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RPMDB(8) System Manager's Manual RPMDB(8)

NAME

rpmdb - RPM Database Tool

SYNOPSIS

rpmdb [options] {--initdb|--rebuilddb}

rpmdb [options] {--verifydb}

rpmdb [options] {--exportdb|--importdb}

DESCRIPTION

The rpmdb is used for rpm database maintenance operations.

OPERATIONS

--initdb

Create a new database if one doesn't already exist. An existing database is not overwritten.

--rebuilddb

Rebuild database from the installed package headers. Rebuilding discards any unreadable (corrupt) headers from the database, but also compacts the database in case it has grown large over time.

Can also be used to convert between different rpmdb formats.

--verifydb

Perform a low-level integrity check on the database. Rarely useful, for system health rpm --verify -a is a far more meaningful operation.

--exportdb

Export the database in header-list format, suitable for transporting to another host or database type. The data is output to standard output.

--importdb

Imports a database from a header-list format as created by --exportdb. The data is reaad from standard input.

OPTIONS

See rpm-common(8) for the options common to all rpm executables.

CONFIGURATION

There are several configurables affecting the rpmdb operations, but in particular the following (see rpm-config(5) for details):

  • %_dbpath
  • %_db_backend

EXIT STATUS

On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.

EXAMPLES

rpmdb --initdb --dbpath /tmp/testdb

Initialize a new database in /tmp/testdb directory.

rpmdb --rebuilddb

Rebuild the system rpmdb.

rpmdb --verifydb --root /mnt

Verify the system database of a system image mounted at /mnt.

rpmdb --exportdb > /tmp/headers

Export the system database to /tmp/headers file.

rpmdb --importdb --define "_db_backend ndb" --dbpath /tmp/newdb < /tmp/headers

Import contents of /tmp/headers header list to a (new) ndb-format database in /tmp/newdb.

OPTIONS

See rpm-common(8) for the options common to all operations.

SEE ALSO

popt(3), rpm(8), rpm-common(8)

rpmdb --help - as rpm(8) supports customizing the options via popt aliases it's impossible to guarantee that what's described in the manual matches what's available.

http://www.rpm.org/

2025-11-07 RPM 6.0.0