Program installation

rpm -ivh package_name-version.platform.rpm

(as root) Install a package (option "i", must be the first letter after the dash), while talking to me a lot (option "v'=verbose) and printing "hashes" to show installation progress (option "h"). rpm stands for "Redhat Package Manager".

rpm -Uvh package_name-version.platform.rpm

(as root) Upgrade (option "U", must be the first letter after the dash) a package, while being verbose (option "v") and displaying hashes ("h").

rpm -ivh --force --nodep package_name-version.platform.rpm

(as root) Install the package ignoring any possible conflicts and package dependency problems.

rpm -e package_name

(as root) Uninstall (option "e"=erase) the package package_name. Please note the absence of "-version.platform.rpm" at the end of the package name (the package name is the same as the name of the *.rpm file from which the package was installed but without the dash, version, platform and "rpm").

rpm -qpi package_name-version.platform.rpm

Query (option "q", must be the first letter after the dash) the yet uninstalled package (option "p") so that it displays the info (option "i") which the package contains.

rpm -qpl package_name-version.platform.rpm

Query (option "q", must be the first letter after the dash) the yet uninstalled package (option "p") so that it displays the listing (option "l") of all the files the package contains.

rpm -qf a_file

Find the name of the installed package to which the file "a_file" belongs or belonged. Useful if I accidentally erased a file and now I need to find the right package and re-install it.

rpm -qi package_name

Query the already installed package so that it displays the info about itself. Please note the absence of "-version.platform.rpm" at the end of the package name.

rpm -qai | more

Query all the packages installed on my system so that they display their info. On my simple system, I have ~600 packages installed so obviously, I must have a lot of time to read all their info. To count your packages, try:

rpm -qa | grep -c ''

To find a particular package, try:

rpm -qa | grep -i the_string_to_find

(The option -i makes grep ignore the case of the characters, so upper or lower case letters will match.)

rpm -Va

Verify (the option "V") all the packages (option "a") installed on my system. This lists files that were modified since the installation. Here is the legend for the output:

. Test passed

c This is a configuration file

5 MD5 checksum failed

S File size is different

L Symbolic link has changed

T File modification time changed

D Device file is modified

U User that owns the file has changed

G Group that owns the file has changed

M File mode (permissions and/or file type) has been modified

kpackage

gnorpm

glint

(in X terminal, as root if you want to be able to install packages, 3 commands) GUI fronts to the Red Hat Package Manager (rpm). "glint" comes with RH5.2 and seems obsolete now. gnorpm is the "official" RedHat GUI package installer, older versions are very slow and confusing but the newer version (the one that comes with RH7.0) is vastly improved. kpackage is the "official" KDE program and has been pretty good all along. Use any of them to view which software packages are installed on your system and the what not-yet-installed packages are available on your RedHat CD, display the info about the packages, and install them if you want (installation must be done as root).