Linux Package Management: RPM, YUM, DNF and Source Compilation

Linux Package Management

The article introduces four main ways to manage software on Linux: RPM packages, YUM, DNF and building from source.

RPM package management

YUM package management

DNF package management

Source compilation and installation

Preparation

Mount the ISO image to the system.

[root@myserver dev]# mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/
mount: /mnt: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.
[root@myserver dev]# df -h
Filesystem                     Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
... (output omitted for brevity) ...

RPM Package Management

Windows uses .exe , macOS uses .dmg , and Linux uses .rpm . RPM is convenient for standalone applications but becomes cumbersome when many dependencies are required.

Common RPM commands:

rpm -qa | grep xz – list installed packages matching a pattern

rpm -ivh xxx.rpm – install a package

rpm -e xxx – remove a package

rpm -Uvh xxx.rpm – upgrade a package

cd /mnt/BaseOS/Packages

## Check if the package is already installed
[root@myserver Packages]# rpm -qa | grep xz
xz-libs-5.2.4-3.el8.x86_64
xz-5.2.4-3.el8.x86_64

## Find the RPM files
[root@myserver Packages]# ls | grep xz
xz-5.2.4-3.el8.x86_64.rpm
xz-devel-5.2.4-3.el8.i686.rpm
...

## Install
[root@myserver Packages]# rpm -ivh xz-devel-5.2.4-3.el8.x86_64.rpm
Verifying...  [100%]
Preparing...  [100%]
Updating / installing...
1:xz-devel-5.2.4-3.el8  [100%]

## Verify installation
[root@myserver Packages]# rpm -qa | grep xz
xz-libs-5.2.4-3.el8.x86_64
xz-5.2.4-3.el8.x86_64
xz-devel-5.2.4-3.el8.x86_64

## Remove
[root@myserver Packages]# rpm -e xz-devel-5.2.4-3.el8.x86_64

YUM Package Management

YUM uses repository files ( .repo ) located in /etc/yum.repos.d/ . A typical repo entry includes name, baseurl, gpgcheck, enabled and gpgkey.

Key YUM commands:

yum remove xz-devel – uninstall a package

yum -y install xz-devel – install without interactive prompts

yum update xz-devel – update a package

yum clean all – clear cache

Backup existing repo files before making changes:

[root@myserver yum.repos.d]# mkdir bak
[root@myserver yum.repos.d]# mv *.repo bak/

Example of a local repo configuration:

[myrepo]
name=My first repo test.
baseurl=file:///mnt/BaseOS/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1

Listing the new repo and installing a package from it:

[root@myserver ~]# yum repolist
repo id                 repo name
myrepo                  My first repo test.

[root@myserver ~]# yum install xz*
... (installation output) ...

DNF Package Management

DNF (Dandified YUM) is the next‑generation package manager for Fedora and newer RHEL‑based distributions. It is faster and uses less memory than YUM.

Common DNF commands:

dnf list installed – list installed packages

dnf search pkg – search for a package

dnf install pkg – install a package

dnf reinstall pkg – reinstall a package

dnf download pkg – download the RPM without installing

dnf check-update – check for updates

dnf update – apply updates

dnf repolist all – list all configured repositories

dnf remove pkg – uninstall a package

dnf clean all – clean the cache

Source Compilation and Installation

When a pre‑built package is unavailable, software can be built from source.

Typical steps:

Download the source archive (e.g., with wget ).

Extract the archive using tar (e.g., tar zxf file.tar.gz -C /usr/local ).

Run ./configure to generate a Makefile.

Compile with make .

Install with make install .

Example: building zlib from source.

# Download
[root@myserver ~]# wget http://zlib.net/zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz

# Extract
[root@myserver ~]# tar zxf zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz -C /usr/local/

# Configure
[root@myserver zlib-1.2.11]# ./configure
... (configuration output) ...

# Build and install
[root@myserver zlib-1.2.11]# make
[root@myserver zlib-1.2.11]# make install
... (installation output) ...

Before compiling, ensure development tools are installed:

yum -y install gcc automake autoconf libtool make
yum install gcc gcc-c++

The article concludes with a reminder to follow the official documentation for specific software (e.g., Nginx) and to install required compilers.