Managing software installation with RPM files

An element of Linux administration that can provide almost a daily dose of entertainment is managing the life cycle of software on your CentOS desktops and servers; this includes installing, updating, and removing software that can take the form of programs, documentation, and drivers, as well as more or less anything that consists of one or more files within Linux. Installing software using RPM files is preferable to install scripts. With an RPM-based installation, we can always query the database for information regarding what is currently installed on the system. Software removal is simplified because we have an inventory of what was added by the package and will require removal. The big downside of RPM management is the dependency nightmare we can find ourselves in when we try to install an RPM file that requires other software. We may well be able to locate the required RPM but for certain, there will be more dependencies to trace when we...