Software Management

Generalities

On a Linux system, it is possible to install software in two ways:

• Download software packages from the repository and install them on the local computer
• Compile the project source code package and install it on the local computer

Note

This document does not describe how to compile and install source code packages to the local computer. Usually, you should obtain the corresponding software package from the repository, unless the software package you need is not in the repository. This is because the package management system can help users solve dependency issues. For beginners, it is very difficult to solve the dependencies of compiling source code packages.

The package: Developers compile a set of source files into executable machine language in advance and package them into binary files in a specific format. Unless otherwise specified, software packages in Linux specifically refer to binary software packages.

The source file: A single code file that is readable by humans (with extensions such as .c, .py, .java), which might be just a code snippet or module of the entire project that requires compilation or an interpreter to run on a computer.

The source code package: A compressed archive file that packages the source files and related files (such as build files like Makefile and configure; document files such as README and LICENSE ) of the entire project. This file is often identified using file suffixes such as .tar.gz or .tar.xz.

RPM Overview

RPM (RedHat Package Manager) is a software management system. It is possible to install, uninstall, update or check software contained in packages.

RPM is the package management system used by all RedHat distributions (RockyLinux, Fedora, CentOS, Suse, Mandriva, ...), with packages identified by the file suffix .rpm. Debian and its derivatives use the DPKG package management system to manage software packages, with packages identified by the file suffix .deb.

Naming conventions for RPM software packages:

Terminology Explanation

When we use the capitalized "RPM", it refers to the package management system. When using the lowercase "rpm", in the vast majority of cases, it specifically refers to the rpm command. When using .rpm, it refers to the format suffix of the software package. Readers should not be confused by them when reading the documents.

Today's RPM package management system is still constantly updated and iterated, see here.

Local package manager

The rpm command: Command-line tool for managing local RPM packages in RedHat's upstream and downstream distributions.

Full Package Name: The complete name of the binary software package, such as tree-1.7.0-15.el8.x86_64.rpm.

Package Name: The name of the software package, such as tree.

If the corresponding software package is new to the operating system (not installed), you should use the "Full Package Name" when using the rpm command. If the corresponding software package is not new to the operating system (already installed), you should use the "Package Name" when using rpm command instead. This is because the rpm stores the relevant software package information in the /var/lib/rpm/ database directory.

The usage of the rpm command is as follows:

rpm [options] <Package-Name> | <Full-Package-Name>

Install, upgrade, and uninstall software packages

The relevant options are as follows:

Option	Description
-i <Full-Package-Name>	Installs the package.
-U <Full-Package-Name>	Updates an already installed package.
-e <Package-Name>	Uninstalls the package.
-h	Displays a progress bar.
-v	Informs about the progress of the operation.
--test	Tests the command without executing it.

• Install one or more packages - rpm -ivh <Full-Package-Name> ...
• Upgrade one or more packages - rpm -Uvh <Full-Package-Name> ...
• Uninstall one or more packages - rpm -e <Package-Name> ...

Since rpm is a local package manager, users need to manually resolve dependency issues during software installation. If relevant dependencies are missing, a prompt such as "failed dependencies" will appear.

Understand the dependency relationships of RPM packages:

• Tree dependency relationship (a.rpm ---> b.rpm ---> c.rpm) - When installing a.rpm, it prompts for the required installation of b.rpm first. When installing b.rpm, it prompts for the required installation of c.rpm first. This problem is easiest to solve by stringing the installations together with: rpm -ivh a.rpm b.rpm c.rpm
• Circular dependency relationship (a.rpm ---> b.rpm ---> c.rpm ---> a.rpm) - rpm -ivh a.rpm b.rpm c.rpm
• Module dependency relationship - Go to this website to search

Q: Why does software package installation always have dependency issues?

Because software or applications almost always rely on another software or library, if the required program or shared library is not found on the operating system, this prerequisite must be met before installing the target application.

Query package

The relevant options are as follows:

Option	Description
-q	Query whether the software package has been installed, such as rpm -q tree-1.7.0-15.el8.x86_64.rpm
-a	When used in conjunction with the -q option, query all installed rpm packages, such as rpm -qa
-i	Used in conjunction with the -q option to query detailed information about the corresponding installed rpm package. Such as rpm -qi bash
-l	When used in combination with the -q option, query the list of files released by the corresponding installed rpm package
-p	Specify uninstalled software packages, for example rpm -qip tree-1.7.0-15.el8.x86_64.rpm and rpm -qlp tree-1.7.0-15.el8.x86_64.rpm
-f	When used in conjunction with the -q option, query the software package to which the installation file belongs, such as rpm -qf /usr/bin/bash
-R	When used in conjunction with the -q option, query the dependencies of installed rpm packages. When used in conjunction with the -p option, you can query the dependencies of rpm packages that are not installed, such asrpm -qRp rpm -qRp mtr-0.92-3.el8.x86_64.rpm
--last	list package(s) by install time, most recent first

The RPM database is located in the directory /var/lib/rpm/.

Some examples:

sudo rpm -qa

sudo rpm -qilp zork-1.0.3-1.el8.x86_64.rpm tree-1.7.0-15.el8.x86_64.rpm

# list the last installed packages:
sudo rpm -qa --last | head
NetworkManager-config-server-1.26.0-13.el8.noarch Mon 24 May 2021 02:34:00 PM CEST
iwl2030-firmware-18.168.6.1-101.el8.1.noarch  Mon 24 May 2021 02:34:00 PM CEST
iwl2000-firmware-18.168.6.1-101.el8.1.noarch  Mon 24 May 2021 02:34:00 PM CEST
iwl135-firmware-18.168.6.1-101.el8.1.noarch   Mon 24 May 2021 02:34:00 PM CEST
iwl105-firmware-18.168.6.1-101.el8.1.noarch   Mon 24 May 2021 02:34:00 PM CEST
iwl100-firmware-39.31.5.1-101.el8.1.noarch    Mon 24 May 2021 02:34:00 PM CEST
iwl1000-firmware-39.31.5.1-101.el8.1.noarch   Mon 24 May 2021 02:34:00 PM CEST
alsa-sof-firmware-1.5-2.el8.noarch            Mon 24 May 2021 02:34:00 PM CEST
iwl7260-firmware-25.30.13.0-101.el8.1.noarch  Mon 24 May 2021 02:33:59 PM CEST
iwl6050-firmware-41.28.5.1-101.el8.1.noarch   Mon 24 May 2021 02:33:59 PM CEST

# list the installation history of the kernel:
sudo rpm -qa --last kernel
kernel-4.18.0-305.el8.x86_64                  Tue 25 May 2021 06:04:56 AM CEST
kernel-4.18.0-240.22.1.el8.x86_64             Mon 24 May 2021 02:33:35 PM CEST

Usage Tips

When using the query function (the -q option), the corresponding software package must be deterministic. In other words, you cannot use wildcards in the rpm command line to match the package name. To filter a specific one or more packages, you need to use the pipe symbol (|) and the grep command.

sudo rpm -qa | grep ^dbus
dbus-common-1.12.8-27.el8_10.noarch
dbus-glib-0.110-2.el8.x86_64
dbus-libs-1.12.8-27.el8_10.x86_64
dbus-daemon-1.12.8-27.el8_10.x86_64
dbus-tools-1.12.8-27.el8_10.x86_64
dbus-1.12.8-27.el8_10.x86_64

Verify the signature of the software package

You must use the -K option to complete this operation.

When you download the rpm binary package from an unknown website or untrusted location, you do not know if any tampering of the package has taken place. Therefore, users need to verify the signature of the software package to ensure that the downloaded package is complete and that no tampering has taken place.

Before performing signature verification on the software package, it is necessary to import the required public key in advance (this operation is usually carried out by the system administrator).

Starting from RHEL 8.x, you can use the dnf download command to download specific software packages. For example, if you need to download the wget package, use:

sudo dnf download wget

ls -l wget-1.19.5-12.el8_10.x86_64.rpm
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 750748 Jan  3 17:29 wget-1.19.5-12.el8_10.x86_64.rpm

# Use the "-K" option to verify the signature of the corresponding software package
## You can also use the "-v" or "-vv" option to display more detailed information
sudo rpm -K wget-1.19.5-12.el8_10.x86_64.rpm
wget-1.19.5-12.el8_10.x86_64.rpm: digests signatures OK

# If the software package you downloaded has been tampered with, the following information will be displayed:
echo  "change content" >> /root/wget-1.19.5-12.el8_10.x86_64.rpm
sudo rpm -K wget-1.19.5-12.el8_10.x86_64.rpm
wget-1.19.5-12.el8_10.x86_64.rpm: DIGESTS SIGNATURES NOT OK

When the signature of a software package fails to pass the verification, you should not continue to use the package.

Verify file changes after software package installation

You need to use the -V option to complete this operation.

After installing the RPM software package, the RPM database will record the initial and changed characteristics of the relevant files to determine whether they have been maliciously modified by someone.

sudo rpm -q chrony
chrony-4.5-2.el8_10.x86_64

rpm -V chrony
S.5....T.  c /etc/chrony.conf

The output is broken into 3 separate columns.

• First column (S.5....T.)

  Use 9 fields to represent the valid information of the file after the installation of the RPM software package. Any field or characteristic that passed a given check/test is indicated by a ".".

  These 9 different fields or checks are:

  • S: Whether there is modification to the size of the file.
  • M: Whether there is modification to the type of file or file permissions (rwx).
  • 5: Whether there is modification to the MD5 checksum of the file.
  • D: Whether there is modification to the number of the device.
  • L: Whether there is modification of the path to the file.
  • U: Whether there is modification of the owner of the file.
  • G: Whether there is modification of the group to which the file belongs.
  • T: Whether there is modification to the mTime (modify time) of the file.
  • P: Whether there is modification to the program function.

• Second column (c)

  c: Indicates modifications to the configuration file. It can also be the following values:

  • d: documentation file
  • g: ghost file. Very few can be seen
  • l: license file
  • r: readme file

• Third column (/etc/chrony.conf)

  • /etc/chrony.conf：Represents the path of the modified file.

DNF Package Manager

DNF (Dandified Yum) is a software package manager, successor of YUM (Yellow dog Updater Modified).

The dnf command: This command lets you manage binary software packages by interacting with the repository. For the most common functional item commands, their usage is the same as the yum command. For some newer distributions (such as Rocky Linux 10.x or Fedora 43), there are updates to the dnf command-line tool. For example, in Rocky Linux 10.x, users can selectively install dnf5 from the repository.

Red Hat based distributions, such as Rocky Linux, Fedora, CentOS, and so on, use dnf command-line tool. Its equivalent in the Debian world is apt (Advanced Packaging Tool) command-line tool.

dnf's functional item commands

The syntax of the dnf command is as follows:

dnf [options] <command> [<args>...]

The "command" in syntax represents the functional item command of dnf. Some commands are built-in, while others require support from third-party plugins. You can see the usage of each function command with the --help option, such as dnf list --help.

1. list command

   list the software packages based on the different options following this command. By default, list all the software packages available for installation in the operating system (dnf list is equivalent to dnf list --all).

   • dnf list --installed - List the installed software packages for the current operating system
   • dnf list --updates - List the software packages that you can upgrade

   The specific options for the list command are as follows:

   Specific options	Description
   --all	show all packages (default)
   --available	show only available packages
   --installed	show only installed packages
   --extras	show only extras packages
   --updates	show only upgrades packages
   --upgrades	show only upgrades packages
   --autoremove	show only autoremove packages
   --recent	show only recently changed packages

2. search command

   Search for software packages from the repository based on the given string. Such as dnf search vim.

3. install command

   Install one or more software packages from the repository. Such as dnf -y install wget tree. The -y option indicates that the automatic response is "yes". When you install packages in this way, dnf will take care of dependency resolution issues automatically.

   In addition to installing software packages from the repository, you can also install software packages from specified URL or local RPM software package, such as dnf install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm, dnf install /tmp/mtr-0.92-3.el8.x86_64.rpm

4. info command

   View information on one or more software packages, such as dnf info wget tree

5. deplist command

   List the dependencies of the software package, which has been deprecated. Please use dnf repoquery --deplist <Package-Name> as an alternative.

6. repolist command

   Display repository related information, default to displaying enabled repositories (dnf repolist is equivalent to dnf repolist --enabled)

   • dnf repolist --all - List all repositories
   • dnf repolist -v - Display detailed information of enabled repositories
   • dnf repolist --disabled - Lists only disabled repositories.

7. history command

   Display the history of typed dnf commands. By default, dnf history is equivalent to dnf history list, You can replace the "list" here with any one of info, redo, replay, rollback, store, undo or userinstalled.

8. provides command

   View the software package to which the given file belongs. Such as dnf provides /usr/bin/systemctl.

9. remove command

   Remove one or more software packages from the current operating system. By default, it will ask whether to uninstall the software package and its corresponding dependency package, and can automatically respond with "yes" through the -y option.

10. autoremove command

    Automatically delete packages that were once used as dependencies but are no longer in use now. Such as dnf -y autoremove.

11. makecache command

    Generate a cache for newly added repositories or for outdated metadata.

12. update or upgrade command

    Upgrade one or more software packages in the operating system. For example, dnf update -y will upgrade all upgradable software packages in the operating system.

13. grouplist, groupinstall, groupremove or groupinfo command

    The operation objects of these commands are package groups, which refer to a set of software packages prepared for a specific scenario or environment.

    There are these package groups in Rocky Linux 8.x:

    sudo dnf grouplist
    Available Environment Groups:
       Server with GUI
       Server
       Workstation
       KDE Plasma Workspaces
       Virtualization Host
       Custom Operating System
    Installed Environment Groups:
       Minimal Install
    Available Groups:
       Container Management
       .NET Core Development
       RPM Development Tools
       Development Tools
       Graphical Administration Tools
       Headless Management
       Legacy UNIX Compatibility
       Network Servers
       Scientific Support
       Security Tools
       Smart Card Support
       System Tools
       Fedora Packager
       Xfce
    

    To avoid ambiguity, when operating on a single or multiple package groups, You should enclose the name of a single package group in double quotation marks.

14. clean command

    Clean the cached data. You can clean all the data caches with: dnf clean all.

    Metadata type to clean	Description
    all	Removes all temporary files created for enabled repositories.
    dbcache	Removes cache files generated from the repository metadata.
    expire-cache	Marks the repository metadata expired.
    metadata	Removes repository metadata.
    packages	Removes any cached packages from the system.

15. download command

    Download one or more software packages from the repository to the local computer without installing them.

    You can use the options --destdir DESTDIR or --downloaddir DESRDIR to specify the saving path, such as dnf download tree --downloaddir /tmp/.

16. repoquery command

    Query relevant information by the different options after the command, similar to rpm -q.

    • dnf repoquery --deplist <Package-Name> - View dependencies
    • dnf repoquery --list <Package-Name> - View the list of files after installing the software package (regardless of whether the software is already installed on the operating system)

17. config-manager command

    Manage repositories through the command line, including adding, deleting, enabling, and disabling repositories.

    • dnf config-manager --add-repo <URL> - Add a single brand-new repository
    • dnf config-manager --set-disabled devel - Permanently disable a single repository
    • dnf config-manager --set-enabled devel - Permanently enable a single repository

You can view the available plugin commands through the output of the dnf --help command:

sudo dnf --help
...
List of Plugin Commands:

builddep                  Install build dependencies for package or spec file
changelog                 Show changelog data of packages
config-manager            manage dnf configuration options and repositories
copr                      Interact with Copr repositories.
debug-dump                dump information about installed rpm packages to file
debug-restore             restore packages recorded in debug-dump file
debuginfo-install         install debuginfo packages
download                  Download package to current directory
groups-manager            create and edit groups metadata file
needs-restarting          determine updated binaries that need restarting
offline-distrosync        Prepare offline distrosync of the system
offline-upgrade           Prepare offline upgrade of the system
playground                Interact with Playground repository.
repoclosure               Display a list of unresolved dependencies for repositories
repodiff                  List differences between two sets of repositories
repograph                 Output a full package dependency graph in dot format
repomanage                Manage a directory of rpm packages
reposync                  download all packages from remote repo
system-upgrade            Prepare system for upgrade to a new release
...

Tip

If these plugin commands are missing, please install the dnf-plugins-core package. See more informations here: https://dnf-plugins-core.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html

configuration file description

You can find all repository configuration files (ending with the suffix .repo) in the /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory. Each .repo file can contain a single or multiple repositories, and users can selectively enable or disable them according to their actual situation.

ls -l /etc/yum.repos.d/
total 72
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1919 Sep 13  2024 docker-ce.repo
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1680 Aug 31  2024 epel-modular.repo
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1332 Aug 31  2024 epel.repo
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1779 Aug 31  2024 epel-testing-modular.repo
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1431 Aug 31  2024 epel-testing.repo
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  710 Jun  7  2024 Rocky-AppStream.repo
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  695 Jun  7  2024 Rocky-BaseOS.repo
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1773 Jun  7  2024 Rocky-Debuginfo.repo
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  360 Jul 11  2024 Rocky-Devel.repo
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  695 Jun  7  2024 Rocky-Extras.repo
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  731 Jun  7  2024 Rocky-HighAvailability.repo
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  680 Jun  7  2024 Rocky-Media.repo
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  680 Jun  7  2024 Rocky-NFV.repo
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  690 Jun  7  2024 Rocky-Plus.repo
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  715 Mar 29 17:39 Rocky-PowerTools.repo
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  746 Jun  7  2024 Rocky-ResilientStorage.repo
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  681 Jun  7  2024 Rocky-RT.repo
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 2335 Jun  7  2024 Rocky-Sources.repo

The content format of a single repository in each .repo file is fixed, for example:

[baseos]
name=Rocky Linux $releasever - BaseOS
mirrorlist=https://mirrors.rockylinux.org/mirrorlist?arch=$basearch&repo=BaseOS-$releasever
#baseurl=http://dl.rockylinux.org/$contentdir/$releasever/BaseOS/$basearch/os/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
countme=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-rockyofficial

Content description:

• Use "[ ]" to include the repository ID, which must be unique.
• Below the "[ ]" are the options for the repository.
• The "name" option - Specifies the detailed name of the repository.
• The "mirrorlist" option - URL of a mirrorlist for the repository. URLs support multiple protocols, such as https, http, ftp, file, NFS, etc. The "$" in the value represents the relevant repository variable.
• The "baseurl" option - List of URLs for the repository. URLs support multiple protocols, such as https, http, ftp, file, NFS, etc. The "$" in the value represents the relevant repository variable.
• Lines starting with "#" are comment lines.
• The "gpgcheck" option - Whether to perform GPG signature check on packages found in this repository. The default value is False(0).
• The "enabled" option - Include this repository as a package source. The default value is True(1).
• The "countme" option - Upload anonymous usage statistics data. The default value is False(0).
• The "gpgkey" option - GPG public key path.

For more information, please refer to man 5 yum.conf.

Application Streams

Application Streams in RL 8.x and RL 9.x:: Rocky Linux 8.x and 9.x, use a new modular technology, allowing repositories to host multiple versions of applications and their dependencies. Due to the adoption of a modular architecture, the Application Streams in these two operating systems is also referred to as "Module Streams". System administrators can choose a specific version to use, bringing more flexibility. If system administrators need to manage the Application Streams, they often need to use the dnf module command.

Application Streams in RL 10.x: Starting from Rocky Linux 10.x, system administrators can still use the Application Streams, but the Application Streams is no longer provided in a modular form. In other words, in 10.x the dnf module command no-longer exists, and system administrators can manage different versions of applications in the traditional way. In this version of the operating system, the term "Application Streams" does not equal "Module Streams".

Each Application Stream has a different lifecycle. Please refer to the following link:

• https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/rhel-app-streams-life-cycle#rhel8_application_streams
• https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/rhel-app-streams-life-cycle#rhel9_application_streams
• https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/rhel-app-streams-life-cycle#rhel10_dependent_application_streams

In this document, the author mainly explains the Application Streams of modular architecture.

Module Streams

Important note:

• To use modular architecture Application Streams in RL 8.x and RL 9.x, you need to enable the AppStream repository first. In the Appstream repository, modules represent a collection of software packages for logical units, which are built, tested, and published together. A single module can contain multiple streams (versions) of the same application.
• Each module receives updates separately.
• After enabling a single module, users can only use one stream (version) of that module.
• Each module can have its own default stream (default version) marked with "[d]".
• The default stream is active unless you disable the module or enable another stream for the module.

Module Profiles

Module Profiles: A set of software package lists bound together for specific usage scenarios. For example:

sudo dnf module list nginx
Last metadata expiration check: 10:04:05 ago on Wed 07 Jan 2026 01:42:24 PM CST.
Rocky Linux 8 - AppStream
Name                      Stream                       Profiles                       Summary
nginx                     1.14 [d]                     common [d]                     nginx webserver
nginx                     1.16                         common [d]                     nginx webserver
nginx                     1.18                         common [d]                     nginx webserver
nginx                     1.20                         common [d]                     nginx webserver
nginx                     1.22                         common [d]                     nginx webserver
nginx                     1.24                         common [d]                     nginx webserver

sudo sudo dnf module install nginx:1.14
Last metadata expiration check: 10:04:31 ago on Wed 07 Jan 2026 01:42:24 PM CST.
Dependencies resolved.
========================================================================================================================
 Package                            Architecture  Version                                        Repository        Size
========================================================================================================================
Installing group/module packages:
 nginx                              x86_64        1:1.14.1-9.module+el8.4.0+542+81547229         appstream        566 k
 nginx-all-modules                  noarch        1:1.14.1-9.module+el8.4.0+542+81547229         appstream         22 k
 nginx-filesystem                   noarch        1:1.14.1-9.module+el8.4.0+542+81547229         appstream         23 k
 nginx-mod-http-image-filter        x86_64        1:1.14.1-9.module+el8.4.0+542+81547229         appstream         34 k
 nginx-mod-http-perl                x86_64        1:1.14.1-9.module+el8.4.0+542+81547229         appstream         45 k
 nginx-mod-http-xslt-filter         x86_64        1:1.14.1-9.module+el8.4.0+542+81547229         appstream         32 k
 nginx-mod-mail                     x86_64        1:1.14.1-9.module+el8.4.0+542+81547229         appstream         63 k
 nginx-mod-stream                   x86_64        1:1.14.1-9.module+el8.4.0+542+81547229         appstream         84 k
Installing dependencies:
 dejavu-fonts-common                noarch        2.35-7.el8                                     baseos            73 k
 dejavu-sans-fonts                  noarch        2.35-7.el8                                     baseos           1.5 M
 fontconfig                         x86_64        2.13.1-4.el8                                   baseos           273 k
 fontpackages-filesystem            noarch        1.44-22.el8                                    baseos            15 k
 gd                                 x86_64        2.2.5-7.el8                                    appstream        143 k
 jbigkit-libs                       x86_64        2.1-14.el8                                     appstream         54 k
 libX11                             x86_64        1.6.8-9.el8_10                                 appstream        611 k
 libX11-common                      noarch        1.6.8-9.el8_10                                 appstream        157 k
 libXau                             x86_64        1.0.9-3.el8                                    appstream         36 k
 libXpm                             x86_64        3.5.12-11.el8                                  appstream         58 k
 libjpeg-turbo                      x86_64        1.5.3-14.el8_10                                appstream        156 k
 libtiff                            x86_64        4.0.9-36.el8_10                                appstream        190 k
 libwebp                            x86_64        1.0.0-11.el8_10                                appstream        273 k
 libxcb                             x86_64        1.13.1-1.el8                                   appstream        228 k
Installing module profiles:
 nginx/common
Enabling module streams:
 nginx                                            1.14

Transaction Summary
========================================================================================================================
Install  22 Packages

Total download size: 4.5 M
Installed size: 14 M
Is this ok [y/N]:

Each Module Stream can have any number of profiles (or none at all), and you can mark the profiles of module streams with "[d]" to indicate the "default", or selected, module.

In the above example, when the user needs to install nginx, the following command is equivalent:

sudo dnf install nginx

sudo dnf install nginx:1.14

sudo dnf install nginx:1.14/common

Management Module Streams

The command used is dnf module, and there are some subcommands for functional items under this command.

Usage Tips

When a single line dnf module command operation involves modules, multiple module names are allowed, such as dnf module enable nginx httpd:2.4 or dnf module list nodejs:10 perl.

View

You can use the subcommands of the list or info function items to perform the corresponding operations.

• dnf module list - Get a list of all available modules.
• dnf module list <Module-Name> or dnf module list <Module-Name>:<Stream>- List all available streams (versions) for the current module. List the information of a single module stream. For example dnf module list postgresql or dnf module list postgresql:15.
• dnf module list --enabled - List the enabled module stream(s).
• dnf module info <Module-Name> or dnf module info info <Module-name>:<Stream> - Display module stream information. If you only type the name of a module without a stream, all stream information for that module will be displayed. For example dnf module info ruby or dnf module info ruby:2.6.
• dnf moudle --info --profile <Module-Name> or dnf moudle --info --profile <Module-Name>:<Stream> - List the profile information of the module stream. If you only type the name of a module without a stream, all stream profile information for that module will be displayed.

Install

Before installing a specific stream of the corresponding module, you need to first enable the specific stream of the module. The syntax used is as follows:

dnf moudle enable <Module-Name>:<Stream> ...

For example:

dnf -y module enable httpd:2.4

Re-emphasize

The default stream is active unless you disable the module or enable another stream for the module.

The following installation methods are acceptable:

• dnf -y module install <Module-Name> - Use the default stream and default profile of a single module (if a default profile exists). For example dnf -y install httpd
• dnf -y install <Module-Name>:<Stream>/<Profile> - Using specific stream and profile of a single module. For example dnf -y install httpd:2.4:/minimal. If there are multiple profiles, you can use * to represent all of them ,for example dnf module install httpd:2.4/*

Remove

You can use the following syntax for removal::

• dnf -y module remove --all <Module-name>:<Stream> ... - Remove all packages from a single stream in a single module. For example dnf -y module remove --all httpd:2.4
• dnf -y module remove --all <Module-name>:<Stream>/<Profile> ... - Remove all packages associated with a specific profile, using * to represent all profiles. For example dnf -y module remove httpd:2.4/*

Reset

You can use the reset function item command to reset the module to its initial state. The corresponding syntax is as follows:

• dnf -y module reset <Module-Name> ... - For example dnf -y module reset httpd

Important Notice

Resetting the module will not change any installed software packages.

Switch

You can switch to the updated stream. There are two prerequisites to complete this operation:

1. The operating system has been fully updated
2. The installed software packages in the operating system are not newer than the software packages available in the repository

You can use the dnf distro-sync command to switch to a new stream.

If there are available updates for the module's stream, you need to perform the following steps:

1. dnf module reset <Module-Name> ...
2. dnf module enable <Module-Name>:<New-Stream> ...
3. dnf distro-sync

If the installation of a specific module's stream is in the operating system, you can also use the 'switch to' command to upgrade or downgrade the software package. The specific syntax is:

dnf module switch-to <Module-Name>:<Stream>

Disable

The syntax used is:

dnf module disable <Module-Name> ...

Customize using YAML file

System administrator can customize default stream and default profile by creating a YAML file in the /etc/dnf/modules.defaults.d/ directory.

Taking the postgresql module as an example, you can see from the output information that its default stream is 10 and the default profile is "server":

sudo dnf module list postgresql
Name                   Stream             Profiles                       Summary
postgresql             9.6                client, server [d]             PostgreSQL server and client module
postgresql             10 [d]             client, server [d]             PostgreSQL server and client module
postgresql             12                 client, server [d]             PostgreSQL server and client module
postgresql             13                 client, server [d]             PostgreSQL server and client module
postgresql             15                 client, server [d]             PostgreSQL server and client module
postgresql             16                 client, server [d]             PostgreSQL server and client module

Hint: [d]efault, [e]nabled, [x]disabled, [i]nstalled

Set 15 as the default stream and set the default profile for postgresql:12 to "client":

sudo vim /etc/dnf/modules.defaults.d/postgresql.yaml
---
document: modulemd-defaults
version: 1
data:
        module: postgresql
        stream: "15"
        profiles:
                "9.6": [server]
                "10": [server]
                "12": [client]
                "13": [server]
                "15": [server]
...

sudo dnf module list postgresql
Last metadata expiration check: 0:41:35 ago on Sat 10 Jan 2026 10:10:22 PM CST.
Rocky Linux 8 - AppStream
Name                   Stream             Profiles                       Summary
postgresql             9.6                client, server [d]             PostgreSQL server and client module
postgresql             10                 client, server [d]             PostgreSQL server and client module
postgresql             12                 client [d], server             PostgreSQL server and client module
postgresql             13                 client, server [d]             PostgreSQL server and client module
postgresql             15 [d]             client, server [d]             PostgreSQL server and client module
postgresql             16                 client, server                 PostgreSQL server and client module

Hint: [d]efault, [e]nabled, [x]disabled, [i]nstalled

Complete Example

Taking the nodejs module as an example:

sudo dnf module list nodejs
Last metadata expiration check: 0:44:38 ago on Sat 10 Jan 2026 10:10:22 PM CST.
Rocky Linux 8 - AppStream
Name                Stream              Profiles                                          Summary
nodejs              10 [d]              common [d], development, minimal, s2i             Javascript runtime
nodejs              12                  common [d], development, minimal, s2i             Javascript runtime
nodejs              14                  common [d], development, minimal, s2i             Javascript runtime
nodejs              16                  common [d], development, minimal, s2i             Javascript runtime
nodejs              18                  common [d], development, minimal, s2i             Javascript runtime
nodejs              20                  common [d], development, minimal, s2i             Javascript runtime
nodejs              22                  common, development, minimal, s2i                 Javascript runtime
nodejs              24                  common, development, minimal, s2i                 Javascript runtime

Hint: [d]efault, [e]nabled, [x]disabled, [i]nstalled

sudo dnf -y module enable nodejs:18

sudo dnf module list --enabled nodejs
Last metadata expiration check: 0:46:01 ago on Sat 10 Jan 2026 10:10:22 PM CST.
Rocky Linux 8 - AppStream
Name                Stream              Profiles                                          Summary
nodejs              18 [e]              common [d], development, minimal, s2i             Javascript runtime

Hint: [d]efault, [e]nabled, [x]disabled, [i]nstalled

sudo dnf -y module install nodejs:18/minimal

sudo dnf module list --enabled nodejs
Last metadata expiration check: 0:47:26 ago on Sat 10 Jan 2026 10:10:22 PM CST.
Rocky Linux 8 - AppStream
Name               Stream             Profiles                                             Summary
nodejs             18 [e]             common [d], development, minimal [i], s2i            Javascript runtime

Hint: [d]efault, [e]nabled, [x]disabled, [i]nstalled

sudo dnf -y module install nodejs:18/common

sudo dnf module list --enabled nodejs
Last metadata expiration check: 0:48:34 ago on Sat 10 Jan 2026 10:10:22 PM CST.
Rocky Linux 8 - AppStream
Name              Stream            Profiles                                                Summary
nodejs            18 [e]            common [d] [i], development, minimal [i], s2i           Javascript runtime

Hint: [d]efault, [e]nabled, [x]disabled, [i]nstalled

sudo dnf -y module remove --all nodejs:18/*

sudo dnf -y module reset nodejs

sudo dnf module list nodejs
Last metadata expiration check: 0:50:03 ago on Sat 10 Jan 2026 10:10:22 PM CST.
Rocky Linux 8 - AppStream
Name                Stream              Profiles                                          Summary
nodejs              10 [d]              common [d], development, minimal, s2i             Javascript runtime
nodejs              12                  common [d], development, minimal, s2i             Javascript runtime
nodejs              14                  common [d], development, minimal, s2i             Javascript runtime
nodejs              16                  common [d], development, minimal, s2i             Javascript runtime
nodejs              18                  common [d], development, minimal, s2i             Javascript runtime
nodejs              20                  common [d], development, minimal, s2i             Javascript runtime
nodejs              22                  common, development, minimal, s2i                 Javascript runtime
nodejs              24                  common, development, minimal, s2i                 Javascript runtime

Hint: [d]efault, [e]nabled, [x]disabled, [i]nstalled

Using the EPEL repository

Q: What is EPEL and how is it used?

EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) is an open source and free community-based repository maintained by the EPEL Fedora Special Interest Group. This resource provides a set of additional packages for RHEL (and CentOS, Rocky Linux, and others) from the Fedora sources.

Whether individuals or businesses use Rocky Linux 8.x/9.x/10.x, it is usually recommended to enable the EPEL repository.

You can install the EPEL repository in the following ways:

sudo dnf install epel-release

Review relevant information and verify successful installation:

sudo dnf info epel-release
Last metadata expiration check: 1 day, 23:02:38 ago on Sat 10 Jan 2026 10:10:22 PM CST.
Installed Packages
Name         : epel-release
Version      : 8
Release      : 22.el8
Architecture : noarch
Size         : 34 k
Source       : epel-release-8-22.el8.src.rpm
Repository   : @System
From repo    : epel
Summary      : Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux repository configuration
URL          : http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel
License      : GPLv2
Description  : This package contains the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) repository
             : GPG key as well as configuration for yum.

rpm -qa | grep epel
epel-release-8-14.el8.noarch

sudo dnf repolist
repo id            repo name
...
epel                                      Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64
...

Here you can see that the package does not contain executables, libraries, and so on, but only the configuration files and GPG keys for setting up the repository.

Associated .repo files:

ls -lh /etc/yum.repos.d/epel*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.7K Apr 23  2025 /etc/yum.repos.d/epel-modular.repo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.4K Apr 23  2025 /etc/yum.repos.d/epel.repo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.8K Apr 23  2025 /etc/yum.repos.d/epel-testing-modular.repo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.4K Apr 23  2025 /etc/yum.repos.d/epel-testing.repo

By default, only repositories with the ID epel in the epel.repo file are enabled.

cat /etc/yum.repos.d/epel.repo
[epel]
name=Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - $basearch
# It is much more secure to use the metalink, but if you wish to use a local mirror
# place its address here.
#baseurl=https://download.example/pub/epel/8/Everything/$basearch
metalink=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=epel-8&arch=$basearch&infra=$infra&content=$contentdir
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
countme=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-8
...

List all available software packages with repository ID epel:

dnf --repoid epel list --available 

If there are other repositories in your operating system but you want to install packages only from EPEL:

sudo dnf --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="epel" install nmon
Last metadata expiration check: 0:08:13 ago on Mon 12 Jan 2026 09:34:25 PM CST.
Dependencies resolved.
========================================================================================================================
 Package                   Architecture                Version                          Repository                 Size
========================================================================================================================
Installing:
 nmon                      x86_64                      16p-5.el8                        epel                       80 k

Transaction Summary
========================================================================================================================
Install  1 Package

Total download size: 80 k
Installed size: 161 k
Is this ok [y/N]:

Friendly reminder

When multiple repositories are enabled, the same software package may have multiple versions, and by default, the newer version of the software package has the highest priority. This is also the reason why the --disablerepo and --enablrepo options are used.

Support consideration

EPEL is a project initiated by volunteers in the Fedora community, which means that the project is not commercially supported by Red Hat. Just like Fedora itself, Red Hat hosts infrastructure for this project and Red Hat engineers are involved as maintainers and leaders but there are no commercial support contracts or service level agreements provided by Red Hat for packages in EPEL.

For the FAQ about EPEL, see The Fedora Project EPEL FAQ here.

Author: Antoine Le Morvan

Contributors: Colussi Franco, Steven Spencer, Ganna Zhyrnova, tianci li