What is DNF Package Manager

DNF, a.k.a. “dandified yum,” is the default package manager for RHEL-based distributions like Fedora and AlmaLinux to help you manage your system packages by giving you functionalities like searching, installing, updating, removing, etc. packages from your Linux system.

Tutorial Details

Update the Package Database

Update your system package database with the latest package release information.

$ dnf check-update

Upgrade Packages

Upgrade the installed packages to the latest release information available in your local database:

$ sudo dnf upgrade

Searching Packages

Search for packages available for your system repository by using the following command:

$ dnf search [PACKAGE-NAME]

Package Information

Execute the following command to fetch the descriptive package information, like version, release, size, source, repository, URL, license, and description.

$ dnf info [PACKAGE-NAME]

Install Packages

Install a package by specifying its name in the “dnf install” command.

$ sudo dnf install [PACKAGE-NAME]

Multiple packages can be installed by specifying each one of them with a space.

$ sudo dnf install [PACKAGE-ONE] [PACKAGE-TWO]

If the package is not available in the repository, download the rpm file of that package and specify the full path to the “dnf install” command as shown.

$ sudo dnf install /path/to/file.rpm

To hide the package information list, use the “-q” flag as shown.

$ sudo dnf install [PACKAGE-NAME] -q

To get the extra information along with the current, specify the “-v” flag as shown.

$ sudo dnf install [PACKAGE-NAME] -v

Reinstall Packages

Packages might break, or configuration files might be corrupt. To revert back to the original state of the packages, use the following command:

$ sudo dnf reinstall [PACKAGE-NAME]

Remove Packages

If the package was accidentally installed or has become unnecessary, then remove it using the following command:

$ sudo dnf remove [PACKAGE-NAME]

Multiple packages can be removed by specifying each one of them with a space.

$ sudo dnf remove [PACKAGE-ONE] [PACKAGE-TWO]

Remove Unnecessary Package

While installing any package, it requires dependencies that are installed along with it; however, we remove the package but forget to remove dependencies, which can be done by the following command:

$ sudo dnf autoremove

Download the Package RPM File

If you do not have internet access on your system, go to your neighbor and ask for their system to download the rpm file for your package using the following command:

$ sudo dnf download [PACKAGE-NAME]

List of Installed Packages

Get the complete list of installed packages on your system by using the following command:

$ dnf list --installed

Find Package

Get the name of the package to which the specified file or feature belongs.

$ sudo dnf provides /etc/hosts

View Enabled Repository Information

Check the complete list of enabled repository names on your system.

$ dnf repolist                       

To get comprehensive information, use the following command:

$ dnf repoinfo                    

View Disabled Repository Information

Execute the following command to get a complete list of enabled and disabled repositories.

$ dnf repolist all

Adding Repository

Add a custom repository to install the packages it provides by specifying the repository address as shown below.

$ dnf config-manager --add-repo http://www.example.com/example.repo

Enable/Disable Repository

Enable a disabled repository by specifying its name using the following command.

$ dnf config-manager --set-enabled [REPOSITORY-NAME]

Disable an enabled repository by specifying its name using the following command.

$ dnf config-manager --set-disabled [REPOSITORY-NAME]

View Transaction History

Get the complete list of all actions performed by the DNF command to easily undo, redo, or roll back to different actions.

$ dnf history

Use the ID from the above command output to get descriptive information about the actions done by that operation.

$ dnf history info [ID]

Undo the changes made by that operation by using the ID as shown.

$ dnf history undo [ID]

Accidentally undo the operation; okay, now redo it using the same ID as shown below.

$ dnf history redo [ID]

List All Group Packages

Execute the following command to get all the packages related to each other that are grouped under a single umbrella, like Apache and PHP, grouped under the Server group.

$ dnf grouplist

Install Group Packages

Install all the packages under the same umbrella of group like Server group will install the Apache and PHP as shown.

$ sudo dnf groupinstall "Server"

Update Group Packages

Grouped packages can be easily updated to their latest release using the group name as shown.

$ sudo dnf groupupdate "Server"

Remove Group Packages

Remove all the packages installed by the group using the following command.

$ sudo dnf groupremove "Server"

Clear Cached Data

Remove the old cached data from the “/var/cache/dnf” directory by using the following command.

$ dnf clean all

Downgrade Packages

First, get a list of all available versions of your package that you need to downgrade.

$ dnf --showduplicates list httpd

If you want to step down one version, then execute the following command without specifying the version.

$ sudo dnf downgrade httpd

However, you can directly jump to specifying the version by specifying the version information as shown.

$ sudo dnf install httpd-2.4.53

Excluding Packages from Transactions

Avoid upgrading packages with a system update by specifying the package name as shown.

$ sudo dnf upgrade --exclude=httpd 

You can also add the package name to the “/etc/dnf/dnf.conf” file to exclude it from being upgraded in the future.

exclude=httpd

Plugins

Install the officially supported Core DNF plugins and also third-party Extra DNF plugins to extend the DNF core functionalities using the following command.

$ sudo dnf install dnf-plugins-core-PLUGIN_NAME

Interactive Shell

Run the DNF interactive shell by using the following command:

$ dnf shell 

That’s all for now. If you have any questions, do let us know in the comment section.