How to install RPM

How to install RPM
What is RPM?



Many Linux distributions use RPM as the default application management system. This means that when using RPM packages, it is quite easy to install applications to your favorite Linux distributions.

RPM is originally developed by Red Hat, but nowadays you can run into rpm in many other linux distributions (for example Fedora Core, CentOS, Mandriva or Yellow Dog Linux) and even on other operating systems (Novel Netware and IBM Aix).

RPM packaged software follows usually the following format:

(name)-(version)-(release).(arch).rpm

For example: httpd-2.23-2.i386.rpm

Also source codes can be downloaded in rpm packages. For example httpd-2.23-2.i386.src.rpm. RPM files with the noarch.rpm extension refer to files that don't depend on a computer's architecture.

Install RPM

Installing RPM package is very easy and straightforward:

* rpm -ivh package.rpm - installs package.rpm
* rpm -Uvh package.rpm - updates package.rpm
* rpm -qi package - displays (already installed ) information about application "package"
* rpm -qpi package.rpm - displays information about rpm-file
* rpm -qpl package.rpm - displays files included in package.rpm
* rpm -qa - lists all rpm packages installed to your distribution
* rpm --rebuilddb - rebuilds your rpm database

With these simple commands you can install rpm packages to your linux distribution!