DNF Package Manager Quick Reference
Peter Boy (pboy), The Fedora Docs Team
Version F37 onwards
Last review: 2023-08-29
This sections lists the most useful commands provided by the dnf utility. For a complete list of commands, options, and their syntax, see the dnf(8) man page.
- dnf help command
-
Displays detailed information about a command.
$ dnf help upgrade upgrade [PACKAGE...] upgrade a package or packages on your system alias: update - dnf upgrade
-
Upgrades all packages on the system to the latest version available.
$ sudo dnf upgrade Updating and loading repositories: Repositories loaded. Package Arch Version Repository Size Upgrading: exfatprogs x86_64 0:1.4.2-2.fc44 updates 376.7 KiB replacing exfatprogs x86_64 0:1.4.1-1.fc44 updates 376.6 KiB xdg-desktop-portal x86_64 0:1.22.1-1.fc44 updates 1.9 MiB replacing xdg-desktop-portal x86_64 0:1.22.0-1.fc44 updates 1.9 MiB Transaction Summary: Upgrading: 2 packages Replacing: 2 packages Total size of inbound packages is 677 KiB. Need to download 677 KiB. After this operation, 31 B extra will be used (install 2 MiB, remove 2 MiB). Is this ok [y/N]: *y* [... output truncated ...] - dnf upgrade package_name
-
Upgrades a package to the latest version available.
$ sudo dnf upgrade thunderbird Updating and loading repositories: Repositories loaded. Package Arch Version Repository Size Upgrading: thunderbird x86_64 0:151.0.1-3.fc44 updates 348.1 MiB replacing thunderbird x86_64 0:148.0-2.fc44 fedora 343.6 MiB thunderbird-librnp-rnp x86_64 0:151.0.1-3.fc44 updates 5.0 MiB replacing thunderbird-librnp-rnp x86_64 0:148.0-2.fc44 fedora 5.0 MiB Transaction Summary: Upgrading: 2 packages Replacing: 2 packages Total size of inbound packages is 121 MiB. Need to download 121 MiB. After this operation, 5 MiB extra will be used (install 353 MiB, remove 349 MiB). Is this ok [y/N]: *y* [... output truncated ...] - dnf install package_name
-
Installs a package.
$ sudo dnf install thunderbird
Updating and loading repositories:
Repositories loaded.
Package Arch Version Repository Size
Installing:
thunderbird x86_64 0:151.0.1-3.fc44 updates 348.1 MiB
Installing dependencies:
thunderbird-librnp-rnp x86_64 0:151.0.1-3.fc44 updates 5.0 MiB
Transaction Summary:
Installing: 2 packages
Total size of inbound packages is 121 MiB. Need to download 121 MiB.
After this operation, 353 MiB extra will be used (install 353 MiB, remove 0 B).
Is this ok [y/N]: *y*
[... output truncated ...]
Complete!- dnf remove package_name
-
Uninstalls a package.
$ sudo dnf remove thunderbird Package Arch Version Repository Size Removing: thunderbird x86_64 0:148.0-2.fc44 fedora 343.6 MiB Removing unused dependencies: thunderbird-librnp-rnp x86_64 0:148.0-2.fc44 fedora 5.0 MiB Transaction Summary: Removing: 2 packages After this operation, 349 MiB will be freed (install 0 B, remove 349 MiB). Is this ok [y/N]: *y* [... output truncated ...] Complete! - dnf check-update
-
Checks if any updates are available for all packages in the enabled repositories.
$ dnf check-update Updating and loading repositories: Repositories loaded. Upgrades (available for reinstall, available for upgrade) podman.x86_64 5:5.8.3-1.fc44 updates - dnf search keyword
-
Search package metadata in the enabled repositories for the specified keyword. By default, the commands searches only in package names and summaries.
$ dnf search freeipa Repositories loaded. Matched fields: name, summary ansible-freeipa.noarch Roles and playbooks to deploy FreeIPA servers, replicas and clients freeipa-desktop-profile.noarch FleetCommander integration with FreeIPA freeipa-desktop-profile-common.noarch Common package for client side FleetCommander integration with FreeIPA freeipa-fas.noarch Fedora Account System extension for FreeIPA freeipa-healthcheck.noarch Health check tool for FreeIPA freeipa-selinux.noarch FreeIPA SELinux policy freeipa-selinux-luna.noarch FreeIPA SELinux policy for Thales Luna HSMs freeipa-selinux-nfast.noarch FreeIPA SELinux policy for nCipher nfast HSMs python3-freeipa.noarch Lightweight FreeIPA client for Python 3.14 Matched fields: name freeipa-client.x86_64 IPA authentication for use on clients freeipa-client-common.noarch Common files used by IPA client freeipa-client-encrypted-dns.x86_64 Enable encrypted DNS support for clients [... output truncated ...] - dnf info package_name
-
Shows details for a package.
$ dnf info freeipa-server Updating and loading repositories: Repositories loaded. Available packages Name : freeipa-server Epoch : 0 Version : 4.13.1 Release : 12.fc44 Architecture : x86_64 Download size : 425.3 KiB Installed size : 1.1 MiB Source : freeipa-4.13.1-12.fc44.src.rpm Repository : updates Summary : The IPA authentication server URL : http://www.freeipa.org/ License : GPL-3.0-or-later Description : IPA is an integrated solution to provide centrally managed Identity (users, : hosts, services), Authentication (SSO, 2FA), and Authorization : (host access control, SELinux user roles, services). The solution provides : features for further integration with Linux based clients (SUDO, automount) : and integration with Active Directory based infrastructures (Trusts). : If you are installing an IPA server, you need to install this package. Vendor : Fedora Project - dnf provides command_or_file
-
Shows which package provides the specified command or file.
To specify a command:
$ dnf provides ipa-server-install dnf provides ipa-server-install Updating and loading repositories: Repositories loaded. freeipa-server-4.13.1-12.fc44.x86_64 : The IPA authentication server Repo : updates Matched From : Filename : /usr/bin/ipa-server-install freeipa-server-4.13.1-9.fc44.x86_64 : The IPA authentication server Repo : fedora Matched From : Filename : /usr/bin/ipa-server-installTo specify a file:
$ dnf provides /etc/sssd/sssd.conf Updating and loading repositories: Repositories loaded. sssd-common-2.13.1-1.fc44.x86_64 : Common files for the SSSD Repo : @System Matched From : Filename : /etc/sssd/sssd.conf sssd-common-2.12.0-4.fc44.x86_64 : Common files for the SSSD Repo : fedora Matched From : Filename : /etc/sssd/sssd.conf sssd-common-2.13.1-1.fc44.x86_64 : Common files for the SSSD Repo : updates Matched From : Filename : /etc/sssd/sssd.conf - dnf history list
-
Displays a report of the past transactions.
$ dnf history list ID Command line Date and time Action(s) Altered 9 dnf remove thunderbird 2026-06-22 11:44:03 2 8 dnf install thunderbird 2026-06-22 11:40:13 2 7 dnf update 2026-06-22 11:37:12 331 6 dnf install vim 2026-06-22 11:35:55 10 [... output truncated ...] - dnf list --installed
-
Lists all packages installed on the system.
$ dnf list --installed Installed packages (available for reinstall, available for upgrade) 7zip.x86_64 26.01-1.fc44 updates NetworkManager.x86_64 1:1.56.1-2.fc44 updates NetworkManager-libnm.x86_64 1:1.56.1-2.fc44 updates aardvark-dns.x86_64 2:1.17.1-1.fc44 updates abattis-cantarell-vf-fonts.noarch 0.301-17.fc44 fedora abseil-cpp.x86_64 20260107.1-1.fc44 fedora adwaita-cursor-theme.noarch 50.0-1.fc44 fedora adwaita-icon-theme.noarch 50.0-1.fc44 fedora adwaita-icon-theme-legacy.noarch 46.2-7.fc44 fedora adwaita-mono-fonts.noarch 50.0-1.fc44 fedora adwaita-sans-fonts.noarch 50.0-1.fc44 fedora @updates [... output truncated ...]
Want to help? Learn how to contribute to Fedora Docs ›