Use yum to download RPM packages without installing

Method One: Yum

The Yum command itself can be used to download a RPM package, and the standard Yum command provides a--downloadonly (download only) option to achieve this purpose.

Yum Install--downloadonly <package-name>

By default, a downloaded RPM package is saved in the following directory:

/var/cache/yum/x86_64/[centos/fedora-version]/[repository]/packages

The above [repository] indicates the name of the source warehouse where the package was downloaded (for example: base, fedora, updates)

If you want to download a package to a specified directory (for example,/tmp):

Yum Install--downloadonly--downloaddir=/tmp <package-name>

Note that if the downloaded package contains any dependencies that are not satisfied, Yum will download all dependency packages but will not be installed.

Another important thing is that in Centos/rhel 6 or earlier, you need to install a separate Yum plugin (named yum-plugin-downloadonly) to use the--downloadonly command option:

Yum Install Yum-plugin-downloadonly

If you do not have the plugin, you will get the following error when using Yum:

1. Command line error:no such option:--downloadonly
   

Method Two: Yumdownloader

Another way to download the RPM package is through a dedicated package download tool,--yumdownloader. This tool is a subset of the Yum Toolkit, which contains a suite of help tools for managing yum packages.

Yum Install Yum-utils

Download an RPM Package:

Yumdownloader <package-name>

The downloaded package is saved in the current directory. You need to use root permissions because Yumdownloader will update the package index file during the download process. Unlike the Yum command, any dependent packages are not downloaded.

Use yum to download RPM packages without installing