26 DNF Command Examples in Fedora / CentOS / RHEL
Abstract: [[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf upgrade-to httpd-2.4.27-3.fc26 Examplerun the following command [[email protected] ~]$ dnf list Example
DNF or Dandified YUM is a fork of YUM package manager. It was introduced in Fedora 18 & on Fedora 22. It has now become default package manager for handling the RPM packages on CentOS 8, RHEL 8 and Fedora.
DNF resolves all the problems that has been associated with yum, like poor performance, high memory usage, slowness for dependency resolution. DNF can be termed as the next major version of the YUM package manager. Currently, the most stable version of DNF is version 2.6.3
In this tutorial, we will discuss the DNF commands used for package management. This article will serve as a cheat sheet for DNF. So let’s start …..
DNF CommandThe syntax for using DNF command is pretty similar to using YUM, so you will find lots of similarity between the two commands.
Example:1) List enabled repositoriesTo list all the enabled repositories on the system, run
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf repolist [sudo] password for linuxtechi: repo id repo name status *epel Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 7 - x86_64 11,989 *fedora Fedora 26 - x86_64 53,912 *updates Fedora 26 - x86_64 - Updates 9,405 virtualbox Fedora 26 - x86_64 - VirtualBox 10 [[email protected] ~]$Example:2) List all repositories (enabled as well as disabled)
If we need to see all the repositories that are either enabled or disabled, we need to run following
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf repolist allExample:3) Installing a package
Like yum, we use ‘install‘ option followed by package name with dnf to install, Let’s suppose we want to install web server package (httpd)
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf install httpdExample:4) Removing a package
To remove a package, execute the following from terminal,
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf remove httpd or [[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf erase httpd
Output of above command would be something like below:
Example:5) Update a packageRun the following command to update a single package on the system,
Syntax: dnf update {pkg-name}
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf update filezillaExample:6) Check for full system update
For a system wide update check, execute the following command,
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf check-updateExample:7) Upgrade all system packages
To upgrade all system packages, run the following
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf upgradeExample:8) List all group packages
Use the following to list all group packages
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf grouplist Last metadata expiration check: 1:40:19 ago on Tue 10 Oct 2017 10:08:39 AM IST. Available Environment Groups: Fedora Custom Operating System Minimal Install Fedora Server Edition Fedora Workstation Fedora Cloud Server KDE Plasma Workspaces Xfce Desktop LXDE Desktop Hawaii Desktop LXQt Desktop Cinnamon Desktop MATE Desktop Sugar Desktop Environment Development and Creative Workstation Web Server Infrastructure Server Basic Desktop Installed Groups: LibreOffice Available Groups: 3D Printing Administration Tools Ansible node Audio Production …………………Example:9) Installing Group packages
Similar packages are grouped together & can be installed from single command, rather than using separate commands. To install a group, run
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf groupinstall "Development Tools"Example:10) Removing group packages
To remove a complete group of packages from system, run the following dnf command,
Syntax: dnf groupremove ‘group_name’
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf groupremove "Development Tools"
We can also use ‘groupupdate’ for updating the group packages as well.
Example:11) Search for packagesTo look for a particular package from the repositories, execute
Syntax: dnf search {package_name}
Let’s suppose I want to search net-tools package
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf search net-tools =========== Name Exactly Matched: net-tools ========= net-tools.x86_64 : Basic networking tools [[email protected] ~]$Example:12) Download (don’t not install) a package
There can some scenarios where we require to download the packages but don’t wish to install. Use the following command to download package like samba
Syntax : dnf download package_name
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf download samba samba-4.6.8-0.fc26.x86_64.rpm 139 kB/s | 636 kB 00:04 [[email protected] ~]$Example:13) Show all available packages
To get list of all available packages from repositories, open terminal & run beneath dnf command
[[email protected] ~]$ dnf list available | moreExample:14) Show only installed packages
Now, if we only require a list of installed packages on the system, we can get it by executing following command,
[[email protected] ~]$ dnf list installed
Example:15) Show all installed as well as available packages
To get list of all packages i.e. installed as well as available, run the following command
[[email protected] ~]$ dnf list
Example:16) Enable repo for installation
To use a particular repository for installing a package, run
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf install --enablerepo=epel mysql Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 7 - x86_64 3.9 MB/s | 13 MB 00:03 Dependencies resolved. ================================================================================ Package Arch Version Repository Size ================================================================================= Installing: mariadb x86_64 3:10.1.26-2.fc26 updates 6.4 M Installing dependencies: mariadb-common x86_64 3:10.1.26-2.fc26 updates 100 k mariadb-config x86_64 3:10.1.26-2.fc26 updates 33 k mariadb-libs x86_64 3:10.1.26-2.fc26 updates 663 k Transaction Summary ================================================================================= Total download size: 7.2 M Installed size: 44 M Is this ok [y/N]: yExample:17) Check which package provides the required function
If we wants to know which package is responsible for getting a particular functionality, like we need to know package name that is associated with ‘crontab’ or with some other command, than we can use the dnf command ‘provides‘ option in the following manner,
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf provides crontab cronie-1.5.1-5.fc26.x86_64 : Cron daemon for executing programs at set times Repo : @System cronie-1.5.1-5.fc26.x86_64 : Cron daemon for executing programs at set times Repo : fedora [[email protected] ~]$
Same can be done against a file, we can also use the same command with a file location to get the package name with which the file is associated,
[[email protected]]$ sudo dnf provides /var/www/htmlExample:18) View package information
To get details of a specific package, execute
[[email protected] ~]$ dnf info cronie Installed Packages Name : cronie Version : 1.5.1 Release : 5.fc26 Arch : x86_64 Size : 236 k Source : cronie-1.5.1-5.fc26.src.rpm Repo : @System From repo : anaconda Summary : Cron daemon for executing programs at set times URL : https://fedorahosted.org/cronie License : MIT and BSD and ISC and GPLv2+ Description : Cronie contains the standard UNIX daemon crond that runs / specified programs at : scheduled times and related tools. It is a fork of the / original vixie-cron and : has security and configuration enhancements like the / ability to use pam and : SELinux. [[email protected] ~]$Example:19) Building a cache
Though the cache is built automatically over time but we also have an option to manually build the cache, so that the future actions are fast & completed quickly. To create a cache manually, execute
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo time dnf makecache Last metadata expiration check: 0:04:41 ago on Thu 12 Oct 2017 09:53:00 AM IST. Metadata cache created. 0.86user 0.12system 0:01.04elapsed 95%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 106872maxresident)k 0inputs+1192outputs (0major+39606minor)pagefaults 0swaps [[email protected] ~]$Example:20) Delete a cache
To delete all the dnf cached data, execute the following commands
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf clean all 34 files removed [[email protected] ~]$Example:21) Check the transaction history
To check all the transactions that have been done using DNF command, run the following commands
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf history
It will produce a list of all transactions in order as they have occurred with a corresponding number. We can use this number to further get the details of that transaction,
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf history info 5
Logs related to installation, removal or updates are kept in the log file /var/log/dnf.log, Using dnf history command we can also rollback the system updates.
Example:22) Removing orphan packagesOrphan packages are those packages that were once installed to satisfy dependency for some other package but are not required now. To remove such packages, run
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf autoremoveExample:23) Synchronize all the packages to latest stable releases
Run the following command in order to synchronize all the packages to latest stable releases,
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf distro-sync
If we need to sync only a single package, mention that package_name at the end otherwise all the packages will be synced.
Example:24) Reinstall a packageTo reinstall a package, if need be, run the following command,
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf reinstall postfix Dependencies resolved. =========================================================================== Package Arch Version Repository Size =========================================================================== Reinstalling: postfix x86_64 2:3.2.2-1.fc26 fedora 1.4 M Transaction Summary =========================================================================== Total download size: 1.4 M Is this ok [y/N]: yExample:25) Upgrade to a particular version
With DNF, its also possible to upgrade the rpm package to a particular version, to achieve this run the following command,
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf upgrade-to httpd-2.4.27-3.fc26Example:26) Get list of all DNF commands and options
To get a list of all the available options that can be used with DNF, run
[[email protected] ~]$ dnf help
This was our complete tutorial for DNF package manager with examples. Please do leave any queries or questions you have for this tutorial in the comments below.
