YUM and DNF vs. Zypper vs. APT, RPM vs. dpkg command comparison and cheat sheet

Written by Claudio Kuenzler - 2 comments

Published on June 12th 2013 - last updated on May 21st 2024 - Listed in Linux Shell

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The following table shows a comparison of the most important and most used commands for package/software management in SuSE and Debian/Ubuntu systems.

yum vs. zypper vs. apt command comparison

The yum command is available on Enterprise Linux (such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RockyLinux, Almalinux, Oracle Linux and others) systems. Since EL8, the dnf command replaces the yum command.

The zypper command is available on SuSE systems.

The apt and related commands are available on Debian and Debian-based systems including Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Knoppix, and a lot more.

Purpose	yum (and dnf) command	zypper command	apt command
Search a package	yum search "pkgname" dnf search "pkgname"	zypper se "pkgname"	apt-cache search "pkgname" apt search "pkgname"
Install a package	yum install "pkgname" dnf install "pkgname"	zypper in "pkgname"	apt-get install "pkgname" apt install "pkgname"
Update package list from repositories	tbv	zypper refresh	apt-get update apt update
Update all packages	yum update dnf update	zypper update	apt-get upgrade apt upgrade
Upgrade all packages to a new major version	yum update dnf update	zypper dist-upgrade	apt-get dist-upgrade apt dist-upgrade
Update a single package	yum install "pkgname" dnf install "pkgname"	zypper update "pkgname"	apt-get install "pkgname" apt install "pkgname"
Downgrade a single package	yum downgrade "pkgname-versiontag" dnf downgrade "pkgname-versiontag"	tbv	apt-get install "pkgname=versiontag" apt install "pkgname=versiontag"
Show packages with updates	yum check-update dnf check-update	zypper list-updates	apt-show-versions -u apt list --upgradable
Re-Install a package	yum reinstall "pkgname" dnf reinstall "pkgname"	tbv	apt-get install --reinstall "pkgname"
Uninstall/remove a package	yum remove "pkgname" dnf remove "pkgname"	zypper remove "pkgname"	apt-get remove "pkgname" apt remove "pkgname"
Remove unused packages	yum autoremove dnf autoremove	tbv	apt-get autoremove apt autoremove
Show all packages found in repo(s)	yum list dnf list	zypper packages	apt-cache pkgnames
Show all versions of a package in repo(s)	dnf list "pkgname" --showduplicates	tbv	apt-cache show "pkgname" | grep "^Version"
Show description of a package	yum info "pkgname" dnf info "pkgname"	zypper info "pkgname"	apt-cache show "pkgname" apt show "pkgname"
Show dependencies of a package	yum deplist "pkgname" dnf deplist "pkgname" dnf repoquery --deplist "pkgname"	tbv	apt-cache depends "pkgname" apt depends "pkgname"
Show contents (files) of a package	repoquery -l "pkgname" dnf repoquery -l "pkgname"	tbv	apt content "pkgname"

rpm vs. dpkg command comparison

Purpose	rpm command	dpkg command
List installed packages	rpm -qa	dpkg -l
List content of installed package	rpm -ql "pkgname"	dpkg -L "pkgname"
List content of package file	rpm -qlp "pkgname".rpm	dpkg --contents "pkgname".deb
List dependencies of package file	rpm -qp --requires "pkgname".rpm	dpkg -I "pkgname".deb | grep Depends
Install package	rpm -i "pkgname".rpm	dpkg -i "pkgname".deb
Show to which package a file belongs	rpm -qf /path/to/file	dpkg -S /path/to/file
Simulate installation of package	rpm -i --test "pkgname".rpm	dpkg -i --simulate "pkgname"
Update a package	rpm -U "pkgname".rpm	N/A (use dpkg -i)
Uninstall/remove a package	rpm -e "pkgname"	dpkg -r "pkgname"

If you know additional zypper/apt/rpm/dpkg commands which are worth to be compared and mentioned here, please drop a comment.

Changelog

Update June 14th, 2013: Added apt-get dist-upgrade to the table. This command allows to upgrade to a newer major software version (e.g. MySQL 5.0 -> 5.1). However it should be mentioned, that although this command exists in Debian, it is unlikely that it's going be used (except for a distribution upgrade, e.g. lenny -> squeeze). The reason for this is the "stable software version" mind of Debian. Ubuntu handles this approach differently and frequently adds newer major versions to their repositories.

Update July 10th, 2015: Added "list content" rpm and dpkg commands.

Update September 16th, 2015: Added "Simulate installation of package" rpm and dpkg commands.

Update March 13th, 2019: Added "apt" short commands.

Update May 31st, 2019: Added "Show to which package a file belongs".

Update September 24th, 2020: Added "Remove unused packages"

Update December 19th, 2023: Added yum and dnf commands

Update January 17th, 2024: Added "Show contents of a package"

Update March 5th, 2024: Added "Show all versions of a package in repo(s)"

Update April 24th, 2024: Added "List dependencies of package file"

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Comments (newest first)

anon from wrote on Jan 11th, 2014:

The zypper equivalent for a distribution upgrade (apt-get dist-upgrade) is "zypper dup". See https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:System_upgrade

The Arch wiki has a similar comparison of more tools:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman_rosetta

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Alexander from Zürich wrote on Jun 12th, 2013:

Might be worth mentioning, that for Debian the "Update all packages" would rather be:

apt-get dist-upgrade

Because of the "all packages" there. Don't know how that compares to zypper.

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