rpmdb - Man Page

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 read 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):

Exit Status

On success, 0 is returned, a nonzero 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/

Referenced By

rpm(8), rpm-common(8), rpmdb_selinux(8).

2026-08-20 RPM 6.1.0