Package Queries & Management

Package managers like rpm, dpkg and similar read, update and delete packages from the local package database. On the whole they do not help resolve package dependencies, this is where the subsequent tools, yum, apt and apt-get come in to play.

You can, for example, use rpmto install a package and and its dependencies, but you also need to use it to identify those depencies, and which package(s) provide them.

Task	rpm	dpkg
List all installed packages	rpm -qa	dpkg --list
List info on an installed package	rpm -qi <packagename>	dpkg --status <packagename>
List all files in an installed package	rpm -ql <packagename>	dpkg --listfiles <packagename>
List key config files in an installed package	rpm -qc <packagename>	cat /var/lib/dpkg/info<packagename>.conffiles
List key documentation files in an installed package	rpm -qd <packagename>
List installed package that owns the file	rpm -qf <filepath>	dpkg -S <filepath>
List info on a package file	rpm -qpi <packagename.rpm>	dpkg --info <packagename.deb>
List all files in a package file	rpm -qpl <packagename.rpm>	dpkg --contents <packagename.deb>
List key config files in a package file	rpm -qpc <packagename>
List key documentation files in a package file	rpm -qpd <packagename>	/usr/share/doc/<packagename>/
Get the changelog for an installed package	rpm -q --changelog <packagename>	zcat /usr/share/doc/<packagename>/changelog.Debian.gz

Repository Queries & Management

yum, dnf, apt and apt-get and similar package management tools help with both package repository management, and package installation with automatic dependency resolution based on additional cached metadata.

Task	yum	apt
List all installed packages	yum list installed	apt list --installed
List all available packages	yum list available	apt list | grep -v installed
List all installed and available packages	yum list all	apt list
List all installed and available packages for a package	yum list <packagename>
Search for specific packages	yum search <packagename>	apt search <packagename>
Get more info for specific packages	yum info <packagename>	apt info <packagename>
Install a package	yum install -y <packagename>	apt-get -y install <packagename>
Refresh the local version of upstream repository metadata/cache	yum makecache [1]	apt-get update
Show all applicable updates from upstream repositories	yum check-update	apt-get upgrade -s (see: man apt-get)
Update all packages	yum update -y	apt-get -y upgrade or apt-get -y dist-upgrade
Clear local version of upstream repository metadata/cache	yum clean all	apt-get clean
List all files in a package from the repository	yum repoquery -l <packagename>	apt-file list <packagename> [2]
Get the changelog for an package in a repository	dnf changelog <packagename>	apt-get changelog <packagename>
Get the package that provides a specific file	dnf provides <filename>	apt-file search <filename> [2]

Note [1]: Yum’s default cache expiry is 90 mins so makecache is rarely required

Note [2]: apt-file is not typically installed by default, it requires apt-get -y install apt-file before use

Note: RHEL 7 and earlier use Yum. RHEL 8 onwards use DNF. Syntax is largely interchangeable.

Note: DNF moved from 3 -> 4 -> 5. DNF 3 & 4 are Python-based. DNF5 is C++, this includes more rigorous structure for commands/subcommands. As a result certain commands may need more careful ordering but otherwise work as before.