Red Hat Support Training - Tutorial Session
Date:		<MM/DD/YYYY>
Presenter:	<Your name>
Subject:	RPM tricks and tips
Description:	How to scare customers with rpm trickery
______________________________________________________________________________

RPMS: (please note if shipped with Red Hat Linux)
rpm
popt
...

Configuration files:
/usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc
/usr/lib/rpm/rpmpopt
/usr/lib/rpm/macros


Binary programs:
/usr/bin/rpm

Other software:
cmprpm

How to make <subject> work:

Basic useage:

	Installing a package:

		rpm -ivh packagename.arch.rpm

	removing a package:

		rpm -e packagename

	upgrading a package:
	
		rpm -Uvh packagename.arch.rpm

	listing the files in a package:

		rpm -ql packagename

	viewing the info for a file:

		rpm -qi packagename

Tips, tricks, gotchas:


	There are lots of wacky tricks you can do with rpm. Here is a few of
them.


	* Finding what package owns a file:

		rpm -qf /path/to/filename

	* Finding out which arch of a package is installed (ie, i386, i686, etc)

		 rpm -q --queryformat "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}-%{ARCH}\n" packagename
	
		or just:

		rpm -q --queryformat "%{ARCH}\n" packagename


	* Finding info about a uninstalled rpm file:

		add the -p flag, ie:

		rpm -qpl packagename-1.0-5.i386.rpm

	 	(to show info about the file packagename-1.0-5.i386.rpm)

	* Viewing changes in a rpm:

		rpm --changelog packagename

	* Finding out what package provides some dep

		rpm -q --whatprovides /bin/sh

	Starting in 6.2, you can also query against an external rpm
	database, and we ship a db that is equivalent to all the packages
	installed. So you can do:

		rpm -q --redhatprovides /etc/exports

	For example, and it will tell you which rpm includes that package,
	even if it is not installed.

	Same goes for finding out what a package requires

		rpm -q --whatrequires bash

		rpm -q --redhatrequires bash

	There is also a --requires which will show you just the req's, and
	not the packages itself. This can be useful if something is
	complaining about missing deps, and you want to see what it needs
	to see if its satisfied by a non-rpm package.

		rpm -qp --requires bash-1.14.7-22.i386.rpm

	
	* To validate a package against the info stored in a database:

		rpm -V packagename

	Sometimes, say in a suspected compromise where you think the
	rpm database is compromised (or more likely, removed...) you
	can verify against the db in the rpmdb-redhat-6.2 package:

		rpm -V --dbpath /usr/lib/rpmdb/i386-redhat-linux/redhat/ bash


	* Seeing when a package was installed

		rpm -q --last packagename

	* Seeing the order packages were installed in

		rpm -qa --last
	
	* Replacing a newer package with an older one

		rpm -Uvh --oldpackge packagename

	* Removing a package from the rpm database, but keeping
	the files installed:

		rpm --justdb -e packagename

	* Getting a list of rpms sorted by size

		rpm -qa --queryformat "%{SIZE} %{NAME}\n" | sort -n

	* Getting a list of packages sorted by the date they were created:

		rpm -qa --queryformat "%{BUILDTIME}:%{NAME} %{BUILDTIME:date}\n" | sort -n | cut -f2 -d':'

	* Show all the packages that have BSD style licenses
		
		rpm -qa --qf "%{LICENSE}: %{NAME}\n" | grep ^BSD

	* Show all the packages with URL associated with them and the URLS

		rpm -qa --qf "%{NAME}: %{URL}\n"

	
	* To few a list of all rpms as html in lynx:

		 rpm -qa --qf "%|URL?{<a href=\"%{URL}\">%{NAME}</a>}|<br>\n" | lynx -force_html /dev/stdin
	

	* Seeing all the files on the system that are not from an rpm:

#!/bin/sh
cd $1
for i in `find $1 -type f -name "*" `
do
        rpm -qf $i > /dev/null
        if [ ! $? ] ; then
                echo $i
        fi
done

		Use like `find_non_rpms.sh /bin`
		

	* Extract one file from a rpm

		rpm2cpio foo-0.1-1.i386.rpm | cpio iuvm 

	

	
	
POPT Magic

	Now, the interesting thing about several of those commandline
	flags is that they aren't actually part of the rpm binary. Instead,
	the "popt" library, which is used to parse commandline arguments,
	parses them. The interesting thing about the popt library is that
	you can create commandline "aliases". 

	Take a look at /usr/lib/rpm/rpmpopt for examples. A large portion
	of rpm commandline flags are actually implemented as popt arguments.

	So for example, the rather long commandline to get the arch info
	for a installed package is an ideal candidate for a popt aliases.

	popt aliases can be setup in /etc/popt or ~/.popt.

	For example, add the line:

	
rpm alias --arch -q --queryformat "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}-%{ARCH}\n"

	to ~/.popt

	And then run:

		rpm --arch kernel

	cool eh?
	
	
another twisted example, the html example

	rpm alias --html -qa --qf "%|URL?{<a href=\"%{URL}\">%{NAME}</a>}|<br>\n" --pipe "lynx -force_html /dev/stdin"

	put that in ~/.popt and run:

		rpm --html