7.3 Impressing Your Friends with RPM

RPM is a very useful tool for both managing your system and diagnosing and fixing problems. The best way to make sense of all the options is to look at some examples.

• Let's say you delete some files by accident, but you aren't sure what you deleted. If you want to verify your entire system and see what might be missing, you would enter:

  rpm -Va
  

  If some files are missing, or appear to have been corrupted, you should probably either re-install the package or uninstall, then re-install the package.
• Let's say you run across a file that you don't recognize. To find out which package owns it, you would enter:

  rpm -qf /usr/X11R6/bin/xjewel
  

  The output would look like:

  xjewel-1.6-1
  

   

• We can combine the above two examples in the following scenario. Say you are having problems with /usr/bin/paste. You would like to verify the package that owns that program but you don't know which package that is. Simply enter:

  rpm -Vf /usr/bin/paste
  

  and the appropriate package will be verified.

   

• If you are using a program and want to find out more information about it, you can enter the following to find out what documentation came with the package that ``owns'' that program (in this case ispell):

  rpm -qdf /usr/bin/ispell
  

  The output would be:

  /usr/man/man4/ispell.4
  /usr/man/man4/english.4
  /usr/man/man1/unsq.1
  /usr/man/man1/tryaffix.1
  /usr/man/man1/sq.1
  /usr/man/man1/munchlist.1
  /usr/man/man1/ispell.1
  /usr/man/man1/findaffix.1
  /usr/man/man1/buildhash.1
  /usr/info/ispell.info.gz
  /usr/doc/ispell-3.1.18-1/README
  

   

• You find a new koules RPM, but you don't know what it is. To find out some information on it, enter:

  rpm -qip koules-1.2-2.i386.rpm
  

  The output would be:

  Name        : koules        Distribution: Red Hat Linux Colgate
  Version     : 1.2                 Vendor: Red Hat Software
  Release     : 2               Build Date: Mon Sep 02 11:59:12 1996
  Install date: (none)          Build Host: porky.redhat.com
  Group       : Games           Source RPM: koules-1.2-2.src.rpm
  Size        : 614939
  Summary     : SVGAlib action game; multiplayer, network, sound 
  Description :
  This arcade-style game is novel in conception and excellent in 
  execution.  No shooting, no blood, no guts, no gore.  The play is 
  simple, but you still must develop skill to play.  This version 
  uses SVGAlib to run on a graphics console.
  

• Now you want to see what files the koules RPM installs. You would enter:  

  rpm -qlp koules-1.2-2.i386.rpm
  

  The output is:

  /usr/man/man6/koules.6
  /usr/lib/games/kouleslib/start.raw
  /usr/lib/games/kouleslib/end.raw
  /usr/lib/games/kouleslib/destroy2.raw
  /usr/lib/games/kouleslib/destroy1.raw
  /usr/lib/games/kouleslib/creator2.raw
  /usr/lib/games/kouleslib/creator1.raw
  /usr/lib/games/kouleslib/colize.raw
  /usr/lib/games/kouleslib
  /usr/games/koules
  

These are just several examples. As you use the system you will find many more uses for rpm.