DNF is a next generation package manager for RPM-based Linux distributions, commonly used in newest Fedora releases. DNF is a Yum succesor, which provides Yum backward compatibility, but one of aspects, which make DNF a powerful package manager is the ability to manage transaction history.
Using DNF, we can easily undo or redo RPM package upgrade, installation and removal. This gives us the opportunity to rollback the system, if we feel, that our recent RPM package operations disordered the system.
Below we presents, how to work with DNF transaction history on Fedora 24.
Example:
Let’s assume, that we mistakenly removed few packages from the system:
[root@fixxxer ~]# dnf remove nload iftop nethogs
Dependencies resolved.
===================================================================================================================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
===================================================================================================================================================================================
Removing:
iftop x86_64 1.0-0.12.pre4.fc24 @@commandline 97 k
nethogs x86_64 0.8.5-1.fc24 @@commandline 71 k
nload x86_64 0.7.4-7.fc24 @@commandline 166 k
Transaction Summary
===================================================================================================================================================================================
Remove 3 Packages
Installed size: 333 k
Is this ok [y/N]: yHow to check dnf transaction history in Fedora
The below command displays DNF transaction history starting from the latest transaction on top of the listing. It displays transaction IDs along with dates of transaction, types of actions performed and amounts of RPM packages altered:
[root@fixxxer ~]# dnf history
[root@fixxxer ~]# dnf history
ID | Command line | Date and time | Action(s) | Altered
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
88 | remove nload iftop netho | 2017-02-06 22:36 | Erase | 3
87 | update | 2017-02-06 21:19 | I, U | 10
86 | erase libxfce4util | 2017-02-06 21:17 | Erase | 2
85 | erase libxfce4ui | 2017-02-06 21:17 | Erase | 4
84 | history undo 81 | 2017-02-06 21:08 | Install | 1
83 | history undo 82 | 2017-02-06 21:08 | Install | 3
82 | erase libxfce4ui | 2017-02-06 21:07 | Erase | 3
...How to display dnf transaction info by transaction ID in Fedora
The latest transaction displayed on top of listing is our erroneous removal of three packages, we can display information about this transaction:
[root@fixxxer ~]# dnf history info 88
Transaction ID : 88
Begin time : Mon Feb 6 22:36:08 2017
Begin rpmdb : 2729:e0a8f752eaecfb040362ac6f9cc782ca057909a5
End time : 22:36:10 2017 (2 seconds)
End rpmdb : 2726:18555984349147116da4c9e95ab77d7a7a66ef8c
User : Grzegorz Juszczak
Return-Code : Success
Command Line : remove nload iftop nethogs
Transaction performed with:
Installed dnf-1.1.10-4.fc24.noarch @@commandline
Installed rpm-4.13.0-1.fc24.x86_64 @@commandline
Packages Altered:
Erase iftop-1.0-0.12.pre4.fc24.x86_64 @@commandline
Erase nethogs-0.8.5-1.fc24.x86_64 @@commandline
Erase nload-0.7.4-7.fc24.x86_64 @@commandlineHow to rollback dnf transaction in Fedora
Let’s rollback the latest transaction and using it’s ID and bring back the packages previously removed mistakenly:
[root@fixxxer ~]# dnf history undo 88
Last metadata expiration check: 2:39:37 ago on Mon Feb 6 20:04:15 2017.
Undoing transaction 88, from Mon Feb 6 22:36:08 2017
Erase iftop-1.0-0.12.pre4.fc24.x86_64 @@commandline
Erase nethogs-0.8.5-1.fc24.x86_64 @@commandline
Erase nload-0.7.4-7.fc24.x86_64 @@commandline
===============================================================================================================================================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
===============================================================================================================================================================================================================
Installing:
iftop x86_64 1.0-0.12.pre4.fc24 updates 55 k
nethogs x86_64 0.8.5-1.fc24 updates 43 k
nload x86_64 0.7.4-7.fc24 fedora 73 k
Transaction Summary
===============================================================================================================================================================================================================
Install 3 Packages
Total download size: 171 k
Installed size: 333 k
Is this ok [y/N]: yNote: RPM package update rollback or erroneous RPM installation rollback runs analogically to the above example.
How to redo (repeat) dnf transaction in Fedora
DNF transaction can be repeated as well using it’s ID:
[root@fixxxer ~]# dnf history redo 89
Last metadata expiration check: 2:50:04 ago on Mon Feb 6 20:04:15 2017.
Repeating transaction 89, from Mon Feb 6 22:44:03 2017
Install iftop-1.0-0.12.pre4.fc24.x86_64 @updates
Install nethogs-0.8.5-1.fc24.x86_64 @updates
Install nload-0.7.4-7.fc24.x86_64 @fedora
===============================================================================================================================================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
===============================================================================================================================================================================================================
Installing:
iftop x86_64 1.0-0.12.pre4.fc24 updates 55 k
nethogs x86_64 0.8.5-1.fc24 updates 43 k
nload x86_64 0.7.4-7.fc24 fedora 73 k
Transaction Summary
===============================================================================================================================================================================================================
Install 3 Packages
Total download size: 171 k
Installed size: 333 k
Is this ok [y/N]: yNote: DNF operation can be repeated, if it is possible to redo it due to the current state of RPMDB.
