Software & Apps Linux How to Install RPM Packages Using YUM by Gary Newell Writer Gary Newell was a freelance contributor, application developer, and software tester with 20+ years in IT, working on Linux, UNIX, and Windows. our editorial process Gary Newell Updated on February 19, 2020 Linux Switching from Windows Tweet Share Email YUM installs software within CentOS and Fedora. If you would prefer a more graphic solution, choose YUM Extender instead. YUM is to CentOs and Fedora what apt-get is to Debian and Ubuntu. cybrain / Getty Images How to Install RPM Packages Using YUM To install an RPM package simply enter the following command: yum install nameofpackage For example: yum install scribus How to Update Packages Using YUM To update all the packages on your system run the following command: yum update To update a specific package or packages try the following: yum update nameofpackage How to Check for Updates Using YUM Without Installing Them The following command returns a list of programs that need updating: yum check-updates How to Remove Programs Using YUM To remove an application from your Linux system, use the following command: yum remove programname Removing programs from your system might seem straightforward but by removing one application you may prevent another one from working. To remove programs that are dependent upon the program you are removing, use the following command: yum autoremove programname The autoremove command can also be used without any parameters, as follows: yum autoremove This command searches your system for files that weren't explicitly installed by you and which have no dependencies. These are known as leaf packages. List All the RPM Packages Available Using YUM List all of the available packages within YUM with the following command: yum list There are extra parameters that you can add to the list to make it more useful. For example, to list all the available updates on your system, run the following command: yum list updates To see all the packages that are installed on your system, run the following command: yum list installed List all of the files that were installed without the use of repositories by running the following command: yum list extras How to Search for RPM Packages Using YUM To search for a specific package use the following command: yum search programname|description For instance to search for Steam use the following command: yum search steam Alternatively, search for a particular type of application as follows: yum search "screen capture" By default the search facility looks in the package names and summaries and only if it doesn't find results will it search descriptions and URLs. To get yum to search descriptions and URLs as well use the following command: yum search "screen capture" all How to Get Information About RPM Packages Using YUM You can retrieve important information about a package by using the following command: yum info packagename The information returned includes: NameArchitectureVersionReleaseSizeRepositorySummaryURLLicenseDescription How to Install RPM Files Local to Your System Using YUM To install an RPM package local to your system run the following command: yum localinstall filename If the file requires dependencies then the repositories will be searched for the dependencies. How to Reinstall an RPM Package Using YUM If you have been unlucky and a program that was once working for whatever reason has stopped working you can reinstall it again by using the following command: yum reinstall programname This command will reinstall the same program with the same version number as the one already installed. The YUM tool supports several additional utilities. Check the tool's complete usage framework by reviewing its manpage. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit