This chapter covered the easy part of managing packages, the common actions of installing, removing, and upgrading software.
The rpm –e command removes packages. The rpm –U command upgrades packages by installing new packages and removing old versions of all the packages upgraded. RPM upgrades also work for installing new packages. The rpm –F command freshens packages. This command only upgrades a package if an older version of the package has already been installed. The rpm –i command installs packages.
Table 4-3 summarizes the rpm command-line options for installing, removing, and upgrading packages.
Table 4-3 Installing, Removing, and Upgrading with the rpm command
Command | Usage |
rpm –i install_options package_files | Install packages. |
rpm –e remove_options packages | Erase, remove, packages. |
rpm –U install_options package_files | Upgrade or install packages. Use this option for installations. |
rpm –Uvh install_options package_files | Upgrade or install packages with extra output. This is the recommended command to install packages. |
rpm –F install_options package_files | Freshen packages. |
Unfortunately, modern system management gets more complex than that. The next chapter delves into package dependencies and the nightmare you can get into when one package depends on another that then depends on another, ad infinitum.