Package managers

With OpenVZ, you can run many different Linux distributions on a single box. One particular thing in which distributions differ is package management. This article summarizes how to perform various common package management tasks on a different distributions.

Commands

Action	RPM RHEL, Fedora, CentOS, Mandriva, SUSE, ...	DEB Debian, Knoppix, Ubuntu, ...	Slackpkg Slackware, SLAX, ...	Ebuild Gentoo and derivatives (Sabayon, Ututo, ...)	Pacman Arch Linux
Basic queries
List of all installed packages	rpm -qa	dpkg -l		equery list '*'	pacman -Qi
List of installed packages matching substr	rpm -qa \*substr\*	dpkg -l \*substr\*		equery list substr	pacman -Q | grep substr
Basic information about an installed package	rpm -qi package	dpkg -p package		eix package	pacman -Qi package
List of files in a given package	rpm -ql package	dpkg -L package		equery files package	pacman -Ql package
Advanced queries
Which package a file belongs to?	rpm -qf file	dpkg -S file		equery belongs file	pacman -Qo file
Check the hash (i.e. MD5 etc.) sums of an installed package	rpm -V package	debsums -ca package		equery check package
Show pre/post install/uninstall scripts from a package	rpm -q --scripts package	less /var/lib/dpkg/info/package.{pre,post,config}*		cat `equery which package`
Show change log for a package	rpm -q --changelog package	zcat /usr/share/doc/package/changelog.Debian.gz aptitude [-t release] changelog package		view /usr/portage/category/package/ChangeLog	pacman -Qc package
Local package installation/upgrade/removal
Install a package from local package_file	rpm -ihv package_file*.rpm yum localinstall package_file*.rpm	dpkg -i package_file*.deb		emerge --usepkg|-k package emerge --usepkgonly|-K package	pacman -U package
Upgrade a package from local package_file	rpm -Uhv package_file*.rpm	dpkg -i package_file*.deb		emerge --update --usepkg|-k package emerge --update --usepkgonly|-K package	pacman -U package
Remove an installed package	rpm -e package yum remove|erase package	dpkg -r package dpkg -P package		emerge --unmerge package emerge --prune package	pacman -R package
Package installation from repositories
Install a package	yum install package urpmi package	apt-get update && apt-get install package aptitude update && aptitude install package		emerge -av package	pacman -S package
Install a debug information files for a package	debuginfo-install package			FEATURES="splitdebug installsources" emerge -av package
Only download a package from repository, do not install	First install the yum-downloadonly plugin by running: yum install yum-downloadonly And then: yum install|update package -y --downloadonly --downloaddir=/opt	apt-get install --download-only --reinstall package aptitude download package		emerge -avf package	pacman -Sw package
Get information about package interdependencies
What a given package provides?	rpm -q --provides package	dpkg-query -W -f='${Provides}\n' package		equery files package (package must be installed first)	pacman -Ql package (package must be installed first)
What a given package requires?	rpm -q --requires package	dpkg-query -W -f='${Depends}\n' package		equery depgraph --depth=1 package	pacman -Si package
Which installed package(s) provide a given dependency?	rpm -q --whatprovides dependency	dpkg-query -W -f='${Package}: ${Provides}\n' '*' | grep ': .*package'		equery belongs dependency
Which installed package(s) require a given dependency?	rpm -q --whatrequires dependency	dpkg-query -W -f='${Package}: ${Depends}\n' '*' | grep ': .*package' aptitude why package		equery depends package
Show what prevents installation of a package	(yum/rpm tells with --verbose option -v)	aptitude why-not package		emerge -pv package
Get package source files	yumdownloader --source package	apt-get source package		emerge -f package	abs repository/package
Working with package files
Unpack a package file to local directory	rpm2cpio file.rpm | cpio -id	dpkg -x file.deb .		N/A	tar -xzf package if package.pkg.tar.gz or tar -xJf package if package.pkg.tar.xz
Check package file integrity (checksums, signatures...)	rpm -K file.rpm (yum/rpm also checks GPG-signature and checksums automatically every time the package is installed or upgraded)	debsums package		emerge -f package
Repository queries
Find a package in a repository which /some/file belongs to	yum provides /some/file	First run: apt-file update and then: apt-file search /some/file		N/A
Find a package based on some string or part of the string descriping it	yum search \*substr\*	apt-cache search \*substr\*		eix -S substr	pacman -Ss substr
Shows the full description of package	yum info package	apt-cache show package		eix package	pacman -Si package

Relevant directories and files

Red Hat, Fedora, CentOS

• yum config: /etc/yum.conf.
• yum repos: /etc/yum.repos.d/.
• rpm configs and macros: /etc/rpm/, /usr/lib/rpm/,
• rpm DB: /var/lib/rpm/

Debian/Ubuntu

• List of repositories and mirror sites: /etc/apt/sources.list, /etc/apt/sources.list.d/.

Gentoo

• emerge configs: /etc/make.conf, /etc/portage/.
• Portage tree: /usr/portage.
• Binary packages (FEATURES="buildpkg" enabled in make.conf): /usr/portage/packages.
• Default directory to download sources to: /usr/portage/distfiles.
• Default Portage working directory: /var/lib/portage/.

See also

Debian

• Debian FAQ: package management tools
• APT HOWTO