"rpm -e" without the "e" question

[ToddAndMargo]

Hi All,

When I issue an "rpm -e xxx" to remove a package, it will tell me who all depends on the package and refuse to delete if there are any dependencies.

Question: is there a way to get a list of the dependencies without issuing an "e"? In other words,
tell me what the dependencies are but don't delete.

Many thanks,
-T

[PabloTwo]

The rpm command does not have quite exactly what you are looking for here. The better option is to use yum:

yum erase package

And see what other packages yum would erase as well, which would be packages that depended on the initial package you told yum to erase. Just don't use the "-y" option. Once you see the list, then you can just enter "n" to abort the erase operation.

[ToddAndMargo]

I am not finding "-y" in the man page. (Doesn't mean it is not there, Just that I can not find it.)

While looking for "y", I did find

--test Don’t really uninstall anything, just go through the motions.

Is "--test" what I am looking for?

Many thanks,
-T

[marko]

Originally Posted by ToddAndMargo

Hi All,

When I issue an "rpm -e xxx" to remove a package, it will tell me who all depends on the package and refuse to delete if there are any dependencies.

Question: is there a way to get a list of the dependencies without issuing an "e"? In other words,
tell me what the dependencies are but don't delete.

Many thanks,
-T

@ToddAndMargo:
There's a yum way to do that:

yum deplist XXX

or there's rpm "requires" (R flag with query flag) :

rpm -qR XXX

the rpm way might be better in cases where your system isn't on the internet, yum deplist will go look at
the repositories and complain if it's not on the internet.

Neither requires root to run since they are non-writing commands (they don't change any software)

[ToddAndMargo]

Cool. It looks like the "--deplist" is what I am looking for. (I want to know who depends on the installed package.) "--qR" tells me what the current installed package depends on, not who else needs the current package.

I wrote both your tips into my "rpm cheat sheet" file.

Thank you!
-T

[marko]

Oh, I got what you wanted wrong. yeah, the rpm -qR goes the other way. sorry.

[PabloTwo]

"-y" is a yum option, not an rpm option which you might have been looking for.

-y, --assumeyes
Assume yes; assume that the answer to any question which would be asked is yes.
Configuration Option: assumeyes

[smr54]

There's also

rpm -q --whatrequires <package_name> but it doesn't always work properly--that is, it will say, nothing requires it, but when you then say, Ah, I must have installed it by mistake, silly me, and do yum remove <package> it will want to remove 20 other things.

I mention it more for completeness---unfortunately, it really doesn't work well.