RPM

Features:
1. Provides package management
a. Query
b. Install
c. Uninstall
d. Upgrade
e. Verify
2. Auto-verifies packages using GPG, MD5, SHA1SUMs
3. Automatically reports on unresolved dependencies

'rpm'

Query:
1. rpm -qa - dumps all installed packages
2. rpm -qa | wc -l - this dumps all packages and provides a count
3. rpm -qa | grep -i nano
4. rpm -qi nano - dumps info. about the 'nano' package as it's recorded in the local RPM database
5. rpm -qf /usr/bin/nano - dumps package membership info. for the 'nano' file
6. rpm -qpi http://192.168.75.100/RH5/i386/Server/dhcp-3.0.5-7.el5.i386.rpm - dumps info. about the uninstalled 'dhcp' package, which resides on the repository
7. rpm -ql package_name - returns all included files


Verify:
1. rpm -Va - verifies ALL packages on the system, returning info. only if there are discrepancies from the original installation

2. rpm -Vf /usr/bin/nano

Task: Change '/usr/bin/nano' then verify

SM5....T /usr/bin/nano

S(file size), M(mode or permissions), 5(MD5), T(mod time)
3. rpm -Vp nano


Install (Does NOT overwrite previous package):
Note: Use this method to install a new version of the kernel
1. rpm -ivh *.rpm
2. rpm -ivh http://192.168.75.100/RH5/i386/Server/dhcp-3.0.5-7.el5.i386.rpm



Upgrade (Installs or overwrites existing package):
1. rpm -Uvh *.rpm
2. rpm -Uvh http://192.168.75.100/RH5/i386/Server/dhcp-3.0.5-7.el5.i386.rpm

Freshen (Updates an existing package):
Note: Will NOT install the package, if it doesn't exist locally

1. rpm -Fvh *.rpm - freshens the current version of a package


Removal:
1. rpm -ev *.rpm - removes a pacakge
Note: removal process considers dependencies and will complain if the removal will break 1 or more packages. To get around this, use '--nodeps' option with 'rpm -ev --nodeps *.rpm'

2. rpm -ev gftp


Package Management GUI:
1. Add/Remove Software
2. system-config-packages