- How to install software packages on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
- Training & certification
- Search software repositories
- Find software to install
- Install software from a remote repository
- Linux package management with YUM and RPM
- How to Install Software in Red Hat Linux
- Understand Linux software.
- Open a terminal window.
- Become the root user.
- Update the package lists.
- Install a package using yum.
- Confirm the installation.
- Community Q&A
- You Might Also Like
How to install software packages on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Learn how to install software with RHEL’s package manager using the dnf command or the GNOME Software app.
There’s a lot of flexibility in how you install an application on Linux. It’s partly up to the software’s developer to decide how to deliver it to you. In many cases, there’s more than one «right» way to install something.
Training & certification
However, when an application is mission-critical, it’s important that you get timely and reliable updates. The best way for that to happen is to install software from a central hub. On Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), that central hub for application installation and maintenance is the dnf (formerly known as yum ) package manager.
Using a package manager ensures that every file installed on your system is dutifully recorded in a database, and each package can be updated when a new release is available. RHEL provides two ways to interact with its package manager: the dnf command and the GNOME Software app.
Search software repositories
Applications available on Red Hat’s servers are divided into several software repositories. These include the BaseOS, AppStream, Red Hat Linux Builder (previously called CodeReady Linux Builder), and Supplementary repositories.
To see the repositories enabled on your system, use the dnf repolist command along with the —all option. It’s a long list, so pipe it through the more pager to scroll through it:
$ sudo dnf repolist --all | more amq-interconnect-textonly-1-for-middleware-rpms Red Hat A disabled amq-textonly-1-for-middleware-rpms Red Hat J disabled ansible-automation-platform-2.2-for-rhel-9-. Red Hat A disabled ansible-automation-platform-2.2-for-rhel-9-. Red Hat A disabled ansible-automation-platform-2.2-for-rhel-9-. Red Hat A disabled codeready-builder-for-rhel-9-x86_64-debug-rpms Red Hat C disabled codeready-builder-for-rhel-9-x86_64-eus-debug-rpms Red Hat C disabled codeready-builder-for-rhel-9-x86_64-eus-rpms Red Hat C disabled codeready-builder-for-rhel-9-x86_64-eus-source. Red Hat C disabled codeready-builder-for-rhel-9-x86_64-rpms Red Hat C enabled codeready-builder-for-rhel-9-x86_64-source-rpms Red Hat C disabled [. ]
To enable a repository, use the dnf config-manager subcommand with the —enable option and the name of the repository as listed. For instance, to enable the rhel-9-for-x86_64-supplementary-rpms repository:
$ sudo dnf config-manager --enable rhel-9-for-x86_64-supplementary-rpms Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Find software to install
If you know what application you want to install, you can verify that it’s in the repository by searching for its name or even just part of its name:
$ sudo dnf search toolbox Updating Subscription Management repositories. ==== Name Exactly Matched: toolbox =========== toolbox.x86_64 : Tool for containerized command line environments on Linux
Install software from a remote repository
To install an application, use the install subcommand:
Linux package management with YUM and RPM
Installing, patching, and removing software packages on Linux machines is one of the common tasks every sysadmin has to do. Here is how to get started with Linux package management in Linux Red Hat-based distributions (distros).
Package management is a method of installing, updating, removing, and keeping track of software updates from specific repositories (repos) in the Linux system. Linux distros often use different package management tools. Red Hat-based distros use RPM (RPM Package Manager) and YUM/DNF (Yellow Dog Updater, Modified/Dandified YUM).
Yellow Dog Updater, Modified (YUM)
[ Editor’s Note: DNF or Dandified YUM is the updated default since Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, CentOS 8, Fedora 22, and any distros based on these. Generally, the options are the same. Read more about DNF here. ]
YUM is the primary package management tool for installing, updating, removing, and managing software packages in Red Hat Enterprise Linux. YUM performs dependency resolution when installing, updating, and removing software packages. YUM can manage packages from installed repositories in the system or from .rpm packages. The main configuration file for YUM is at /etc/yum.conf , and all the repos are at /etc/yum.repos.d .
You can learn more about adding repositories to your system from this article on how to add a YUM repo from Amy Marrich.
It’s easy to manage packages in Linux with YUM . At the command line, enter:
There are many options and commands available to use with YUM . I’ve listed some commonly-used commands for YUM below:
Command | Purpose |
yum install | Installs the specified packages |
remove | Removes the specified packages |
search | Searches package metadata for keywords |
info | Lists description |
update | Updates each package to the latest version |
repolist | Lists repositories |
history | Displays what has happened in past transactions |
The following are commonly-used options with YUM :
Options | Purpose |
-C | Runs from system cache |
—security | Includes packages that provide a fix for a security issue |
-y | Answers yes to all questions |
—skip-broken | Skips packages causing problems |
-v | Verbose |
The history option gives you an overview of what happened in past transactions. This provides some useful information, like the date when the transaction happened and what command was run.
You can undo or redo certain transactions using the history command. Here is an example of undoing a transaction:
YUM provides many options for package management. For detailed option information, look at man yum and yum –help . Also, here is a link to YUM documentation.
RPM is a popular package management tool in Red Hat Enterprise Linux-based distros. Using RPM , you can install, uninstall, and query individual software packages. Still, it cannot manage dependency resolution like YUM . RPM does provide you useful output, including a list of required packages. An RPM package consists of an archive of files and metadata. Metadata includes helper scripts, file attributes, and information about packages.
RPM maintains a database of installed packages, which enables powerful and fast queries. The RPM database is inside /var/lib , and the file is named __db* .
RPM has some basic modes: query, verify, install, upgrade, erase, show querytags, show configuration. At least one of these modes needs to be selected to perform package management tasks. Every mode has its own set of options. For example, install mode i has its own set of installation options. Options for the modes are found on the RPM man pages at man rpm .
Some commonly-used modes are listed below:
Mode | Description |
-i | Installs a package |
-U | Upgrades a package |
-e | Erases a package |
-V | Verifies a package |
-q | Queries a package |
Here are some commonly-used general options:
General options | Purpose |
-? | —help | Prints help |
—version | Prints version number |
-v | Prints verbose output |
To install or upgrade an .rpm package using RPM, issue this command:
The flag -i is for install, U is for upgrade, v for verbose, h for hash (this option displays the # as a progress bar for the operation). In this example, v and h are optional flags.
To query for a package using RPM issue following command:
rpm -q query-options package
Option a queries all installed packages on the system.
To erase a package, use the following command:
rpm -e erase-options package-name
Package management is a common task for every system. YUM and RPM provide efficient ways to install, upgrade, remove, and track software packages on Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems.
[ Want to try out Red Hat Enterprise Linux? Download it now for free. ]
How to Install Software in Red Hat Linux
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If your Red Hat Linux PC doesn’t include all the software you want, you can install additional software from the internet (whether you have broadband or dial-up) or removable media. This can be accomplished graphically or using the command line.
Understand Linux software.
Open a terminal window.
Open a Terminal . You’ll find Terminal in Applications > System Tools, or you can right-click the desktop and select Terminal.
Become the root user.
If you’re installing system-wide software, you’ll need administrative privileges. Type su — and type the root password when prompted.
Update the package lists.
To get the latest software packages, you’ll need to update the yum package manager. To do this, just type yum check-update and press Enter.
Install a package using yum.
Type yum install «program name» and press ↵ Enter . For example, to install the Dillo web browser, you would type yum install dillo .
Confirm the installation.
Press the Y key to start installing the software. The software will now install. Once the installation is complete, you’ll return to the command prompt.
Community Q&A
IP messenger in Red Hat Linux is not available for Apple or DELL— it is only available in PC Windows 10.
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