How to Install an RPM File On Linux OS (CentOS, RHEL, & Fedora)

Introduction

While working in Linux, you may have seen downloadable files with the .rpm extension. Rpm files are designed to be downloaded and installed independently, outside of a software repository.

This guide will show you how to install a .rpm file to your Linux CentOS or Fedora system.

Prerequisites

• A user account with sudo privileges
• Access to a terminal window / command line (Menu > applications > utilities > terminal, Ctrl-Alt-F2)
• RPM, DNF, & YUM Package Managers (all included by default)

Step 1: Download RPM Installation File  

Typically, a web browser is used to locate and download a .rpm file. However, if a browser is not available you can still download a file if you know where it’s located.

You may need to install a software tool called wget.

To install wget in CentOS, enter the following in a terminal window:

sudo yum install wget

To install wget in Fedora, enter the following:

sudo dnf install wget

Now, you can use the wget command to download the .rpm file you want. Enter the following:

wget http://some_website/sample_file.rpm

The system should reach out to the website and download the file to your current working directory.

Step 2: Install RPM File on Linux

Install RPM File Using RPM Command

To install a .rpm package in CentOS Linux, enter the following:

sudo rpm -i sample_file.rpm

The -i switch tells the package manager you want to install the file.

More information on the RPM installer can be found in the RPM documentation.

Install RPM File with Yum

Alternately, you can use the yum package manager to install .rpm files.

Enter the following:

sudo yum localinstall sample_file.rpm

The localinstall option instructions yum to look at your current working directory for the installation file.

Install RPM on Fedora

To install an .rpm package on Fedora Linux, enter the following:

sudo rpm -i sample_file.rpm

Just as in CentOS, the -i switch tells RPM to install the software.

Another method is to use the dnf utility to install the package:

sudo dnf localinstall sample_file.rpm

Unlike many Linux tools, DNF is not a set of initials. It is merely the next evolution of the yum package manager.

Remove RPM Package

The RPM installer can be used to remove (or uninstall) a software package.

Enter the following into a terminal window:

sudo rpm -e sample_file.rpm

The -e option instructs RPM to erase the software.     Check RPM Dependencies  

So far, this guide assumes the software either doesn’t have dependencies or already has them installed.

To check the .rpm file for dependencies using the following command:

sudo rpm -qpR sample_file.rpm

The system should list all the dependencies:

• -q – This option tells RPM to query the file
• -p – This option lets you specify the target package to query
• -R – This lists the requirements for the package

If there are any missing dependencies, you can install them from the standard repositories using yum or dnf. If your software requires other non-standard software, it will often be noted in the installation instructions.

Download RPM Packages from the Repository

One exciting feature of the yum package manager is that it allows you to download .rpm files directly from the repository. This might be helpful if you have limited bandwidth, or want to copy a single downloaded file between systems. It could also help if you have intermittent internet access, and you don’t want to spend time waiting for your installer to finish.

To download a .rpm file from the repositories, enter the following:

sudo yumdownloader packagename

If you wanted to download the files for Apache, for instance, you’d replace packagename with httpd. You can then install the file as above.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we covered three different options for installing RPM files on Linux.

As with most Linux software, your default package manager makes it simple to track installations, updates, and prerequisites.