<s>
RPM	B-Application
Package	I-Application
Manager	I-Application
(	O
RPM	B-Application
)	O
(	O
originally	O
Red	B-Application
Hat	I-Application
Package	I-Application
Manager	I-Application
,	O
now	O
a	O
recursive	O
acronym	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
free	B-License
and	I-License
open-source	I-License
package	B-Application
management	I-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
name	O
RPM	B-Application
refers	O
to	O
the	O
file	O
format	O
and	O
the	O
package	B-Application
manager	I-Application
program	O
itself	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RPM	B-Application
was	O
intended	O
primarily	O
for	O
Linux	B-Application
distributions	I-Application
;	O
the	O
file	O
format	O
is	O
the	O
baseline	O
package	O
format	O
of	O
the	O
Linux	B-Application
Standard	I-Application
Base	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
it	O
was	O
created	O
for	O
use	O
in	O
Red	O
Hat	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
RPM	B-Application
is	O
now	O
used	O
in	O
many	O
Linux	B-Application
distributions	I-Application
such	O
as	O
PCLinuxOS	O
,	O
Fedora	O
,	O
AlmaLinux	O
,	O
CentOS	O
,	O
openSUSE	B-Operating_System
,	O
OpenMandriva	O
and	O
Oracle	O
Linux	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
has	O
also	O
been	O
ported	O
to	O
some	O
other	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
,	O
such	O
as	O
Novell	B-Operating_System
NetWare	I-Operating_System
(	O
as	O
of	O
version	O
6.5	O
SP3	O
)	O
,	O
IBM	B-Application
's	I-Application
AIX	I-Application
(	O
as	O
of	O
version	O
4	O
)	O
,	O
IBM	B-Application
i	I-Application
,	O
and	O
ArcaOS	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
RPM	B-Application
package	I-Application
can	O
contain	O
an	O
arbitrary	O
set	O
of	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
RPM	B-Application
files	O
are	O
“	O
binary	O
RPMs	B-Application
”	O
(	O
or	O
BRPMs	O
)	O
containing	O
the	O
compiled	O
version	O
of	O
some	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
also	O
“	O
source	O
RPMs	B-Application
”	O
(	O
or	O
SRPMs	O
)	O
containing	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
used	O
to	O
build	O
a	O
binary	O
package	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
have	O
an	O
appropriate	O
tag	O
in	O
the	O
file	O
header	O
that	O
distinguishes	O
them	O
from	O
normal	O
(	O
B	O
)	O
RPMs	B-Application
,	O
causing	O
them	O
to	O
be	O
extracted	O
to	O
/usr/src	O
on	O
installation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SRPMs	O
customarily	O
carry	O
the	O
file	O
extension	O
“	O
.src.rpm	O
”	O
(	O
.spm	O
on	O
file	O
systems	O
limited	O
to	O
3	O
extension	O
characters	O
,	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
old	O
DOS	O
FAT	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RPM	B-Application
was	O
originally	O
written	O
in	O
1997	O
by	O
Erik	O
Troan	O
and	O
Marc	O
Ewing	O
,	O
based	O
on	O
,	O
,	O
and	O
experiences	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
was	O
written	O
by	O
Rik	O
Faith	O
and	O
Doug	O
Hoffman	O
in	O
May	O
1995	O
for	O
Red	O
Hat	O
Software	O
,	O
its	O
design	O
and	O
implementations	O
influenced	O
greatly	O
by	O
,	O
a	O
package	B-Application
management	I-Application
system	I-Application
by	O
Faith	O
and	O
Kevin	O
Martin	O
in	O
the	O
fall	O
of	O
1993	O
for	O
the	O
Bogus	O
Linux	B-Application
Distribution	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
a	O
system	B-Application
administrator	I-Application
performing	O
software	O
installation	O
and	O
maintenance	O
,	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
package	B-Application
management	I-Application
rather	O
than	O
manual	O
building	O
has	O
advantages	O
such	O
as	O
simplicity	O
,	O
consistency	O
and	O
the	O
ability	O
for	O
these	O
processes	O
to	O
be	O
automated	O
and	O
non-interactive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
rpm	B-Application
uses	O
Berkeley	B-Language
DB	I-Language
as	O
the	O
backend	B-Architecture
database	O
although	O
since	O
4.15	O
in	O
2019	O
,	O
it	O
supports	O
building	O
rpm	B-Application
packages	I-Application
without	O
Berkeley	B-Language
DB	I-Language
(	O
–	O
disable-bdb	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Features	O
of	O
RPM	B-Application
include	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Packages	O
may	O
come	O
from	O
within	O
a	O
particular	O
distribution	O
(	O
for	O
example	O
Red	O
Hat	O
Enterprise	O
Linux	B-Application
)	O
or	O
be	O
built	O
for	O
it	O
by	O
other	O
parties	O
(	O
for	O
example	O
RPM	B-Application
Fusion	O
for	O
Fedora	O
Linux	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Circular	O
dependencies	O
among	O
mutually	O
dependent	O
RPMs	B-Application
(	O
so-called	O
"	O
dependency	B-Protocol
hell	I-Protocol
"	O
)	O
can	O
be	O
problematic	O
;	O
in	O
such	O
cases	O
a	O
single	O
installation	O
command	O
needs	O
to	O
specify	O
all	O
the	O
relevant	O
packages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RPMs	B-Application
are	O
often	O
collected	O
centrally	O
in	O
one	O
or	O
more	O
repositories	B-Application
on	O
the	O
internet	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
site	O
often	O
has	O
its	O
own	O
RPM	B-Application
repositories	B-Application
which	O
may	O
either	O
act	O
as	O
local	O
mirrors	O
of	O
such	O
internet	O
repositories	B-Application
or	O
be	O
locally	O
maintained	O
collections	O
of	O
useful	O
RPMs	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Several	O
front-ends	B-Architecture
to	O
RPM	B-Application
ease	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
obtaining	O
and	O
installing	O
RPMs	B-Application
from	O
repositories	B-Application
and	O
help	O
in	O
resolving	O
their	O
dependencies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DNF	B-Application
,	O
introduced	O
in	O
Fedora	O
Linux	B-Application
18	O
(	O
default	O
since	O
22	O
)	O
,	O
Red	O
Hat	O
Enterprise	O
Linux	B-Application
8	O
,	O
AlmaLinux	O
8	O
,	O
and	O
CentOS	O
Linux	B-Application
8	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Smart	B-Application
Package	I-Application
Manager	I-Application
,	O
used	O
in	O
Unity	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
available	O
for	O
many	O
distributions	O
including	O
Fedora	O
Linux	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Working	O
behind	O
the	O
scenes	O
of	O
the	O
package	B-Application
manager	I-Application
is	O
the	O
RPM	B-Application
database	O
,	O
stored	O
in	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
uses	O
Berkeley	B-Language
DB	I-Language
as	O
its	O
back-end	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
consists	O
of	O
a	O
single	O
database	O
(	O
)	O
containing	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
meta	O
information	O
of	O
the	O
installed	O
RPMs	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
database	O
is	O
used	O
to	O
keep	O
track	O
of	O
all	O
files	O
that	O
are	O
changed	O
and	O
created	O
when	O
a	O
user	O
(	O
using	O
RPM	B-Application
)	O
installs	O
a	O
package	O
,	O
thus	O
enabling	O
the	O
user	O
(	O
via	O
RPM	B-Application
)	O
to	O
reverse	O
the	O
changes	O
and	O
remove	O
the	O
package	O
later	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
the	O
database	O
gets	O
corrupted	O
(	O
which	O
is	O
possible	O
if	O
the	O
RPM	B-Application
client	O
is	O
killed	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
index	O
databases	O
can	O
be	O
recreated	O
with	O
the	O
command	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Whilst	O
the	O
RPM	B-Application
format	O
is	O
the	O
same	O
across	O
different	O
Linux	B-Application
distributions	I-Application
,	O
the	O
detailed	O
conventions	O
and	O
guidelines	O
may	O
vary	O
across	O
them	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
RPM	B-Application
is	O
delivered	O
in	O
a	O
single	O
file	O
,	O
normally	O
with	O
a	O
filename	O
in	O
the	O
format	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
RPMs	B-Application
with	O
the	O
extension	O
do	O
not	O
depend	O
on	O
a	O
particular	O
CPU	O
architecture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
these	O
RPMs	B-Application
may	O
contain	O
graphics	O
and	O
text	O
for	O
other	O
programs	O
to	O
use	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
may	O
also	O
contain	O
shell	B-Language
scripts	I-Language
or	O
programs	O
written	O
in	O
other	O
interpreted	O
programming	O
languages	O
such	O
as	O
Python	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RPM	B-Application
contents	O
also	O
include	O
a	O
package	O
label	O
,	O
which	O
contains	O
the	O
following	O
pieces	O
of	O
information	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
field	O
is	O
also	O
often	O
used	O
for	O
indicating	O
the	O
specific	O
distribution	O
the	O
package	O
is	O
intended	O
for	O
by	O
appending	O
strings	O
like	O
"	O
mdv	O
"	O
(	O
formerly	O
,	O
"	O
mdk	O
"	O
)	O
(	O
Mandriva	O
Linux	B-Application
)	O
,	O
"	O
mga	O
"	O
(	O
Mageia	O
)	O
,	O
"	O
fc4	O
"	O
(	O
Fedora	O
Core	O
4	O
)	O
,	O
"	O
rh9	O
"	O
(	O
Red	O
Hat	O
Linux	B-Application
9	O
)	O
,	O
"	O
suse100	O
"	O
(	O
SUSE	O
Linux	B-Application
10.0	O
)	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
system	B-Application
administrator	I-Application
should	O
ensure	O
that	O
the	O
versions	O
of	O
the	O
binary	O
and	O
development	O
packages	O
match	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
lead	O
,	O
which	O
identifies	O
the	O
file	O
as	O
an	O
RPM	B-Application
file	O
and	O
contains	O
some	O
obsolete	O
headers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
file	O
archive	O
(	O
the	O
payload	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
usually	O
is	O
in	O
cpio	B-Application
format	O
,	O
compressed	O
with	O
gzip	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
tool	O
enables	O
retrieval	O
of	O
the	O
cpio	B-Application
file	O
without	O
needing	O
to	O
install	O
the	O
RPM	B-Application
package	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Linux	B-Application
Standard	I-Application
Base	I-Application
requires	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
gzip	B-Application
,	O
but	O
Fedora	O
30	O
packages	O
are	O
xz-compressed	O
and	O
Fedora	O
31	O
packages	O
might	O
be	O
zstd-compressed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Recent	O
versions	O
of	O
RPM	B-Application
can	O
also	O
use	O
bzip2	B-Application
,	O
lzip	B-Application
,	O
or	O
lzma	B-General_Concept
compression	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RPM	B-Application
5.0	O
format	O
supports	O
using	O
xar	B-Application
for	O
archiving	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
"	O
Recipe	O
"	O
for	O
creating	O
an	O
RPM	B-Application
package	I-Application
is	O
a	O
spec	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Spec	O
files	O
end	O
in	O
the	O
"	O
.spec	O
"	O
suffix	O
and	O
contain	O
the	O
package	O
name	O
,	O
version	O
,	O
RPM	B-Application
revision	O
number	O
,	O
steps	O
to	O
build	O
,	O
install	O
,	O
and	O
clean	O
a	O
package	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
changelog	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Multiple	O
packages	O
can	O
be	O
built	O
from	O
a	O
single	O
RPM	B-Application
spec	O
file	O
,	O
if	O
desired	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RPM	B-Application
packages	I-Application
are	O
created	O
from	O
RPM	B-Application
spec	O
files	O
using	O
the	O
rpmbuild	B-Application
tool	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
typical	O
RPM	B-Application
is	O
pre-compiled	O
software	O
ready	O
for	O
direct	O
installation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
software	B-Application
package	I-Application
could	O
contain	O
only	O
platform	O
independent	O
scripts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
such	O
a	O
case	O
,	O
the	O
developer	O
could	O
provide	O
only	O
an	O
SRPM	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
still	O
an	O
installable	O
RPM	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
,	O
there	O
are	O
two	O
versions	O
of	O
RPM	B-Application
in	O
development	O
:	O
one	O
led	O
by	O
the	O
Fedora	O
Project	O
and	O
Red	O
Hat	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
other	O
by	O
a	O
separate	O
group	O
led	O
by	O
a	O
previous	O
maintainer	B-General_Concept
of	O
RPM	B-Application
,	O
a	O
former	O
employee	O
of	O
Red	O
Hat	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
rpm.org	O
community	O
's	O
first	O
major	O
code	O
revision	O
was	O
in	O
July	O
2007	O
;	O
version	O
4.8	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
January	O
2010	O
,	O
version	O
4.9	O
in	O
March	O
2011	O
,	O
4.10	O
in	O
May	O
2012	O
,	O
4.11	O
in	O
January	O
2013	O
,	O
4.12	O
in	O
September	O
2014	O
and	O
4.13	O
in	O
July	O
2015	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
version	O
is	O
used	O
by	O
distributions	O
such	O
as	O
Fedora	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
Red	O
Hat	O
Enterprise	O
Linux	B-Application
and	O
derivatives	B-Operating_System
,	O
openSUSE	B-Operating_System
,	O
SUSE	O
Linux	B-Application
Enterprise	O
,	O
Unity	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
Mageia	O
,	O
OpenEmbedded	B-Application
,	O
Tizen	B-Application
and	O
OpenMandriva	O
Lx	O
(	O
formerly	O
Mandriva	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Jeff	O
Johnson	O
,	O
the	O
RPM	B-Application
maintainer	B-General_Concept
since	O
1999	O
,	O
continued	O
development	O
efforts	O
together	O
with	O
participants	O
from	O
several	O
other	O
distributions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RPM	B-Application
version	O
5	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
May	O
2007	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
version	O
is	O
used	O
by	O
distributions	O
such	O
as	O
Wind	O
River	O
Linux	B-Application
(	O
until	O
Wind	O
River	O
Linux	B-Application
10	O
)	O
,	O
Rosa	B-Operating_System
Linux	I-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
OpenMandriva	O
Lx	O
(	O
former	O
Mandriva	O
Linux	B-Application
which	O
switched	O
to	O
rpm5	O
in	O
2011	O
)	O
and	O
also	O
by	O
the	O
OpenPKG	B-Application
project	O
which	O
provides	O
packages	O
for	O
other	O
common	O
UNIX-platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
OpenMandriva	O
Lx	O
is	O
going	O
to	O
switch	O
back	O
to	O
rpm.org	O
for	O
4.0	O
release	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
OpenEmbedded	B-Application
,	O
the	O
last	O
major	O
user	O
of	O
RPM5	O
,	O
switched	O
back	O
to	O
rpm.org	O
due	O
to	O
issues	O
in	O
RPM5	O
.	O
</s>
