Linux Command Reference: yum (CentOS, Fedora)

yum is the package manager for most RedHat-based Linux distributions, including RedHat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, OpenSuSE, and their derivatives.

Contents 1 Using Yum 1.1 Using Yum to install a package 1.2 Removing an installed package with yum 1.3 Search for a package within Yum 1.4 Update with Yum 2 Other Uses

Using Yum

Yum is quite simple to use from the Command Line Interface (CLI). This guide will go over the most common uses for yum.

Using Yum to install a package

To install a package with yum, invoke the following command:

 yum install <packagename>

Replace <packagename> with the name of the package, and do not enclose it in brackets. Yum will then connect up to the repositories it has set up, and look for the package in question.

Removing an installed package with yum

To remove a package with yum, invoke the following command:

 yum remove <packagename>

Again, replace <packagename> with the name of the package.

Search for a package within Yum

In addition to being able to install and remove packages, Yum is also capable of performing package searches.

To search the yum repos for a package, invoke the following command:

 yum search <packagename>

Update with Yum

Yum can update one or all of your installed packages (and any required dependencies).

To update a single package with Yum, invoke the following command:

 yum update <packagename>

To update all installed packages, simply give no packagename.

Other Uses

Those are just the most common uses for Yum - other uses include:

• yum list will give you a list of all installed packages, and other packages available in the repos.
• yum check-update checks if there are any updates available, but does not actually run them. Useful for shell scripting.
• yum upgrade same as update
• yum provides or yum whatprovides is used to find out which package provides some feature or file.
• yum info gives some information regarding what a given package does
• yum clean cleans up the yum cache directory
• yum shell gives you a yum shell. Just like it says.
• yum resolvedep lists out packages providing specified dependencies.
• yum localinstall installs local RPM's with yum. Enabled repositories will be used to resolve any dependencies.
• yum localupdate update the system with specified local RPM files.
• yum deplist lists all dependencies for a given package, and packages that resolve those dependencies.

More in-depth information on these can be found in the yum man page by typing man yum at the command prompt, or at the die.net online docs