What is RPM

RPM stands for Red Hat Package Manager. However, these days RPM isn't only Red Hat specific because many other Linux distros use RPM for managing their software. For example, both Mandriva and SuSE use RPM for software management. With RPM, you can install, upgrade and uninstall software on Linux, as well as keep track of already installed RPM packages on your system. This can be done because RPM keeps a database of all software that was installed with it.

RPM uses software packages that have (surprise) the .rpm extension. An RPM package contains the actual software that gets installed, maybe some additional files for the software, information on where the software and its files get installed, and a list of other files you need to have on your system in order to run this specific piece of software.

When you use RPM for installing the software package, RPM checks if your system is suitable for the software the RPM package contains, figures out where to install the files the package provides, installs them on your system, and adds that piece of software into its database of installed RPM packages.

Note that different Linux distros may keep their software and the files related to that software in different directories. That's why it's important to use the RPM package that was made for your distribution. For example, if you install a SuSE specific software package on a Red Hat system, RPM may put the files from that package into wrong directories. In the worst case the result is that the program doesn't find all the files it needs and doesn't work properly.

There are some good graphical programs for installing RPM packages, but in this tuXfile I'll discuss the fool-proof command line method for installing software. Note that you need to be root when installing software in Linux. When you've got the root privileges, you use the rpm command with appropriate options to manage your RPM software packages.