Managing software with the DNF tool

• RPM format
• Modules, which are an extension to the RPM format
• Software Collections

• Packages with an application
• Packages with the application-specific dependency libraries
• Packages with documentation for the application
• Packages with helper utilities

• If an administrator explicitly enables it.
• If the stream is a dependency of an enabled module.
• If the stream is the default stream. Each module can have a default stream but in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, no default streams are defined. If required, you can configure default streams as described in Defining custom default module streams and profiles.

• Required functionality and which component versions support that functionality
• Compatibility with your application or use case
• The life cycle of the Application Stream and your update plan

Procedure

• Display the global DNF configuration:

  # dnf config-manager --dump

Procedure

• Use one of the following methods to influence how DNF uses plug-ins:

  • To enable or disable loading of DNF plug-ins globally, add the plugins parameter to the [main] section of the /etc/dnf/dnf.conf file.

    • Set plugins=1 (default) to enable loading of all DNF plug-ins.
    • Set plugins=0 to disable loading of all DNF plug-ins.
  • To disable a particular plug-in, add enabled=False to the [main] section in the /etc/dnf/plugins/<plug-in_name>.conf file.

  • To disable all DNF plug-ins for a particular command, append the --noplugins option to the command. For example, to disable DNF plug-ins for a single update command, enter:

    # dnf --noplugins update

  • To disable certain DNF plug-ins for a single command, append the --disableplugin=plugin-name option to the command. For example, to disable a certain DNF plug-in for a single update command, enter:

    # dnf update --disableplugin=<plugin_name>

  • To enable certain DNF plug-ins for a single command, append the --enableplugin=plugin-name option to the command. For example, to enable a certain DNF plug-in for a single update command, enter:

    # dnf update --enableplugin=<plugin_name>

Procedure

• Exclude packages from the DNF operation by adding the following line to the /etc/dnf/dnf.conf file:

  excludepkgs=<package_name_1>,<package_name_2> ...

  Alternatively, use global expressions instead of package names to define packages you want to exclude. For more information, see Specifying global expressions in DNF input.

Procedure

• Depending on your scenario, use one of the following options to search the repository:

  • To search for a term in the name or summary of packages, enter:

    $ dnf search <term>

  • To search for a term in the name, summary, or description of packages, enter:

    $ dnf search --all <term>

    Note that searching additionally in the description by using the --all option is slower than a normal search operation.

  • To search for a package name and list the package name and its version in the output, enter:

    $ dnf repoquery <package_name>

  • To search for which package provides a file, specify the file name or the path to the file:

    $ dnf provides <file_name>

Procedure

• List the latest versions of all available packages, including architectures, version numbers, and the repository they where installed from:

  $ dnf list --all
  ...
  zlib.x86_64         1.2.11-39.el9   @rhel-9-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms
  zlib.i686           1.2.11-39.el9   rhel-9-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms
  zlib-devel.i686     2.11-39.el9     rhel-9-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms
  zlib-devel.x86_64   1.2.11-39.el9   rhel-9-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms
  ...

  The @ sign in front of a repository indicates that the package in this line is currently installed.

  Alternatively, to display all available packages, including version numbers and architectures, enter:

  $ dnf repoquery
  ...
  zlib-0:1.2.11-35.el9_1.i686
  zlib-0:1.2.11-35.el9_1.x86_64
  zlib-0:1.2.11-39.el9.i686
  zlib-0:1.2.11-39.el9.x86_64
  zlib-devel-0:1.2.11-39.el9.i686
  zlib-devel-0:1.2.11-39.el9.x86_64
  ...

  Optionally, you can filter the output by using other options instead of --all, for example:

  • Use --installed to list only installed packages.
  • Use --available to list all available packages.
  • Use --upgrades to list packages for which newer versions are available.
  Note

  You can filter the results by appending global expressions as arguments. For more details, see Specifying global expressions in DNF input.

• Version
• Release
• Architecture
• Package size
• Description

Procedure

• Display information about one or more available packages:

  $ dnf info <package_name>

  This command displays the information for the currently installed package and, if available, its newer versions that are in the repository. Alternatively, use the following command to display the information for all packages with the specified name in the repository:

  $ dnf repoquery --info <package_name>

  Note

  You can filter the results by appending global expressions as arguments. For details, see Specifying global expressions in DNF input.

Procedure

• Use one of the following methods if you use global expressions in dnf commands:

  • Enclose the entire global expression in single or double quotation marks:

    # dnf provides "*/<file_name>"

    Note that you must precede <file_name> either by / for an absolute path or */ to use a wildcard if the full path is unknown.

  • Escape the wildcard characters by preceding them with a backslash (\) character:

    # dnf provides \*/<file_name>

Prerequisites

• Optional: You know the name of the package you want to install.
• If the package you want to install is provided by a module stream, the respective module stream is enabled.

Procedure

• Use one of the following methods to install packages:

  • To install packages from the repositories, enter:

    # dnf install <package_name_1> <package_name_2> ...

    If you install packages on a system that supports multiple architectures, such as i686 and x86_64, you can specify the architecture of the package by appending it to the package name:

    # dnf install <package_name>.<architecture>

  • To install a package if you only know the path to the file the package provides but not the package name, you can use this path to install the corresponding package:

    # dnf install <path_to_file>

  • To install a local RPM file, enter:

    # dnf install <path_to_RPM_file>

    If the package has dependencies, specify the paths to these RPM files as well. Otherwise, DNF downloads the dependencies from the repositories or fails if they are not available in the repositories.

Prerequisites

• You know the name or ID of the group you want to install.

Procedure

• Install a package group:

  # dnf group install <group_name_or_ID>

Verification

• Verify that the correct module stream is enabled ([e]) and the required profile was installed ([i]):

  # dnf module list nodejs
  Updating Subscription Management repositories.
  Last metadata expiration check: 0:33:24 ago on Mon 24 Jul 2023 04:59:01 PM CEST.
  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for x86_64 - AppStream (RPMs)
  Name     Stream   Profiles                                    Summary
  nodejs   18 [e]   common [d] [i], development, minimal, s2i   Javascript runtime
  ...
  
  Hint: [d]efault, [e]nabled, [x]disabled, [i]nstalled

Verification

• Use the dnf module list <module_name> command to verify the new default stream and profile settings, for example:

  # dnf module list nodejs
  Name     Stream   Profiles                                Summary
  nodejs   18 [d]   common, development, minimal [d], s2i   Javascript runtime

Procedure

• Check the available updates for installed packages:

  # dnf check-update

  The output returns the list of packages and their dependencies that have an update available.

Procedure

• Depending on your scenario, use one of the following options to apply updates:

  • To update all packages and their dependencies, enter:

    # dnf upgrade

  • To update a single package, enter:

    # dnf upgrade <package_name>

  • To update packages only from a specific package group, enter:

    # dnf group upgrade <group_name>

Procedure

• Depending on your scenario, use one of the following options to apply updates:

  • To upgrade to the latest available packages that have security errata, enter:

    # dnf upgrade --security

  • To upgrade to the last security errata packages, enter:

    # dnf upgrade-minimal --security

Procedure

• Install the dnf-automatic package:

  # dnf install dnf-automatic

Verification

• Verify the successful installation by confirming the presence of the dnf-automatic package:

  # rpm -qi dnf-automatic

• [commands]

  Sets the mode of operation of DNF Automatic.

  Warning

  Settings of the operation mode from the [commands] section are overridden by settings used by a systemd timer unit for all timer units except dnf-automatic.timer.

• [emitters]

  Defines how the results of DNF Automatic are reported.

• [command]

  Defines the command emitter configuration.

• [command_email]

  Provides the email emitter configuration for an external command used to send email.

• [email]

  Provides the email emitter configuration.

• [base]

  Overrides settings from the main configuration file of DNF.

Prerequisites

• You specified the behavior of DNF Automatic by modifying the /etc/dnf/automatic.conf configuration file.

Procedure

• To enable and execute a systemd timer unit immediately, enter:

  # systemctl enable --now <timer_name>

  If you want to only enable the timer without executing it immediately, omit the --now option.

  You can use the following timers:

  • dnf-automatic-download.timer: Downloads available updates.
  • dnf-automatic-install.timer: Downloads and installs available updates.
  • dnf-automatic-notifyonly.timer: Reports available updates.
  • dnf-automatic.timer: Downloads, downloads and installs, or reports available updates.

Verification

• Verify that the timer is enabled:

  # systemctl status <systemd timer unit>

• Optional: Check when each of the timers on your system ran the last time:

  # systemctl list-timers --all

Procedure

• Remove particular packages:

  # dnf remove <package_name_1> <package_name_2> ...

Procedure

• Remove package groups by the group name or group ID:

  # dnf group remove <group_name> <group_id>

• List the latest transactions.
• List the latest operations for a selected package.
• Display details of a particular transaction.

Procedure

• Depending on your scenario, use one of the following options to display transaction information:

  • To display a list of all the latest DNF transactions, enter:

    # dnf history

    The output contains the following information:

    • The Action(s) column displays which type of action was performed during a transaction, for example, Install (I), Upgrade (U), Remove (E), and other actions.

    • The Altered column displays the number of actions performed during the transaction. The number of actions can also be followed by the result of the transaction.

      For more information about the values of the Action(s) and Altered columns, see the dnf(8) man page on your system.

  • To display a list of all the latest operations for a selected package, enter:

    # dnf history list <package_name>

  • To display details of a particular transaction, enter:

    # dnf history info <transaction_id>

• Revert a single DNF transaction by using the dnf history undo command.
• Revert all DNF transactions performed between the specified transaction and the last transaction by using the dnf history rollback command.

Procedure

• Enable a repository:

  # dnf config-manager --enable <repository_id>

Procedure

• Disable a repository:

  # dnf config-manager --disable <repository_id>

• Enabling a module stream can result in enabling further module streams.
• Installing a module stream profile or installing packages from a stream can result in enabling further module streams and installing further packages.
• Removing a package can result in removing further packages. If these packages were provided by modules, the module streams remain enabled in preparation for further installation, even if no packages from these streams are installed any more. This mirrors the behavior of an unused DNF repository.

Procedure

• Reset the module state:

  # dnf module reset <module-name>

  The module is returned to the initial state. Information about an enabled stream and installed profiles is erased but no installed content is removed.

Prerequisites

• You understand the concept of an active module stream.

Procedure

• Disable the module:

  # dnf module disable <module-name>

  The dnf command asks for confirmation and then disables the module with all its streams. All of the module streams become inactive. No installed content is removed.

Prerequisites

• The system is fully updated.

Verification

• Verify that the installed component was switched to the new version ([e]):

  $ dnf module list nodejs
  ...
  rhel-AppStream
  Name       Stream     Profiles                                     Summary
  nodejs     18         common [d], development, minimal, s2i        Javascript runtime
  nodejs     20 [e]     common [d] [i], development, minimal, s2i    Javascript runtime
  
  Hint: [d]efault, [e]nabled, [x]disabled, [i]nstalled