yum: List and Install Software Groups

yum package manager, and dnf package manager in later Red Hat Linux versions, is quite a capable tool. In addition to expertly resolving dependencies when installing and removing individual software packages (RPMs), yum can also be used to manage whole package groups.

List software groups with yum

Here's how to get a list of available software groups and also get an indication of which groups you already have installed in your RHEL:

[root@rhel8 ~]# yum group list
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Last metadata expiration check: 0:02:40 ago on Tue 29 Jan 2019 18:38:39 EST.
Available Environment Groups:
Custom Operating System
Server
Installed Environment Groups:
Minimal Install
Workstation
Available Groups:
.NET Core Development
RPM Development Tools
Container Management
Smart Card Support
Scientific Support
Security Tools
Development Tools
System Tools
Headless Management
Network Servers
Legacy UNIX Compatibility
Graphical Administration Tools

Install a software group with yum

Simply using the entries from the list in previous section, you can install software groups like shown below.

IMPORTANT: because these are descriptive names and they have multiple words in mostt group's names, you must use quotes:

[root@rhel8 ~]# yum group install "Development Tools"
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Last metadata expiration check: 0:02:59 ago on Tue 29 Jan 2019 18:38:39 EST.
Dependencies resolved
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Package Arch Version Repository Size
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Installing group/module packages:
source-highlight x86_64 3.1.8-16.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 657 k
autoconf noarch 2.69-27.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 710 k
perl-Fedora-VSP noarch 0.001-9.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 25 k
patchutils x86_64 0.3.4-10.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 115 k
libtool x86_64 2.4.6-25.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 709 k
bison x86_64 3.0.4-10.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 688 k
flex x86_64 2.6.1-9.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 320 k
valgrind x86_64 1:3.14.0-1.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 11 M
pesign x86_64 0.112-25.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 181 k
gdb x86_64 8.2-3.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 296 k
ctags x86_64 5.8-22.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 170 k
ltrace x86_64 0.7.91-27.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 160 k
systemtap x86_64 4.0-0.20180830git.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 17 k
perl-generators noarch 1.10-7.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 18 k
byacc x86_64 1.9.20170709-4.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 91 k
rpm-build x86_64 4.14.2-4.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 166 k
asciidoc noarch 8.6.10-0.5.20180627gitf7c2274.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 216 k
automake noarch 1.16.1-6.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 713 k
intltool noarch 0.51.0-11.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 66 k
diffstat x86_64 1.61-7.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 44 k
make x86_64 1:4.2.1-9.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-beta-rpms 498 k
rpm-sign x86_64 4.14.2-4.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-beta-rpms 74 k
Installing dependencies:
perl-Thread-Queue noarch 3.13-1.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 24 k
docbook-style-xsl noarch 1.79.2-7.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 1.6 M
libXaw x86_64 1.0.13-10.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 194 k
dyninst x86_64 9.3.2-12.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 3.7 M
gdb-headless x86_64 8.2-3.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 3.7 M
guile x86_64 5:2.0.14-7.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 3.5 M
graphviz x86_64 2.40.1-37.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 1.7 M
systemtap-runtime x86_64 4.0-0.20180830git.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 461 k
libipt x86_64 1.6.1-8.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 50 k
perl-XML-Parser x86_64 2.44-10.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 226 k
libdwarf x86_64 20180129-4.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 172 k
systemtap-devel x86_64 4.0-0.20180830git.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 2.1 M
systemtap-client x86_64 4.0-0.20180830git.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 3.5 M
libatomic_ops x86_64 7.6.2-3.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 38 k
docbook-dtds noarch 1.0-69.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 377 k
nss-tools x86_64 3.39.0-1.0.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 558 k
libbabeltrace x86_64 1.5.4-2.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 201 k
gc x86_64 7.6.4-3.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 109 k
xorg-x11-fonts-ISO8859-1-100dpi noarch 7.5-19.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 1.1 M
elfutils x86_64 0.174-1.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-beta-rpms 340 k
patch x86_64 2.7.6-7.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-beta-rpms 138 k
m4 x86_64 1.4.18-7.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-beta-rpms 223 k
sgml-common noarch 0.6.3-50.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-beta-rpms 62 k
kernel-debug-devel x86_64 4.18.0-32.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-beta-rpms 12 M
gettext-devel x86_64 0.19.8.1-14.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-beta-rpms 331 k
gettext-common-devel noarch 0.19.8.1-14.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-beta-rpms 419 k
mokutil x86_64 1:0.3.0-9.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-beta-rpms 44 k
Installing weak dependencies:
gcc-gdb-plugin x86_64 8.2.1-3.3.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-beta-rpms 115 k

Transaction Summary
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Install 50 Packages

Total download size: 53 M
Installed size: 193 M
Is this ok [y/N]:

That's it for today! Will show you a few more really cool tricks with yum some other time.

See Also

• Red Hat Linux
• List Red Hat subscriptions
• How To: fix corrupted yum database
• How To: use yum behind proxy

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