

rpm --rebuild

What switch is used with rpm to rebuild the RPM database to fix errors?

rpm --rebuilddb

What switch is used with rpm to upgrade a package only if an earlier version already exists?

rpm -F or rpm --freshen

What switch is used with rpm to install a new package or upgrade an existing one?

rpm -U

What switch is used with rpm to verify a package-check that its files are present and unchanged since installation?

rpm -V or rpm --verify

What switch is used with rpm to build a binary package, given source code and configuration files; this was moved to the rpmbuild program with RPM version 4.2.

rpm -b

What switch is used with rpm to uninstall a package?

rpm -e

What switch is used with rpm to install a package; system must not contain a package of the same name.

rpm -i

What switch is used with rpm to query a package-finds whether a package is installed, what files it contains, and so on.

rpm -q

What command is used to convert an rpm file to a cpio file?

rpm2cpio <package-filename> > file-name.cpio

What command can be used to extract cpio files from an rpm file without creating an intermediary file?

rpm2cpio <package-filename> | cpio -i --make-directories

What yum option checks to see whether updates are available. If they are, yum displays their names, versions, and repository area (updates or extras, for instance).

yum check-update

What yum option cleans up the Yum cache directory? Running this command from time to time is advisable, lest downloaded packages chew up too much disk space.

yum clean

What yum option displays dependencies of the specified package?

yum deplist

What yum option displays info about a package, similar to the rpm -qi command?

yum info

What yum option installs one or more packages by package name? Also installs dependencies of the specified package or packages.

yum install

What yum option displays info about a package, such as the installed version and whether an update is available?

yum list

What yum option installs the specified local rpm files, using your yum repositories to resolve dependencies?

yum localinstall

What yum option updates the system using the specified local rpm files, using your Yum repositories to resolve dependencies? Packages other than those updated by local files and their dependencies are not updated.

yum localupdate

What yum option displays info about packages that provide a specified program or feature? For instance, typing "yum provides samba" lists all the Samba-related packages, including every available update. Note that the output can be copious.

yum provides or yum whatprovides

What yum option deletes a package from the system? Similar to rpm -e, but yum also removes depended-on packages.

yum remove or yum erase

What yum option displays packages matching the specified dependency?

yum resolvedep

What yum option searches package names, summaries, packagers, and descriptions for a specified keyword? This is useful if you don't know a package's name but can think of a word that's likely to appear in one of these fields but not in these fields for other packages.

yum search

What yum option enters the yum shell mode, in which you can enter multiple Yum commands one after another?

yum shell

What yum option updates the specified package or packages to the latest available version. If no packages are specified, yum updates every installed package.

yum update

What yum option works like update with the --obsoletes flag set, which handles obsolete packages in a way that's superior when performing a distribution version upgrade?

yum upgrade

What tool is used when you want to download rpm packages but not install them?

yumdownloader