RPM-COMMON(8)               System Manager's Manual              RPM-COMMON(8)

NAME
       rpm-common - Operations and options common to the main rpm(8)
       executables

SYNOPSIS
       RPMCMD [options] {-?|--help}

       RPMCMD [options] --showrc

       RPMCMD [options] --version

DESCRIPTION
       The following RPMCMD executables share common configuration and the
       options and operations documented in this manual:
       o   rpm(8)
       o   rpmdb(8)
       o   rpmkeys(8)
       o   rpmbuild(1)
       o   rpmsign(1)
       o   rpmspec(1)

OPERATIONS
       -?, --help
           Print a longer usage message than normal.

       --version
           Print a single line containing the version number of rpm being
           used.

       --showrc
           Dump information about rpm configuration to standard output.

OPTIONS
       --color <MODE>
           Use terminal colors for highlighting error and debug message, where
           MODE is one of:
           o   always
           o   auto (use color output on terminals)
           o   never (default)

       --dbpath DIRECTORY
           Use the database in DIRECTORY rather than the default path
           /var/lib/rpm.

       -D 'MACRO EXPR', --define='MACRO EXPR'
           Defines MACRO with value EXPR.

       -E 'EXPR', --eval='EXPR'
           Prints rpm-macros(7) expansion of EXPR.

       --load FILE
           Load an individual rpm-macrofile(5).

       --macros FILELIST
           Replace the list of macro files to be loaded with FILELIST. See
           Macro Configuration for details.

       --nodigest
           Don't verify package or header digests when reading.

       --nohdrchk
           Don't verify database header(s) when retrieved.

       --nosignature
           Don't verify package or header signatures when reading.

       --pipe CMD
           Pipes the output of rpm to the command CMD.

       --predefine='MACRO EXPR'
           Defines MACRO with value EXPR before loading macro files. This is a
           very rare special-purpose switch, use --define for the common macro
           definition needs.

       --target PLATFORM
           Use PLATFORM configuration instead of detecting automatically.
           PLATFORM is formed as arch[-os].

       --quiet
           Print as little as possible - normally only error messages will be
           displayed.

       --rcfile FILELIST
           Replace the default list of configuration files to be read with
           FILELIST.  See rpmrc Configuration for details.

       --root DIRECTORY
           Use the filesystem tree rooted at DIRECTORY for all operations.
           Note that this means the database within DIRECTORY will be used for
           dependency checks and any scriptlet(s) (e.g. %post if installing,
           or %prep if building, a package) will be run after a chroot(2) to
           DIRECTORY.

           Note that rpm assumes the environment inside the root is set up by
           the caller, such as any mounts needed for the operation inside the
           root directory.

       --undefine='MACRO'
           Undefines MACRO.

       -v, --verbose
           Print verbose information - normally routine progress messages will
           be displayed. Supply more than once to increase verbosity, eg. -vv.

DEBUG OPTIONS
       --debug
           Print lots of debug information.

       --fsmdebug
           Print debug information about payload handling.

       --rpmiodebug
           Print debug information about file IO.

       --stats
           Print runtime statistics of often used functions.

FTP/HTTP OPTIONS
       These options are deprecated. Use special purpose software such as
       curl(1) or wget(1) for fetching data from the internet.

       For some operations, rpm can act as an FTP and/or HTTP client so that
       packages can be queried or installed from the internet. Package files
       for install, upgrade, and query operations may be specified as an ftp
       or http style URL:

       http://HOST[:PORT]/path/to/package.rpm

       ftp://[USER:PASSWORD]@HOST[:PORT]/path/to/package.rpm

       If both the user and password are omitted, anonymous ftp is used.

       rpm allows the following options to be used with http and ftp URLs:

       --httpproxy HOST
           Use HOST as the proxy server for all http and ftp transfers. This
           option may also be specified by configuring the macro %_httpproxy.

       --httpport PORT
           The TCP PORT number to use for the http connection on the proxy
           http server instead of the default port. This option may also be
           specified by configuring the macro %_httpport.

ENVIRONMENT
       RPM_CONFIGDIR
           Used to override the default rpm configuration home, typically
           /usr/lib/rpm.

EXIT STATUS
       On success, 0 is returned, a nonzero failure code otherwise.

BUGS
       Not all options are meaningful or implemented in all the executables
       they show in. In particular, --root and the various verify-related
       options are only honored by rpm(8) and rpmdb(8).

FILES
   Database
           /var/lib/rpm/

   Temporary
           /var/tmp/rpm*

SEE ALSO
       popt(3), rpm(8) rpm-config(5), rpm-rpmrc(5), rpm-macros(7)

RPM 6.0.1                         2026-03-06                     RPM-COMMON(8)