How To Download A RPM Package With All Dependencies In CentOS, Fedora, RHEL, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux

We can download any package using curl or wget commands, right? However, these commands won't download the required dependencies. You may need to spend some time to manually search and download the dependencies required by the package to install. Well, not anymore! In this brief tutorial, let us see how to download a RPM package with all dependencies in CentOS. I tested this guide on CentOS 7, although the same steps might work on other RPM based systems such as RHEL, Fedora, AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux.

Download a RPM package with all dependencies in CentOS

We can do this in two methods. We are going to use Downloadonly plugin in the first method.

1. Download RPM packages with all dependencies using "Downloadonly" plugin

We can easily download any RPM package with all dependencies using "Downloadonly" plugin for yum command.

To install Downloadonly plugin, run the following command as root user.

# yum install yum-plugin-downloadonly

Now, run the following command to download a RPM package.

# yum install --downloadonly <package-name>

By default, this command will download and save the packages in /var/cache/yum/ location. However, you can download and save the packages in any location of your choice using "--downloaddir" option.

# yum install --downloadonly --downloaddir=<directory> <package-name>

Example:

# yum install --downloadonly --downloaddir=/root/mypackages/ httpd

Sample output:

Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: centos.excellmedia.net
 * epel: epel.mirror.angkasa.id
 * extras: centos.excellmedia.net
 * updates: centos.excellmedia.net
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: httpd-tools = 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 for package: httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: /etc/mime.types for package: httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libaprutil-1.so.0()(64bit) for package: httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libapr-1.so.0()(64bit) for package: httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package apr.x86_64 0:1.4.8-3.el7 will be installed
---> Package apr-util.x86_64 0:1.5.2-6.el7 will be installed
---> Package httpd-tools.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be installed
---> Package mailcap.noarch 0:2.1.41-2.el7 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

=======================================================================================================================================
 Package Arch Version Repository Size
=======================================================================================================================================
Installing:
 httpd x86_64 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 updates 2.7 M
Installing for dependencies:
 apr x86_64 1.4.8-3.el7 base 103 k
 apr-util x86_64 1.5.2-6.el7 base 92 k
 httpd-tools x86_64 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 updates 83 k
 mailcap noarch 2.1.41-2.el7 base 31 k

Transaction Summary
=======================================================================================================================================
Install 1 Package (+4 Dependent packages)

Total download size: 3.0 M
Installed size: 10 M
Background downloading packages, then exiting:
(1/5): apr-1.4.8-3.el7.x86_64.rpm | 103 kB 00:00:01 
(2/5): apr-util-1.5.2-6.el7.x86_64.rpm | 92 kB 00:00:01 
(3/5): mailcap-2.1.41-2.el7.noarch.rpm | 31 kB 00:00:01 
(4/5): httpd-tools-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm | 83 kB 00:00:01 
(5/5): httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm | 2.7 MB 00:00:09 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 331 kB/s | 3.0 MB 00:00:09 
exiting because "Download Only" specified

Now go the location that you specified in the above command. You will see there the downloaded package with all dependencies. In my case, I have downloaded the packages in /root/mypackages/ directory.

Let us verify the contents.

# ls /root/mypackages/

Sample output:

apr-1.4.8-3.el7.x86_64.rpm
apr-util-1.5.2-6.el7.x86_64.rpm
httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm
httpd-tools-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm
mailcap-2.1.41-2.el7.noarch.rpm

As you see in the above output, the package httpd has been downloaded with all dependencies.

Please note that this plugin is applicable for "yum install/yum update" and not for "yum groupinstall". By default this plugin will download the latest available packages in the repository. You can however download a particular version by specifying the version.

Example:

# yum install --downloadonly --downloaddir=/root/mypackages/ httpd-2.2.6-40.el7

Also, you can download multiple packages at once as shown below.

# yum install --downloadonly --downloaddir=/root/mypackages/ httpd vsftpd

Download - Free Guide: "10 Easy Ways to Restore Your Linux System"

2. Download RPM packages with all dependencies using "Yumdownloader" utility

Yumdownloader is a simple, yet useful command-line utility that downloads any RPM package along with all required dependencies in one go.

Install Yumdownloader using the following command as root user.

# yum install yum-utils

Once installed, run the following command to download a package, for example httpd.

# yumdownloader httpd

To download packages with all dependencies, use --resolve option:

# yumdownloader --resolve httpd

By default, Yumdownloader will download the packages in the current working directory.

To download packages along with all dependencies to a specific location, use --destdir option:

# yumdownloader --resolve --destdir=/root/mypackages/ httpd

Or

# yumdownloader --resolve --destdir /root/mypackages/ httpd

Sample output:

Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: centos.excellmedia.net
 * epel: epel.mirror.angkasa.id
 * extras: centos.excellmedia.net
 * updates: centos.excellmedia.net
--> Running transaction check
---> Package httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: httpd-tools = 2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 for package: httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: /etc/mime.types for package: httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libaprutil-1.so.0()(64bit) for package: httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libapr-1.so.0()(64bit) for package: httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package apr.x86_64 0:1.4.8-3.el7 will be installed
---> Package apr-util.x86_64 0:1.5.2-6.el7 will be installed
---> Package httpd-tools.x86_64 0:2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4 will be installed
---> Package mailcap.noarch 0:2.1.41-2.el7 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
(1/5): apr-util-1.5.2-6.el7.x86_64.rpm | 92 kB 00:00:01 
(2/5): mailcap-2.1.41-2.el7.noarch.rpm | 31 kB 00:00:02 
(3/5): apr-1.4.8-3.el7.x86_64.rpm | 103 kB 00:00:02 
(4/5): httpd-tools-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm | 83 kB 00:00:03 
(5/5): httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm | 2.7 MB 00:00:19

Let us verify whether packages have been downloaded in the specified location.

# ls /root/mypackages/

Sample output:

apr-1.4.8-3.el7.x86_64.rpm
apr-util-1.5.2-6.el7.x86_64.rpm
httpd-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm
httpd-tools-2.4.6-40.el7.centos.4.x86_64.rpm
mailcap-2.1.41-2.el7.noarch.rpm

Unlike Downloadonly plugin, Yumdownload can download the packages related to a particular group.

# yumdownloader "@Development Tools" --resolve --destdir /root/mypackages/

Personally, I prefer Yumdownloader over Downloadonly plugin for yum. But, both are easy and does the same job. You can pick one that suits you.