Yellowdog Updater Modifier (yum) is an RPM based package manager which is used to install and update packages in various Linux distributions including CentOS, RHEL and Fedora.
Yum is quite powerful as it’s capable of automatically resolving dependency issues, and is similar to other package managers such as ‘apt-get’ in Debian based distributions.
These examples should serve as a useful introduction, guide or cheat sheet style resource for how to use the yum command in Linux.
How To Use yum – Command Examples
1. Install New Package From Repository
The yum command can be used to install packages from a repository with the ‘install’ argument, followed by the package name. In the example below, we are installing Apache, which is provided in the ‘httpd’ package.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum install httpd Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be installed --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ======================================================================== Package Arch Version Repository Size ======================================================================== Installing: httpd x86_64 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 updates 2.7 M Transaction Summary ======================================================================== Install 1 Package Total download size: 2.7 M Installed size: 9.4 M Is this ok [y/d/N]: y Downloading packages: httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm | 2.7 MB 00:00:00 Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Installing : httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 1/1 Verifying : httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 1/1 Installed: httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 Complete!
Note that after confirming the packages that will be installed, you will be asked to provide input. In this case we entered ‘y’ for yes to proceed with the installation, which then completed successfully.
2. Assume Yes
In the first example we were prompted to press the ‘y’ key in order to proceed with the installation. Rather than being prompted each time for user input, we can simply specify the ‘-y’ option in our command for assume yes. This way we will not be prompted for any input and yum will assume that everything will be answered with yes.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum install httpd-manual -y Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package httpd-manual.noarch 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be installed --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ========================================================================== Package Arch Version Repository Size ========================================================================== Installing: httpd-manual noarch 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 updates 1.3 M Transaction Summary ========================================================================== Install 1 Package Total download size: 1.3 M Installed size: 5.5 M Downloading packages: httpd-manual-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.noarch.rpm | 1.3 MB 00:00:01 Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Installing : httpd-manual-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.noarch 1/1 Verifying : httpd-manual-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.noarch 1/1 Installed: httpd-manual.noarch 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 Complete!
Note that in this example we were not prompted for input, as assume yes has been provided, so the package was installed fully without any further user interaction.
3. Check For Available Updates
We can run yum with the ‘check-update’ argument which will check in with our enabled repositories for any updates that may be available for packages that we have installed. This does not actually perform any updates, it simply gives us a list of packages that have updates available for installation.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum check-update Loaded plugins: fastestmirror Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile bash.x86_64 4.2.46-20.el7_2 updates dbus.x86_64 1:1.6.12-14.el7_2 updates dbus-libs.x86_64 1:1.6.12-14.el7_2 updates device-mapper-persistent-data.x86_64 0.6.2-1.el7_2 updates glibc.x86_64 2.17-106.el7_2.8 updates glibc-common.x86_64 2.17-106.el7_2.8 updates initscripts.x86_64 9.49.30-1.el7_2.3 updates kernel.x86_64 3.10.0-327.28.3.el7 updates kernel-tools.x86_64 3.10.0-327.28.3.el7 updates kernel-tools-libs.x86_64 3.10.0-327.28.3.el7 updates ...
4. Update New Package From Repository
In the previous example we have been provided with a list of packages that currently have package updates available. We can perform an update to a specific package by specifying it after the ‘update’ argument, as shown below.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum update bash -y Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package bash.x86_64 0:4.2.46-19.el7 will be updated ---> Package bash.x86_64 0:4.2.46-20.el7_2 will be an update --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ================================================================= Updating: bash x86_64 4.2.46-20.el7_2 updates 1.0 M Transaction Summary ================================================================= Upgrade 1 Package Total download size: 1.0 M Downloading packages: Delta RPMs disabled because /usr/bin/applydeltarpm not installed. bash-4.2.46-20.el7_2.x86_64.rpm | 1.0 MB 00:00:00 Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Updating : bash-4.2.46-20.el7_2.x86_64 1/2 Cleanup : bash-4.2.46-19.el7.x86_64 2/2 Verifying : bash-4.2.46-20.el7_2.x86_64 1/2 Verifying : bash-4.2.46-19.el7.x86_64 2/2 Updated: bash.x86_64 0:4.2.46-20.el7_2 Complete!
Note that we do not have to run check-update prior to this.
While we can update specified packages in this manner, it is often easier to simply apply all available updates for all packages on the system with ‘yum update’.
5. Download Package RPM File
Rather than installing a package from the repository as demonstrated previously, we can optionally download the .rpm file from the repository with the ‘yumdownloader’ command.
The ‘yumdownloader’ command comes from the ‘yum-utils’ package, so we install this first.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum install yum-utils -y
Now we can download the RPM file to the local system.
[root@centos7 ~]# yumdownloader unbound Loaded plugins: fastestmirror Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile * base: mirror.ventraip.net.au * extras: mirror.optus.net * updates: mirror.optus.net unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64.rpm [root@centos7 ~]# ls -la unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64.rpm -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 483136 Nov 26 2015 unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64.rpm
6. Perform Local Install Of RPM File
In this example we will install the .rpm file that we just downloaded with ‘yumdownloader’. While we could have just installed this package from the repository directly with ‘yum install’, sometimes you may be provided with .rpm files directly for installation so it’s worth knowing how to install them.
While .rpm files can be installed with the ‘rpm’ command, using yum has the advantage of automatically detecting and installing any other package dependencies that may also be required.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum localinstall unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64.rpm Loaded plugins: fastestmirror Examining unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64.rpm: unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64 Marking unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64.rpm to be installed Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package unbound.x86_64 0:1.4.20-26.el7 will be installed --> Processing Dependency: unbound-libs(x86-64) = 1.4.20-26.el7 for package: unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64 Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile * base: mirror.ventraip.net.au * extras: mirror.optus.net * updates: mirror.optus.net --> Processing Dependency: ldns >= 1.6.13 for package: unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64 --> Processing Dependency: libevent-2.0.so.5()(64bit) for package: unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64 --> Processing Dependency: libldns.so.1()(64bit) for package: unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64 --> Processing Dependency: libunbound.so.2()(64bit) for package: unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64 --> Running transaction check ---> Package ldns.x86_64 0:1.6.16-7.el7 will be installed ---> Package libevent.x86_64 0:2.0.21-4.el7 will be installed ---> Package unbound-libs.x86_64 0:1.4.20-26.el7 will be installed --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ========================================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ========================================================================================= Installing: unbound x86_64 1.4.20-26.el7 /unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64 1.6 M Installing for dependencies: ldns x86_64 1.6.16-7.el7 base 473 k libevent x86_64 2.0.21-4.el7 base 214 k unbound-libs x86_64 1.4.20-26.el7 base 296 k Transaction Summary ========================================================================================= Install 1 Package (+3 Dependent packages) Total size: 2.6 M Total download size: 982 k Installed size: 4.4 M Is this ok [y/d/N]: y Downloading packages: (1/3): unbound-libs-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64.rpm | 296 kB 00:00:00 (2/3): ldns-1.6.16-7.el7.x86_64.rpm | 473 kB 00:00:00 (3/3): libevent-2.0.21-4.el7.x86_64.rpm | 214 kB 00:00:00 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 1.5 MB/s | 982 kB 00:00 Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Installing : ldns-1.6.16-7.el7.x86_64 1/4 Installing : libevent-2.0.21-4.el7.x86_64 2/4 Installing : unbound-libs-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64 3/4 Installing : unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64 4/4 Verifying : unbound-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64 1/4 Verifying : unbound-libs-1.4.20-26.el7.x86_64 2/4 Verifying : libevent-2.0.21-4.el7.x86_64 3/4 Verifying : ldns-1.6.16-7.el7.x86_64 4/4 Installed: unbound.x86_64 0:1.4.20-26.el7 Dependency Installed: ldns.x86_64 0:1.6.16-7.el7 libevent.x86_64 0:2.0.21-4.el7 unbound-libs.x86_64 0:1.4.20-26.el7 Complete!
7. Uninstall Package
Packages can be uninstalled with the ‘remove’ argument, as shown below.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum remove httpd Loaded plugins: fastestmirror Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be erased --> Processing Dependency: httpd = 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 for package: httpd-manual-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.noarch --> Running transaction check ---> Package httpd-manual.noarch 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be erased --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Removing: httpd x86_64 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 @updates 9.4 M Removing for dependencies: httpd-manual noarch 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 @updates 5.5 M Transaction Summary ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Remove 1 Package (+1 Dependent package) Installed size: 15 M Is this ok [y/N]: y Downloading packages: Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Erasing : httpd-manual-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.noarch 1/2 Erasing : httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 2/2 Verifying : httpd-manual-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.noarch 1/2 Verifying : httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 2/2 Removed: httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 Dependency Removed: httpd-manual.noarch 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 Complete!
Note that in order to remove a package, all other packages which depend on it will also be removed. For that reason it is recommended not to use the -y option to ‘assumeyes’ when removing a package so that you get a chance to read what will be removed before proceeding, as it may be more than you expect.
In the above example, the httpd-manual package that we installed previously requires the httpd package. Therefore when we remove the httpd package, httpd-manual must go too.
8. Reinstall Package
If you’re having a problem with a package, you can easily reinstall it with the ‘reinstall’ argument.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum reinstall httpd -y Loaded plugins: fastestmirror Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile * base: mirror.ventraip.net.au * extras: mirror.optus.net * updates: mirror.optus.net Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be reinstalled --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Reinstalling: httpd x86_64 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 updates 2.7 M Transaction Summary ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Reinstall 1 Package Total download size: 2.7 M Installed size: 9.4 M Downloading packages: httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm | 2.7 MB 00:00:00 Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Installing : httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 1/1 Verifying : httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 1/1 Installed: httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 Complete!
This is similar to performing a ‘yum remove’ followed by a ‘yum install’, however here it’s done in the one command and custom configuration is not removed, as a ‘yum remove’ will delete all configuration files managed by the package.
9. View Repository Information
By default we have many repositories configured in the /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory, these can be viewed with the ‘repolist’ and ‘repoinfo’ arguments.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum repolist Loaded plugins: fastestmirror Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile * base: mirror.ventraip.net.au * extras: mirror.optus.net * updates: mirror.optus.net repo id repo name status base/7/x86_64 CentOS-7 - Base 9,007 extras/7/x86_64 CentOS-7 - Extras 375 updates/7/x86_64 CentOS-7 - Updates 2,303 repolist: 11,685
By default ‘repolist’ displays information for enabled repositories only, however we can specify ‘all’ afterwards to list even disabled repositories.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum repolist all repo id repo name status base/7/x86_64 CentOS-7 - Base enabled: 9,007 base-debuginfo/x86_64 CentOS-7 - Debuginfo disabled base-source/7 CentOS-7 - Base Sources disabled c7-media CentOS-7 - Media disabled centosplus/7/x86_64 CentOS-7 - Plus disabled ...
Further information on a specific repository can then be viewed with ‘repoinfo’ followed by the repo name that you want to query.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum repoinfo CentOS-7 - Base Loaded plugins: fastestmirror Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile * base: mirror.ventraip.net.au * extras: mirror.optus.net * updates: mirror.optus.net Repo-id : base/7/x86_64 Repo-name : CentOS-7 - Base Repo-status : enabled Repo-revision: 1449700451 Repo-updated : Thu Dec 10 09:35:45 2015 Repo-pkgs : 9,007 Repo-size : 6.5 G Repo-mirrors : http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=7&arch=x86_64&repo=os&infra=stock Repo-baseurl : http://mirror.ventraip.net.au/CentOS/7.2.1511/os/x86_64/ (9 more) Repo-expire : 21,600 second(s) (last: Mon Aug 29 14:25:35 2016) Repo-filename: /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo repolist: 9,007
10. Add New Repository
We can specify a new repository by manually editing or creating a new .repo file in the /etc/yum.repos.d directory, however we can much more easily create a persistent repository with the yum-config-manager command. This command comes from the ‘yum-utils’ package which we installed previously, so if you wish to use ‘yum-config-manager’ be sure to first install ‘yum-utils’.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum-config-manager --add-repo="https://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/centos/7" Loaded plugins: fastestmirror adding repo from: https://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/centos/7 [mirror.aarnet.edu.au_pub_centos_7] name=added from: https://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/centos/7 baseurl=https://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/centos/7 enabled=1
We simply provide a known repository URL in the –add-repo option, and this creates a .repo file based on the name of the repository URL specified. In this case, /etc/yum.repos.d/mirror.aarnet.edu.au_pub_centos_7.repo has been created with the contents specified above in the output of the command. We can now install or update packages from this newly specified mirror.
11. Enable Or Disable Specific Repository
There may be times when we want to perform an action while enabling or disabling a specific repository. For example if we want to install a particular package, we may want to ensure that it comes from a specific mirror.
yum --enablerepo=disabled-repo install package-example
This would enabled a previously disabled repo named ‘disabled-repo’ in order to install ‘package-example’ from it.
If we have the same packages available at multiple repositories we may wish to disable one and update or install from a specific repository. This can be done by disabling the repository with --disablerepo.
yum --disablerepo=enabled-repo install package-example
12. Search For Packages In Repository
The ‘search’ argument is a very useful yum feature, as it allows us to search through packages on the repository which can be useful if we don’t know exactly what we’re looking to install.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum search php ===================================================================================== N/S matched: php ====================================================================================== graphviz-php.x86_64 : PHP extension for graphviz php.x86_64 : PHP scripting language for creating dynamic web sites php-bcmath.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications for using the bcmath library php-cli.x86_64 : Command-line interface for PHP php-common.x86_64 : Common files for PHP php-dba.x86_64 : A database abstraction layer module for PHP applications php-devel.x86_64 : Files needed for building PHP extensions php-embedded.x86_64 : PHP library for embedding in applications php-enchant.x86_64 : Enchant spelling extension for PHP applications php-fpm.x86_64 : PHP FastCGI Process Manager php-gd.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications for using the gd graphics library ... Name and summary matches only, use "search all" for everything.
In this example we search package names and the summary for the term “PHP” and see a number of available packages at the repositories ready for us to install or download.
13. Find Which Package Provides Something
This is one of my favourite features of the yum command as it’s very useful. Have you ever wanted to run a command, but you’re not sure which package is required for it? This is where the ‘provides’ argument comes in use.
In this example we want to create an iSCSI initiator, this is done with the ‘iscsiadm’ command. We can use ‘provides’ followed by the name of the command to search for packages that provide this command.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum provides iscsiadm iscsi-initiator-utils-6.2.0.873-32.el7.i686 : iSCSI daemon and utility programs Repo : base Matched from: Filename : /usr/sbin/iscsiadm
As shown the ‘iscsi-initiator-utils’ package can be installed to provide the ‘iscsiadm’ command.
This can also be used against a file on the file system to check which package provides that file.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum provides /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.x86_64 : Apache HTTP Server Repo : base Matched from: Filename : /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
In this example we can see that the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file comes from the ‘httpd’ package.
14. View Package Information
Further detailed information of a package can be viewed with the ‘info’ argument. As shown below, this provides us with useful information such as the architecture, version number, release number, total size, as well as a description of what the package actually does.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum info httpd Available Packages Name : httpd Arch : x86_64 Version : 2.4.6 Release : 40.el7.centos.4 Size : 2.7 M Repo : updates/7/x86_64 Summary : Apache HTTP Server URL : http://httpd.apache.org/ License : ASL 2.0 Description : The Apache HTTP Server is a powerful, efficient, and extensible : web server.This can be used before a package is installed or after installation, the same information will be provided in both situations.
15. View Transaction History
The yum history contains all actions that have been performed by the yum command. This allows us to see what has happened to our Linux system over time, and even undo, redo, or roll back a transaction.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum history ID | Login user | Date and time | Action(s) | Altered ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 15 | root| 2016-08-29 15:20 | Erase | 1 14 | root | 2016-08-29 14:55 | Install | 1 13 | root | 2016-08-29 14:55 | Erase | 1 EE 12 | root | 2016-08-29 14:54 | Reinstall | 1 11 | root | 2016-08-29 14:54 | Install | 31 10 | root | 2016-08-29 14:53 | Install | 1 9 | root | 2016-08-29 14:47 | Erase | 2 8 | root | 2016-08-29 14:45 | Install | 4 7 | root | 2016-08-29 14:40 | Install | 3 6 | root | 2016-08-29 14:37 | Update | 1 5 | root | 2016-08-29 14:32 | Install | 1 4 | root | 2016-08-29 14:28 | Install | 1 3 | root | 2016-08-29 14:28 | Erase | 1 2 | root | 2016-08-29 14:28 | Install | 5 1 | System | 2016-08-29 14:17 | Install | 298 history list The newest transactions appear at the top of the list, and we can view further information of a transaction by specifying its ID, as shown below.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum history info 15 Transaction ID : 15 Begin time : Mon Aug 29 15:20:57 2016 Begin rpmdb : 341:c62a7835aef7986909a89bc51d654acf51b8d756 End time : (0 seconds) End rpmdb : 340:8701e1360e8e5403f96a5cc61994740ba7d8daf8 User : root
Return-Code : Success Command Line : remove httpd -y Transaction performed with: Installed rpm-4.11.3-17.el7.x86_64 @anaconda Installed yum-3.4.3-132.el7.centos.0.1.noarch @anaconda Installed yum-plugin-fastestmirror-1.1.31-34.el7.noarch @anaconda Packages Altered: Erase httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 @updates history info So the most recent transaction with the ID of 15 was used to remove the httpd package. Now we can undo this transaction if we want, which should install the httpd package again, as this will undo the removal.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum history undo 15 -y Undoing transaction 15, from Mon Aug 29 15:20:57 2016 Erase httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 @updates Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be installed --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ============================================================================ Package Arch Version Repository Size ============================================================================ Installing: httpd x86_64 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 updates 2.7 M Transaction Summary ============================================================================ Install 1 Package Total download size: 2.7 M Installed size: 9.4 M Downloading packages: httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm | 2.7 MB 00:00:00 Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Installing : httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 1/1 Verifying : httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 1/1 Installed: httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 Complete!We can then run the removal again with ‘yum history redo’.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum history redo 15 -y Repeating transaction 15, from Mon Aug 29 15:20:57 2016 Erase httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 @updates Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be erased --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ========================================================================== Package Arch Version Repository Size ========================================================================== Removing: httpd x86_64 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 @updates 9.4 M Transaction Summary ========================================================================== Remove 1 Package Installed size: 9.4 M Downloading packages: Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Erasing : httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 1/1 Verifying : httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 1/1 Removed: httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 Complete!It’s also worth noting that package installations, updates, or removals are also logged in the /var/log/yum.log file, here’s an example of what’s logged here.
[root@centos7 ~]# tail /var/log/yum.log Aug 29 14:28:24 Installed: httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 Aug 29 14:28:29 Erased: httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 Aug 29 14:28:41 Installed: httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 Aug 29 14:32:55 Installed: httpd-manual-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.noarch Aug 29 14:37:28 Updated: bash-4.2.46-20.el7_2.x86_64
16. Clear Cached Information
By default yum will cache data to the /var/cache/yum directory, such as package and repository data. This speeds up yum so that it doesn’t have to keep querying this information from the Internet.
There are times when you may want to delete this cached data, such as if a repository has updated packages but your Linux system has incorrect or stale cached data which may cause various problems when attempting to install a package.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum clean all Loaded plugins: fastestmirror Cleaning repos: base extras updates Cleaning up everything Cleaning up list of fastest mirrors
This will remove all cached items, it is possible to otherwise specify specific elements to clear (such as packages, metadata, expire-cache, rpmdb or plugins) however this saves a lot of time if you aren’t sure what should be removed.
17. Build Cache
The yum cache will be automatically built up over time when you perform various yum queries such as installing or updating packages, however we have the option to manually make the cache so that future actions will be quicker with the ‘makecache’ argument.
[root@centos7 ~]# time yum makecache Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, langpacks base | 3.6 kB 00:00:00 extras | 3.4 kB 00:00:00 updates | 3.4 kB 00:00:00 (1/12): base/7/x86_64/group_gz | 155 kB 00:00:00 (2/12): extras/7/x86_64/prestodelta | 72 kB 00:00:00 (3/12): extras/7/x86_64/filelists_db | 426 kB 00:00:00 (4/12): extras/7/x86_64/primary_db | 160 kB 00:00:00 (5/12): base/7/x86_64/filelists_db | 6.2 MB 00:00:01 (6/12): extras/7/x86_64/other_db | 652 kB 00:00:00 (7/12): base/7/x86_64/other_db | 2.3 MB 00:00:01 (8/12): updates/7/x86_64/prestodelta | 698 kB 00:00:00 (9/12): base/7/x86_64/primary_db | 5.3 MB 00:00:01 (10/12): updates/7/x86_64/filelists_db | 4.4 MB 00:00:01 (11/12): updates/7/x86_64/primary_db | 7.1 MB 00:00:01 (12/12): updates/7/x86_64/other_db | 61 MB 00:00:07 Determining fastest mirrors * base: centos.mirror.crucial.com.au * extras: centos.mirror.crucial.com.au * updates: centos.mirror.crucial.com.au Metadata Cache Created real 0m40.785s user 0m32.504s sys 0m1.937s
We can also add the ‘fast’ option to the end, which will take less time but only cache fewer repositories.
[root@centos7 ~]# time yum makecache fast Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, langpacks base | 3.6 kB 00:00:00 extras | 3.4 kB 00:00:00 updates | 3.4 kB 00:00:00 (1/4): base/7/x86_64/group_gz | 155 kB 00:00:00 (2/4): extras/7/x86_64/primary_db | 160 kB 00:00:00 (3/4): base/7/x86_64/primary_db | 5.3 MB 00:00:00 (4/4): updates/7/x86_64/primary_db | 7.1 MB 00:00:01 Determining fastest mirrors * base: mirror.nsw.coloau.com.au * extras: mirror.nsw.coloau.com.au * updates: mirror.nsw.coloau.com.au Metadata Cache Created real 0m8.879s user 0m3.451s sys 0m0.343s
As we can see the fast cache was significantly faster.
18. List Installed Packages
We have the ability to list all packages that are currently installed on our Linux system with ‘yum list installed’. I have not included the full output here as I have hundreds of packages installed on my system, however this small snippet should give you an idea of what to expect.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum list installed | head -n 15 Installed Packages NetworkManager.x86_64 1:1.0.6-30.el7_2 @anaconda NetworkManager-libnm.x86_64 1:1.0.6-30.el7_2 @anaconda NetworkManager-team.x86_64 1:1.0.6-30.el7_2 @anaconda NetworkManager-tui.x86_64 1:1.0.6-30.el7_2 @anaconda NetworkManager-wifi.x86_64 1:1.0.6-30.el7_2 @anaconda acl.x86_64 2.2.51-12.el7 @anaconda aic94xx-firmware.noarch 30-6.el7 @anaconda alsa-firmware.noarch 1.0.28-2.el7 @anaconda alsa-lib.x86_64 1.0.28-2.el7 @anaconda alsa-tools-firmware.x86_64 1.0.28-2.el7 @anaconda apr.x86_64 1.4.8-3.el7 @base apr-util.x86_64 1.5.2-6.el7 @base audit.x86_64 2.4.1-5.el7 @anaconda ...
When piped into the grep command this becomes extremely powerful as it allows us to search for a specific package to see if it is installed.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum list installed | grep httpd httpd.x86_64 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 @updates httpd-tools.x86_64 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 @updates
19. List Available Packages
In the above example we learned how to list currently installed packages on our Linux system with the yum command, now we want to be able to query a repository and list its available packages instead.
This is quite similar, except that we replace ‘installed’ with ‘available’ to instead list all available packages.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum list installed | wc -l 343 [root@centos7 ~]# yum list available | wc -l 8972
As we can see we have over 300 packages currently installed, however in the repository there are almost 9000 packages in total for us to install.
We can also run ‘yum list all’ to list both installed and available packages together, or ‘yum list updates’ to only list packages which currently have updates available, the output of which is similar to the ‘yum check-update’ command covered previously.
20. Package Groups
Packages that are related to each other may be grouped together into a package group. This allows us to install, update, or remove the package group which is actually made up or many other individual packages.
For example we can run ‘yum grouplist’ to view the groups that are available for us to use by default.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum grouplist There is no installed groups file. Maybe run: yum groups mark convert (see man yum) Available Environment Groups: Minimal Install Compute Node Infrastructure Server File and Print Server Basic Web Server Virtualization Host Server with GUI GNOME Desktop KDE Plasma Workspaces Development and Creative Workstation Available Groups: Compatibility Libraries Console Internet Tools Development Tools Graphical Administration Tools Legacy UNIX Compatibility Scientific Support Security Tools Smart Card Support System Administration Tools System Management Done
Once we have the list of available groups, we can use ‘yum groupinfo’ on any of them to get an idea of the packages that are included as part of the group.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum groupinfo "Basic Web Server" There is no installed groups file. Maybe run: yum groups mark convert (see man yum) Environment Group: Basic Web Server Environment-Id: web-server-environment Description: Server for serving static and dynamic internet content. Mandatory Groups: +base +core +web-server [root@centos7 ~]# yum groupinfo "web-server" There is no installed groups file. Maybe run: yum groups mark convert (see man yum) Group: Web Server Group-Id: web-server Description: Allows the system to act as a web server, and run Perl and Python web applications. Mandatory Packages: httpd Default Packages: +crypto-utils +httpd-manual +mod_fcgid +mod_sslHere we can see the “Basic Web Server” group is actually made up of three other groups, base, core, and web-server. If we look closer at the web-server group we can see that it uses the httpd package as well as some additional ones that we do not yet have installed but are available, as denoted by the ‘+’ symbol.
Finally we can install the group with the ‘yum groupinstall’ command, as shown below.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum groupinstall "web server" -y There is no installed groups file. Maybe run: yum groups mark convert (see man yum) Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package crypto-utils.x86_64 0:2.4.1-42.el7 will be installed --> Processing Dependency: perl(Newt) for package: crypto-utils-2.4.1-42.el7.x86_64 ---> Package httpd-manual.noarch 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be installed ---> Package mod_fcgid.x86_64 0:2.3.9-4.el7 will be installed ---> Package mod_ssl.x86_64 1:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be installed --> Running transaction check ---> Package perl-Newt.x86_64 0:1.08-36.el7 will be installed --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Installing for group install "Web Server": crypto-utils x86_64 2.4.1-42.el7 base 78 k httpd-manual noarch 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 updates 1.3 M mod_fcgid x86_64 2.3.9-4.el7 base 79 k mod_ssl x86_64 1:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 updates 104 k Installing for dependencies: perl-Newt x86_64 1.08-36.el7 base 64 k Transaction Summary ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Install 4 Packages (+1 Dependent package) Total download size: 1.6 M Installed size: 6.2 M Downloading packages: (1/5): crypto-utils-2.4.1-42.el7.x86_64.rpm | 78 kB 00:00:00 (2/5): perl-Newt-1.08-36.el7.x86_64.rpm | 64 kB 00:00:00 (3/5): mod_fcgid-2.3.9-4.el7.x86_64.rpm | 79 kB 00:00:00 (4/5): mod_ssl-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm | 104 kB 00:00:00 (5/5): httpd-manual-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.noarch.rpm | 1.3 MB 00:00:00 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 2.5 MB/s | 1.6 MB 00:00:00 Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Installing : perl-Newt-1.08-36.el7.x86_64 1/5 Installing : crypto-utils-2.4.1-42.el7.x86_64 2/5 Installing : 1:mod_ssl-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 3/5 Installing : httpd-manual-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.noarch 4/5 Installing : mod_fcgid-2.3.9-4.el7.x86_64 5/5 Verifying : perl-Newt-1.08-36.el7.x86_64 1/5 Verifying : mod_fcgid-2.3.9-4.el7.x86_64 2/5 Verifying : crypto-utils-2.4.1-42.el7.x86_64 3/5 Verifying : httpd-manual-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.noarch 4/5 Verifying : 1:mod_ssl-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 5/5 Installed: crypto-utils.x86_64 0:2.4.1-42.el7 httpd-manual.noarch 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 mod_fcgid.x86_64 0:2.3.9-4.el7 mod_ssl.x86_64 1:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 Dependency Installed: perl-Newt.x86_64 0:1.08-36.el7 Complete!
The group can also be updated with ‘yum groupupdate’, or all packages within the group removed with ‘yum groupremove’.
21. Install Security Updates Only
While we can simply perform a ‘yum update’ to update all of our installed packages to the latest versions, this may not be ideal in a production environment. Being able to install security only updates during patching may be a requirement in your environment, and can be done with ‘yum update --security’.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum update --security
22. Exclude Specific Package
We can optionally exclude a specific package from update, installation or removal with the -x command which will exclude that package. In this example, we perform a ‘yum check-update’ and confirm that a kernel update is available, however we do not wish to install this package at this time. With the help of -x, we ignore the kernel update and instead perform a ‘yum update’ which states that it is going to update everything except the kernel, which is not listed.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum check-update device-mapper-persistent-data.x86_64 0.6.2-1.el7_2 updates initscripts.x86_64 9.49.30-1.el7_2.3 updates kernel.x86_64 3.10.0-327.28.3.el7 updates kernel-tools.x86_64 3.10.0-327.28.3.el7 updates kernel-tools-libs.x86_64 3.10.0-327.28.3.el7 updates microcode_ctl.x86_64 2:2.1-12.el7_2.1 updates python-perf.x86_64 3.10.0-327.28.3.el7 updates [root@centos7 ~]# yum update -x kernel Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package device-mapper-persistent-data.x86_64 0:0.5.5-1.el7 will be updated ---> Package device-mapper-persistent-data.x86_64 0:0.6.2-1.el7_2 will be an update ---> Package initscripts.x86_64 0:9.49.30-1.el7_2.2 will be updated ---> Package initscripts.x86_64 0:9.49.30-1.el7_2.3 will be an update ---> Package kernel-tools.x86_64 0:3.10.0-327.22.2.el7 will be updated ---> Package kernel-tools.x86_64 0:3.10.0-327.28.3.el7 will be an update ---> Package kernel-tools-libs.x86_64 0:3.10.0-327.22.2.el7 will be updated ---> Package kernel-tools-libs.x86_64 0:3.10.0-327.28.3.el7 will be an update ---> Package microcode_ctl.x86_64 2:2.1-12.el7 will be updated ---> Package microcode_ctl.x86_64 2:2.1-12.el7_2.1 will be an update ---> Package python-perf.x86_64 0:3.10.0-327.22.2.el7 will be updated ---> Package python-perf.x86_64 0:3.10.0-327.28.3.el7 will be an update --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Updating: device-mapper-persistent-data x86_64 0.6.2-1.el7_2 updates 366 k initscripts x86_64 9.49.30-1.el7_2.3 updates 429 k kernel-tools x86_64 3.10.0-327.28.3.el7 updates 2.4 M kernel-tools-libs x86_64 3.10.0-327.28.3.el7 updates 2.3 M microcode_ctl x86_64 2:2.1-12.el7_2.1 updates 535 k python-perf x86_64 3.10.0-327.28.3.el7 updates 2.4 M Transaction Summary ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Upgrade 6 Packages Total download size: 8.4 M Is this ok [y/d/N]:
23. Add Random Wait Time
There are times where you may want to insert a random period of time before performing some yum command, for example if you manage hundreds of servers and go to update them all on a particular day you probably don’t want them all to hit the repository at the same time as this may cause the process to run very slow. With the -R option we can specify a maximum random time in minutes that yum will wait before executing the command, somewhere within this time period will be selected at random.
[root@centos7 ~]# time yum remove httpd -y -R 2 Loaded plugins: fastestmirror Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be erased --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Removing: httpd x86_64 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 @updates 9.4 M Transaction Summary ============================================================================================================================================================================================= Remove 1 Package Installed size: 9.4 M Downloading packages: Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Erasing : httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 1/1 Verifying : httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 1/1 Removed: httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 Complete! real 1m21.954s user 0m0.409s sys 0m0.156s
In this example I appended the ‘time’ command to the ‘yum’ command so that we could see how long it took to complete, in this example we can see that this took approximately 1 minute and 22 seconds to complete, which is a random period from 0 to 2 minutes as was specified.
24. Hide All Output
As you have seen in the above examples, the yum command can provide quite a bit of output. If we don’t want to display the output messages we can simply specify the -q option for quiet which will hide all of the output. In the example below we completely uninstall a package with yum and have no messages output.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum install httpd -y -q [root@centos7 ~]#
25. Display Verbose Information
Alternatively if you’re troubleshooting you can specify the -v option to enable verbose output. In the below verbose example we can see additional information in the output that was not previously available.
[root@centos7 ~]# yum remove httpd -y -v Loading "fastestmirror" plugin Config time: 0.007 Yum version: 3.4.3 rpmdb time: 0.000 Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be erased Checking deps for httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 - e --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependency Process ending Depsolve time: 0.220 Dependencies Resolved ========================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ========================================================================= Removing: httpd x86_64 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 @updates 9.4 M Transaction Summary ========================================================================= Remove 1 Package Installed size: 9.4 M Downloading packages: Member: httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 - e Removing Package httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 Running transaction check Transaction check time: 0.001 Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Transaction test time: 0.014 Running transaction Erasing : httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 1/1 Verifying : httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64 1/1 VerifyTransaction time: 0.049 Transaction time: 0.425 Removed: httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 Complete!
Summary
This guide has covered how to use yum with 25 different examples in which you can practically put the yum command to use.
Thanks for this usefull list !!
excellent expanation
Cheers!
Nice list.
How do I find which repo contains a package I want? repolist all shows 58 disabled repos. Short of enable and try to search each one. Is there a way to search for a package on all the repos including disabled ones?
Thanks.
‘yum info’ should do that, example #14, it will list “from repo”.
You may also use this:
yum provides zlib –enablerepo=*
yum provides zlib –enablerepo=*
Excellent beyond excellente!
can you tell me where did you get this shell layout for wordpress