RPM-COMMON(8)
2025-04-15
NAME
rpm-common - Operations and options common to the main rpm(8) executables
SYNOPSIS
RPMCMD [options] {-?|--help}
RPMCMD [options] --showrc
RPMCMD [options] --version
DESCRIPTION
The following RPMCMD executables share common configuration and the options and operations documented in this manual:
OPERATIONS
-?, --help
Print a longer usage message than normal.
--version
Print a single line containing the version number of rpm being used.
--showrc
Dump information about rpm configuration to standard output.
OPTIONS
--color <MODE>
Use terminal colors for highlighting error and debug message, where MODE is one of:
- always
- auto (use color output on terminals)
- never (default)
--dbpath DIRECTORY
Use the database in DIRECTORY rather than the default path /var/lib/rpm.
-D 'MACRO EXPR', --define='MACRO EXPR'
Defines MACRO with value EXPR.
-E 'EXPR', --eval='EXPR'
Prints macro expansion of EXPR.
--load FILE
Load an individual macro file.
--macros FILELIST
Replace the list of macro files to be loaded with FILELIST. See Macro Configuration for details.
--nodigest
Don't verify package or header digests when reading.
--nohdrchk
Don't verify database header(s) when retrieved.
--nosignature
Don't verify package or header signatures when reading.
--pipe CMD
Pipes the output of rpm to the command CMD.
--predefine='MACRO EXPR'
Defines MACRO with value EXPR before loading macro files. This is a very rare special-purpose switch, use --define for the common macro definition needs.
--target PLATFORM
Use PLATFORM configuration instead of detecting automatically. PLATFORM is is formed as arch[-os].
--quiet
Print as little as possible - normally only error messages will be displayed.
--rcfile FILELIST
Replace the default list of configuration files to be read with FILELIST. See rpmrc Configuration for details.
--root DIRECTORY
Use the file system tree rooted at DIRECTORY for all operations. Note that this means the database within DIRECTORY will be used for dependency checks and any scriptlet(s) (e.g. %post if installing, or %prep if building, a package) will be run after a chroot(2) to DIRECTORY.
Note that rpm assumes the environment inside the root is set up by the caller, such as any mounts needed for the operation inside the root directory.
--undefine='MACRO'
Undefines MACRO.
-v, --verbose
Print verbose information - normally routine progress messages will be displayed. Supply more than once to increase verbosity, eg. -vv.
DEBUG OPTIONS
--debug
Print lots of debug information.
--fsmdebug
Print debug information about payload handling.
--rpmiodebug
Print debug information about file IO.
--stats
Print runtime statistics of often used functions.
FTP/HTTP OPTIONS
These options are deprecated. Use special purpose software such as curl(1) or wget(1) for fetching data from the internet.
For some operations, rpm can act as an FTP and/or HTTP client so that packages can be queried or installed from the internet. Package files for install, upgrade, and query operations may be specified as an ftp or http style URL:
http://HOST[:PORT]/path/to/package.rpm
ftp://[USER:PASSWORD]@HOST[:PORT]/path/to/package.rpm
If both the user and password are omitted, anonymous ftp is used.
rpm allows the following options to be used with http and ftp URLs:
--httpproxy HOST
Use HOST as the proxy server for all http and ftp transfers. This option may also be specified by configuring the macro %_httpproxy.
--httpport PORT
The TCP PORT number to use for the http connection on the proxy http server instead of the default port. This option may also be specified by configuring the macro %_httpport.
ENVIRONMENT
RPM_CONFIGDIR
Used to override the default rpm configuration home, typically /usr/lib/rpm.
EXIT STATUS
On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.
FILES
Database
/var/lib/rpm/
Temporary
/var/tmp/rpm*
SEE ALSO
popt(3), rpm(8) rpm-config(5), rpm-rpmrc(5)