How to Manage Packages with DNF on CentOS 8

DNF is a package manager for CentOS, Fedora and RHEL operating systems. It is used to install, update, remove and manage packages on the RPM-based operating system. It is a next generation version of the older YUM command. Compared to YUM, DNF provides improved performance, low memory usage, speed, dependency resolution and more.

In this guide, we will show you how to use the DNF command to manage packages on CentOS 8.

Requirements

A server running CentOS 8 Linux operating system.
A root password is set up on your server.

Install and Remove a Package with DNF

DNF provides an easier way to install any package to your system. You will need to specify install followed by package-name to install the package to your system.

For example, to install the Nginx server package, run the following command:

dnf install nginx -y

If you want to reinstall any package, run the following command:

dnf reinstall nginx -y

If you want to download any package without installing it to your system, run the following command:

dnf download net-tools -y

This will download net-tools-2.0-0.52.20160912git.el8.x86_64.rpm file to your system:

Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:34 ago on Sunday 30 May 2021 06:00:45 AM EDT. net-tools-2.0-0.52.20160912git.el8.x86_64.rpm 2.7 MB/s | 322 kB 00:00

To remove a package from your system, run the following command:

dnf remove nginx -y

dnf erase nginx -y

To remove Orphan packages that are not used by any applications, run the following command:

dnf autoremove

To remove all cached packages, run the following command:

dnf clean all

Update a Package with DNF

If you want to check your system for the update, run the following command:

dnf check-update

You should see the list of all packages that needs update:

NetworkManager.x86_64 1:1.26.0-12.el8_3 BaseOS NetworkManager-libnm.x86_64 1:1.26.0-12.el8_3 BaseOS NetworkManager-team.x86_64 1:1.26.0-12.el8_3 BaseOS NetworkManager-tui.x86_64 1:1.26.0-12.el8_3 BaseOS PackageKit.x86_64 1.1.12-6.el8 AppStream PackageKit-glib.x86_64 1.1.12-6.el8 AppStream adcli.x86_64 0.8.2-7.el8 BaseOS authselect.x86_64 1.2.1-2.el8 BaseOS authselect-compat.x86_64 1.2.1-2.el8 AppStream authselect-libs.x86_64 1.2.1-2.el8 BaseOS bash.x86_64 4.4.19-12.el8 BaseOS bind-export-libs.x86_64 32:9.11.20-5.el8_3.1 BaseOS

To update a single package, run the following command:

dnf update httpd -y

If you want to upgrade all packages, run the following command:

dnf upgrade -y

If you want to synchronize all packages to the latest stable release, run the following command:

dnf distro-sync

Search a Package with DNF

If you want to find any package in the repository, you can use the search followed by package-name.

For example, to search a package named vsftpd, run the following command:

dnf search vsftpd

You should see the following output:

Last metadata expiration check: 0:03:52 ago on Sunday 30 May 2021 06:00:45 AM EDT. ======================================================== Name Exactly Matched: vsftpd ========================================================= vsftpd.x86_64 : Very Secure Ftp Daemon

If you want to list all available packages in your system, run the following command:

dnf list available | less

If you want to list only installed packages, run the following command:

dnf list installed

Output:

Installed Packages NetworkManager.x86_64 1:1.22.8-4.el8 @BaseOS NetworkManager-libnm.x86_64 1:1.22.8-4.el8 @BaseOS NetworkManager-team.x86_64 1:1.22.8-4.el8 @BaseOS NetworkManager-tui.x86_64 1:1.22.8-4.el8 @BaseOS PackageKit.x86_64 1.1.12-4.el8 @AppStream PackageKit-glib.x86_64 1.1.12-4.el8 @AppStream abattis-cantarell-fonts.noarch 0.0.25-4.el8 @AppStream

View Package Information

If you want to see the detail information about any package, run the following command:

dnf info nginx

You should see the following output:

Last metadata expiration check: 0:05:35 ago on Sunday 30 May 2021 06:00:45 AM EDT. Available Packages Name : nginx Epoch : 1 Version : 1.14.1 Release : 9.module_el8.0.0+184+e34fea82 Architecture : x86_64 Size : 570 k Source : nginx-1.14.1-9.module_el8.0.0+184+e34fea82.src.rpm Repository : AppStream Summary : A high performance web server and reverse proxy server URL : http://nginx.org/ License : BSD Description : Nginx is a web server and a reverse proxy server for HTTP, SMTP, POP3 and : IMAP protocols, with a strong focus on high concurrency, performance and low : memory usage.

Check DNF History

If you want to list all DNF command that you have executed on the system, run the following command:

dnf history

You should see the following output with transactions id:

ID | Command line | Date and time | Action(s) | Altered ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 | install net-tools | 2021-05-30 06:11 | Upgrade | 1 11 | install httpd | 2021-05-30 06:03 | Install | 9 10 | erase nginx -y | 2021-05-30 06:02 | Removed | 32 9 | reinstall nginx -y | 2021-05-30 06:01 | R | 2 8 | install nginx -y | 2021-05-30 06:00 | Install | 32 7 | autoremove -y | 2020-06-19 15:37 | Removed | 3 6 | update | 2020-06-19 15:27 | E, I, U | 285 EE 5 | update | 2020-02-24 13:24 | I, U | 312 EE 4 | update | 2019-12-10 12:32 | I, U | 41 EE 3 | install -y acpid nano ma | 2019-09-26 12:09 | Install | 1 2 | remove -y smartmontools | 2019-09-26 12:08 | Removed | 1 1 | | 2019-09-26 10:34 | Install | 543 EE

You can now use this transactions id to get the detailed information of that transaction:

dnf history info 12

Output:

Transaction ID : 12 Begin time : Sunday 30 May 2021 06:11:12 AM EDT Begin rpmdb : 566:986ac3e49ad7a20420896a98a4a980bde118f8d5 End time : Sunday 30 May 2021 06:11:13 AM EDT (1 seconds) End rpmdb : 566:e94a7335e89061eb578b51f9b8f050dcb0eb4571 User : root <root> Return-Code : Success Releasever : 8 Command Line : install net-tools Packages Altered: Upgrade net-tools-2.0-0.52.20160912git.el8.x86_64 @BaseOS Upgraded net-tools-2.0-0.51.20160912git.el8.x86_64 @@System

List and Install Group Packages

To list all group packages, run the following command:

dnf grouplist

Output:

Last metadata expiration check: 0:01:56 ago on Sunday 30 May 2021 06:10:03 AM EDT. Available Environment Groups: Server with GUI Server Workstation 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

From the above list, install a specific group package, run the following command:

dnf groupinstall "Security Tools"

To remove a group package, run the following command;

dnf groupremove "Security Tools"

Conclusion

In the above guide, you learned how to manage packages with DNF on CentOS 8 operating system. I hope this guide will help you to manage packages on all RPM-based operating systems.

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