How to Update Linux Workstations and Operating Systems

 How to Update Linux Workstations and Operating Systems:

RPM - RedHat Package Manager

Although RPM was originally used by RedHat, this package management is handled by different types of package management tools specific to each Linux distribution. While OpenSUSE uses the “zypp” package management utility, RedHat Enterprise Linux (REL),Fedora and CentOS use “yum”, and Mandriva and Mageia use “urpmi”.

Therefore, if you are an OpenSUSE user, you will use the following commands:

For updating your package list: zypper refresh

For upgrading your system: zypper update

For installing new software pkg: zypper install pkg (from package repository)

For installing new software pkg: zypper install pkg  (from package file)

For updating existing software pkg: zypper update -t package pkg

For removing unwanted software pkg: zypper remove pkg

For listing installed packages: zypper search -ls

For searching by file name: zypper wp file

For searching by pattern: zypper search -t pattern pattern

For searching by package name pkg: zypper search pkg

For listing repositories: zypper repos

For adding a repository: zypper addrepo pathname

For removing a repository: zypper removerepo name

If you are a Fedora or CentOS user, you will be using the following commands:

For updating your package list: yum check-update

For upgrading your system: yum update

For installing new software pkg: yum install pkg (from package repository)

For installing new software pkg: yum localinstall pkg (from package file)

For updating existing software pkg: yum update pkg

For removing unwanted software pkg: yum erase pkg

For listing installed packages: rpm -qa

For searching by file name: yum provides file

For searching by pattern: yum search pattern

For searching by package name pkg: yum list pkg

For listing repositories: yum repolist

For adding a repository: (add repo to /etc/yum.repos.d/)

For removing a repository: (remove repo from /etc/yum.repos.d/)

DEB - Debian Package Manager

Debian Package Manager was introduced by Debian and later adopted by all derivatives of Debian - Ubuntu, Mint, Knoppix, etc. 

This is a relatively simple and standardized set of tools, working across all the Debian derivatives. Therefore, if you use any of the distributions managed by the DEB package manager, you will be using the following commands:

For updating your package list: apt-get update

For upgrading your system: apt-get upgrade

For installing new software pkg: apt-get install pkg (from package repository)

For installing new software pkg: dpkg -i pkg (from package file)

For updating existing software pkg: apt-get install pkg

For removing unwanted software pkg: apt-get remove pkg

For listing installed package: dpkg -l

For searching by file name: apt-file search path

For searching by pattern: apt-cache search pattern

For searching by package name pkg: apt-cache search pkg

For listing repositories: cat /etc/apt/sources.list

For adding a repository: (edit /etc/apt/sources.list)

For removing a repository: (edit /etc/apt/sources.list)