Freshening a Package
From time to time, Red Hat issues
updated packages that correct functional or security-related problems
with released packages. You can use Red Hat Network, described later
in this chapter in Section 8.10, to
obtain and install updated packages. However, if you prefer, you can
download updated packages via FTP and install them using the
rpm command. Red Hat makes updated
packages available on the public FTP servers
ftp.redhat.com
and
updates.redhat.com
.
To install an updated package, use the -F flag, which stands for freshen. For instance, to install a updated version of the gv package, issue the command:
rpm -Fvh gv-3.5.8-19.i386.rpm
By specifying -F rather than -U, you instruct RPM to install the updated package only if an earlier version of the package is already present. This lets you use wildcards to specify entire sets of updated packages:
rpm -Fvh *.rpm
This command will not install packages that aren’t already installed. But, it will install updated versions of any existing packages.
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