Package Managers

See also: Administrative, Shell

Arch Linux

pacman

The default package manager for Arch Linux that installs binaries from a xz compressed tarball that contains a pacman metadata file.

Usage	Explanation
-s	search
-l	list
-u	update
-Q	query the local pacman database; show installed packages
-Ql	show files installed by a pkg
-S	install package
-Ss	search for a package
-Sy	system update
-Syyu	update all packages
-Rns	remove a package
-Fo	search for a file in installed packages
-Fs	search for a file in all repository packages
-Fy	update the file list database
-w	download the packages but do not install them
–no-confirm	automatically accept/confirm actions

yay

Package manager for the Arch Linux User (AUR) repository. It automates installing and compiling community-provided source packages. It uses the same command line options as pacman.

paccache

Remove pacman cache.

Usage	Explanation
-d	run a dry-run by seeing how many files will be removed and space that will be saved
-r	clean out all of the cache from pacman

makepkg

Build a pacman package using a PKGBUILD file.

Usage	Explanation
-c; –clean	clean up left over files after a build
-C; –cleanup	clean up source files before starting a new build
-d; –nodeps	do not check for dependencies
-i	install the package after being built
-s	install missing dependencies using pacman
–skippgpcheck	skip GPG signed verification

pkgfile

Usage	Explanation
-s	search for what pkg provides a file from the repositories
–update	update all of the repository information

pacman-key

Manage PGP keys used for validating package integrity.

Usage	Explanation
–refresh-keys	update the pacman PGP verification keys

Debian

The default package manager for Debian is the Advanced Package Tool (Apt). It manages DEB package repositories.

apt-get

Manage packages from local and remote sources.

Usage	Explanation
changelog	show the changelog for a package
autoclean	remove downloaded DEB files that no longer exist in any repository
clean	remove downloaded DEB files
install	installs program
update	updates repo info
upgrade	updates all packages
dist-upgrade	updates the OS to the latest version
autoremove	remove unused packages
-t	use a different Debian release to get packages
download	download the DEB package file
–download-only source	download the source code
–compile	compile from source code in repository
-y, –yes	answers yes to all prompts
-q, –quiet	suppresses changelog and question prompts
build-dep	install build dependencies for a package; this requires a source repository to be enabled

Example	Explanation
-y -q install make	automatically install the “make” package

apt-cache

Lookup utility based on information gathered from apt-get update.

Usage	Explanation
search	look for a package
show	show package information
showpkg	show dependencies

Usage	Explanation
search xfce	search for the “xfce” package

apt-file

Find which remote packages provide a specific file.

Usage	Explanation
update	update the local cache of files each remote package provides
find	find a package that contains a certain file

dpkg

Manage local DEB packages.

Usage	Explanation
-i	install a local DEB package
–list	shows all installed .debs
-L	shows where the package files have been installed to
-c	lists the files inside of a package

Example	Explanation
-i python37.deb	install a local Python 3.7 DEB package

apt-mirror

Creates a local repository mirror of another repository. WARNING this will download over 100GB of data by default for Debian.

debootstrap

Create a directory with a Debian based operating system file system.

Usage	Explanation
–arch {amd64|i386}	select CPU architecture

dh_make

Usage	Explanation
-p <PROGRAM>_<VERSION>	specify the program and version name
-f	specify the original source code file to create a org.tar.gz archive from
–createorig	create an original source tarball from the current directory
–copyright	specify a license to use for the program
-r {old|dh7|cdbs}	specify the format for rules to use

mk-build-deps

Package: devscripts

Find and install build dependencies for DEB source packages.

dpkg-buildpackage

Build a DEB package.

Usage	Explanation
-b	do not build a source package

snappy

Snappy manages portable Snap applications.

Usage	Explanation
info	show operating system information
install
remove
update	update the system or a certain package
rollback	revert an update to the previous version
search	search for pkg
list	show installed pkgs

Fedora

dnf

Dandified YUM (DNF) is the default package manager for Fedora >= 22. It is designed to use RPM package repositories, be faster than YUM, and rely on Python 3.

Usage	Explanation
repolist all	shows all available repositories
list	shows all packages available
list installed	shows all installed packages
search	look for a package to install
install	install a package
remove	uninstall a package
autoremove	remove unneeded dependencies
repository-packages <REPO>	manage all packages relating to a certain repository
repository-packages <REPO> remove	uninstall all packages that came from a specified repository
clean all	removes DNF all cache, including packages
clean packages	remove cached packages (old, uninstalled, and/or downloaded packages)
clean expire-cache	set the cache to be expired on the next dnf usage; this allows “dnf -C” to still work against cached repository metadata
grouplist	shows all available groups of packages
update	update a specific package or all of the packages
builddep	install RPM dependencies from a spec file
repoquery –deplist	show package dependencies
config-manager –set-enabled	permanently enable a repository
config-manager –set-disabled	permanently disable a repository
config-manager –add-repo <URL>	add a new repository
–security –sec-severity=Critical update	only update packages with critical CVE patches
–cacheonly, -C	use the system cache for queries, do not update the remote metadata information
–repo <REPOSITORY_NAME>	temporarily only use the provided repository (disable all others)
–enablerepo <REPOSITORY_NAME>	temporarily enable a repository if it is disabled
–disablerepo <REPOSITORY_NAME>	temporarily enable a repository if it is enabled
module list	list all modular packages along with their related streams and profiles
module list –enabled	show enabled modular repositories
module list –installed	list all installed modular repositories
module install <PACKAGE>:<STREAM>	install a modular package using the default packages
module install <PACKAGE>:<STREAM>/<PROFILE>	install a modular package using a specific profile of packages
module info <PACKAGE>	show detailed information about all of the streams and profiles available

Example	Explanation
–enablerepo=”*” install fuse-exfat	enable all repositories once for this command execution and install the fuse-exfat package
module install perl:5.24	install an older supported version of Perl using modularity

yum

The default package manager for RHEL.

Usage	Explanation
search	searches repo for pkgs
list	show all available packages
list installed	show installed packages and what repository they came from
list available	show packages available from repositories
install	install one or more RPMs
uninstall	uninstall one or more RPM
check-update	checks for available updates
update	updates al packages
deplist	list all of the files/binaries depdencies required for the RPM
grouplist	shows all available groups of packages
groupinfo	shows what packages are a part of the group
groupinstall	installs a group
autoremove	remove unused packages
history	shows yum transactions
history new	clear out yum’s history
history undo <NUMBER>	under an action from Yum history
repolist all	show all available repositories
repository-packages <REPONAME> list	show all packages in a repository
changelog	show the change log for a package; requires the “yum-plugin-changelog”
–nogpgcheck	skip the GPG signing check
–enablerepo=	enable a repository temporarily, if it’s disabled
–disablerepo=	disable a repository temporarily
–disablerepo=”*” –enablerepo=	temporarily disable all the repos except the ones specified to be enabled
–disableexcludes=all	disable all excluded packages (re-enable them) from the configuration files
-y	automatically proceed (do not ask for user input)
–releasever=	this will temporarily interpret the “releasever” variable in the repository files as a different operating system version
check	check for problems between yum and the rpm database
–installroot	install the package to another directory root that is not /

Example	Explanation
groupinstall “Web Server”	install the HTTP web server group of packages
–releasever=7.5	only install packages compiled on/for the 7.5 release

rpm

Usage	Explanation
-i	installs local pkg but does not replace it
-U	installs a package and immediately replaces the older version
-U –oldpackage	downgrade an RPM
-q	tells if a package is installed
-qa	shows all installed packages
-ql	shows all of the files from the installed package
-qc	lists configuration files from a package
-qd	list documentation files from a package
-qi	shows verbose package information
-qf	tells what package provides a given file
-qR	list dependencies
-q –changelog	shows changelog for a program
-q –whatrequires	show what packages depend on this package
-p	query an RPM that is not installed
-e	remove an RPM
–nodeps	ignore dependencies
–justdb	only modify the internal RPM database (do not modify the files installed by the RPM)
-v	verbose output
-vv	very verbose output for debugging the rpm program itself
–rebuild	builds a src.rpm package
–eval %{OPTION}	replace OPTION; shows details about the global variable to be used in an RPM spec file for building
–root=	specify the chroot directory to install a package to

yum-complete-transaction

Manage incomplete YUM processes. Those transactions are normally stopped from receiving a SIGKILL from an end-user pressing CTRL+c.

Usage	Explanation
	finish installing the last canceled Yum transaction
–cleanup-only	remove all of the pending Yum transactions

repoquery

Package: yum-utils

Usage	Explanation
–requires –resolves	check for RPM dependencies of an RPM
-l	show the files that an RPM from a repository would install

rpmbuild

Package: rpm-build

Build RPM packages from a RPM spec file.

Usage	Explanation
-ba	build all (both the binary and source packages)
-bb	build only the binary package
–define ‘el5 1’ –define ‘el6 0’	build a package for RHEL 5 and not 6
–rebuild	rebuild a source RPM, even if a compiled RPM already exists

yum-builddep

Package: yum-utils

Usage	Explanation
<SPEC_FILE>	install the dependencies to build the source and binary RPM

Example	Explanation
nginx.spec	install the dependencies for the NGINX RPM

yumdownloader

Package: yum-utils

Download RPMs from a YUM repository.

Usage	Explanation
–resolve	also download all of the dependency RPMs

centos-upgrade-tool-cli

Upgrade utility for CentOS 6 to 7 migrations.

fedup

Upgrade utility for Fedora for going to the next major version.

createrepo

Create and manage a RPM repository from an existing folder.

Usage	Explanation
	create an RPM repository in the specified directory
–update	update the repository cache containing all of the RPM information
-s, –checksum	specify the checksum algorithm; older RHEL <= 5 repos require “sha” for sha1

Example	Explanation
–update 7/x86_64/	create an Enterprise Linux 7 64-bit repository

subscription-manager

This utility handles subscriptions to private Red Hat software repositories.

Usage	Explanation
–username <USER> –password <PASS>	provide RedHat.com credentials
–register –auto-attach	attempt to guess what subscription should be used
–register –force	override the current subscription registration
list	list current subscription details
list –available	show all available subscriptions
register	register with a specific subscription
repo –list	show all Red Hat repositories
repos –list-enabled	show enabled repositories
repos –enable	enable a repository
repos –disable	disable a repository
release –set <RHEL_VERSION>	set the RHEL version of packages to use

Usage	Explanation
release –set 7.6	configure the RHEL 7.6 repositories

subscription-manager-gui

GUI for managing Red Hat subscriptions.

scl

Package:

• CentOS: centos-release-scl

• RHEL: rhel-server-rhscl-7-rpms

The software collections suite (SCL) offers newer versions of major software. These are installed using YUM and can be found in the custom prefix /opt/rh/.

Usage	Explanation
enable	switch to using a different version of a software from the SCL

Example	Explanation
enable python36	enable the Python 3.6 environment for use

mock

Cross compile RPMs for different RHEL based distributions and architectures.

Usage	Explanation
-r	specify the OS configuration file to use from /etc/mock/
–init	initialize a new chroot directory in /var/lib/mock/ for building the RPM
–clean	delete the initialized directory
–buildsrpm –spec <SPEC_FILE> –sources <SOURCE_DIR>	build a source RPM based on a SPEC file and source directory
–rebuild	rebuild a source RPM
–yum-cmd	run Yum commands in the chroot environment
–dnf-cmd
–shell /bin/bash	open an interactive Bash shell in the chroot environment
–postinstall	install the RPM into the chroot after building it
–scm-enable –scm-option method=’git’	use the SCM “git” for downloading a project for building
–scm-option spec=<SPEC_FILE>	use a specific spec file from a SCM project
–scm-option branch=<BRANCH>	the branch to checkout from a SCHM project

package-cleanup

Package: yum-utils

Usage	Explanation
–oldkernels	remove all old kernel packages

dnf system-uprade

Package: dnf-plugin-system-upgrade

Preform major Fedora upgrades

Usage	Explanation
–releasever	target a specific major release version
download	download all of the RPMs to allow for an offline upgrade

ostree

Manage an ostree file system.

Usage	Explanation
admin pin <INDEX>	pin a certain index so that it will not be deleted/consolidated
admin pin –unpin <INDEX>	unpin an index so it can be deleted/consolidated

rpm-ostree

The default package manager for Fedora Silverblue. All updates require a system reboot.

Usage	Explanation
install <RPM>	install a RPM
uninstall <RPM>	uninstall a RPM
update	an alias for upgrade
upgrade	update the base OS and any RPMs that are installed
upgrade –check	check for updates
override replace <RPM>	install a RPM that replaces a base image package
override remove <RPM>	uninstall a RPM from the base image
overridden reset <RPM>	uninstall the overridden RPM and install the base image package again
status	show the commits of ostree
deploy <COMMIT>	revert to an older version of the OS
rollback	change the boot entry to boot from the last OS version
rebase <REMOTE>:<BRANCH>	change or upgrade the base OS
kargs –append=<CMDLINE_OPTION>	append GRUB’s boot options for the kernel
kargs –delete=<CMDLINE_OPTION	remove a boot option for the kernel
kargs –replace=<KEY>=<OLD_VALUE>=<NEW_VALUE>	replace the value for an existing key
kargs –editor	interactively edit the boot options for the kernel
ex	use experimental features
ex livefs –i-like-danger	layer the pending deployment changes to avoid a reboot

Example	Explanation
kargs –apend=rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau –append=modprobe.blacklist=nouveau –append=nvidia-drm.modeset=1	disable the proprietary Nvidia driver on boot
rebase fedora/rawhide/x86_64/silverblue	switch the base OS to the rawhide (development) branch of Fedora
rebase fedora-workstation:fedora/30/x86_64/silverblue	switch the base OS to Fedora 30

Flatpak

flatpak

Flatpak is a universal package manager that works on most Linux operating systems by providing a standardized runtime environment.

Usage	Explanation
search <PACKAGE>	look for an installable package
install	install a package
install <REMOTE> <NAME>	install a package from a specific remote repository
uninstall	uninstall a package
uninstall –unused	uninstall unused runtimes
update	update all Flatpaks
update <PACKAGE>	update a specific package
remotes	list all of the repositories
remote-add <NAME> <URL>	add a new repository
remote-delete <NAME>	delete a repository
remote-ls <NAME>	view all fo the packages from a repository
list	list all of the installed flatpaks
run <NAME>	run a flatpak
run –command=bash <NAME>	open a Bash shell in the flatpak for troubleshooting issues

FreeBSD

pkg

The default package manager for FreeBSD >= 10.0.

Usage	Explanation
install	install a package
remove	uninstall a package
upgrade	update the operating system
search	look for available packages
info	show installed packages

freebsd-update

FreeBSD upgrade utility.

Usage	Explanation
fetch	update repository data
install	install the latest security patches
rollback	undo the security patch upgrades
-r <RELEASE> upgrade	upgrade to the specified operating system version

Example	Explanation
-r 10.2-RELEASE upgrade	upgrade to FreeBSD 10.2

openSUSE

zypper

The default package manager for openSUSE to install packages from RPM repositories.

Package: zypper2

Usage	Explanation
addrepo, ar <URL> <NAME>	download and add a new repository from a repo file
dup –allow-vendor-change	switch the repository that existing packages come from and update them
install, in	install a package
repos	list all available repositories
refresh	download the latest metadata from all enabled repositories
search –provides –match-exact	search for a package that contains a certain file
search	search for available packages

Programming Languages

Many programming languages also provide official package managers to manage application dependency.

Python

pip

Python package manager.

Usage	Explanation
{list|freeze}	shows installed packages
search	look for a package from the pip repository
show	show installed package details
install	install a package
install -U	update a package
install –pre	install an unstable pre-release of a software
install <PKG>==<MAJOR>.<MINOR>.*	install the latest patch version of a software
install <PKG>==	show all available package versions
install <PKG>==<VERSION>	install the specified version of a package
install -r requirementx.txt	install dependencies for a package
install –force-reinstall	reinstall a package
uninstall	remove an installed package
-E <VIRTUALENV_DIR>	run tasks on a virtual environment
TMPDIR=<DIR>	set this as an environment variable) use a different directory, other than /tmp, for building Pip packages
–user	install or remove Python packages for the current user from ~/.local

python setup.py

Manually install a Python package from its source code.

Usage	Explanation
–help-commands	show all of the available subcommands
–help	show help information only for the main command
develop	install the dependencies only and use the library in its existing location (do not fully install it)
install	install the package to the system
install –prefix=/usr	change the installation prefix
register	register a new Python package with PyPi
upload	upload the new Python package to PyPi
upload –sign	sign and upload the new Python package to PyPi
–build	build the package in the “build” directory

virtualenv (python3 -m virtualenv)

Create and manage isolated Python environments.

Activate: $ . <VIRTUALENV_PATH>/bin/activate Deactivate: $ deactivate

Usage	Explanation
<PATH>	create a new Python virtual environment
–python=<PYTHON_BINARY>	specify the Python version to use
–system-site-packages	link to existing system packages in a read-only manner

uncompyle6

Decompile Python bytecode into human readable code.

Ruby

gem

Ruby-language package manager

Usage	Explanation
-l	query local packages; this is the default
-r	query remote packages
dependency -r	search for the dependencies of a package
<PACKAGE> -v <VERSION>	install a specific version of a Gem package

fpm

The Effing Package Manager is an easy user-focused universal package manager.

Usage	Explanation
–name	package name
–verison	application version
–iteration	package version/release
-a	the CPU architecture that the application can run on
–description	the description of the application
–license	the name of the license that the application uses
–depends	package dependencies of the application
–replaces	packages that this package will replace
–conflicts	packages that this package conflicts with
-s	the source to use for building a new package
-t	the target package to create or convert to
-C	change to the source directory before building the package

Example	Explanation
-s dir -t rpm ~/myapp/ –name hello-world –version 2.1.5 –iteration 1	create a package from myapp and mark the software release as version 2.1.5 and the package release verison as 1

Source Code

This utilities assist with building software from the source code.

./configure

The configure script defines how to compile a program.

Usage	Explanation
–prefix=	new installation directory

Example	Explanation
–prefix=/opt/python27	set a custom directory to install Python to before compiling it

make

Build and install software using a provided Makefile.

Usage	Explanation
-j <PROCESSES>	spawn the specified number of child <PROCESSES> child processes for more efficient and faster compiling; recommended to use the number of CPU threads on the system
-mtune=native	compiles the code specifically for your CPU, making programs more efficient and faster
k, –keep-going	disregard errors and keep compiling until a fatal error occurs
clean	remove previously compiled source code
dist	build a tarball that can be used for building an RPM
test	run tests to verify that the software was created successfully
install	copy the program to the file system
install –backup	backup original files if they exist

gcc

GNU C compiler.

Usage	Explanation
-std=c{90|99|11}	compile using a ANSI C standard, based on the year it was released
-march=native	compile the code against the current processor’s ABIs for the fastest performance; the binary will not be portable to other systems
-Werror	all warnings will be treated as errors so a build will fail if there is a warning

g++

GNU C++ compiler.

Usage	Explanation
-std=c++{98|03|11|14|17}	compile using a ANSI C++ standard, based on the year it was released

History

• Latest

• < 2019.01.01