How to Check RPM Package Dependencies on RHEL/CentOS/Fedora

On Red Hat‑based Linux systems, an RPM package must have its required dependencies installed before it can function correctly. While tools like yum or dnf hide these relationships from end users, system administrators need to understand and manage them.

This guide shows how to inspect RPM package dependencies, whether the package is already installed or not.

Method 1: Using the rpm command

The rpm -qR command lists all dependencies of an installed package.

Note: This works only for packages that are already installed. To check an uninstalled package, download the RPM file first (without installing it).

Install yumdownloader to fetch RPM files without installing: $ sudo yum install yum-utils Download the RPM for tcpdump: $ yumdownloader --destdir=. tcpdump Show its dependencies:

# rpm -qpR tcpdump-4.4.0-2.fc19.i686.rpm

Method 2: Using repoquery

The repoquery tool (part of yum-utils) lists dependencies regardless of whether the package is installed. $ sudo yum install yum-utils Display dependencies for a package:

$ repoquery --requires --resolve <package-name>

Ensure network connectivity so repoquery can query the enabled Yum repositories.

Method 3: Using rpmreaper

rpmreaper

provides an ncurses interface that visualizes installed packages and their dependency trees. $ sudo yum install rpmreaper Run the tool: $ rpmreaper Within the interface, use the arrow keys to navigate, press r to view a package's dependencies, L to identify leaf packages, o for intermediate nodes, and b to see reverse dependencies.

Method 4: Using rpmdep and Graphviz

The rpmdep command generates a complete dependency graph for installed packages, which can be visualized with dot (Graphviz). $ sudo yum install rpmorphan graphviz On CentOS, install the tools manually:

$ wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/rpmorphan/rpmorphan/1.14/rpmorphan-1.14-1.noarch.rpm
$ sudo rpm -ivh rpmorphan-1.14-1.noarch.rpm
$ sudo yum install graphviz

Generate a DOT file for a package (e.g., gzip) and convert it to PNG:

$ rpmdep.pl -dot gzip
$ dot -Tpng -o output.png gzip.dot