Installing Software

Installing Packages with rum

rum is RakuOS's package manager. It works much like dnf: in fact dnf and dnf5 on RakuOS are just other names for rum. Packages you install are added on top of the system and work right away, without a reboot.

The basics

rum search firefox             # find packages
rum info htop                  # details about a package
sudo rum install htop          # install a package (and what it needs)
sudo rum remove htop           # remove it again
rum list                       # packages you've installed
rum list --base                # the system image's own packages

Commands that change the system need sudo. --dry-run shows what install, remove or upgrade would do without changing anything.

Is a package installed, and where?

rum list --base | grep firefox   # comes with the system image
rum list | grep firefox          # you installed it

The first command finds packages that are part of RakuOS itself, the second the ones you added. rum origin firefox answers the same for one exact name. Use these instead of rpm -q or rpm -qa: rpm lists both kinds together and can't tell you which is which.

Updating

  • sudo rum system-upgrade updates everything: your packages, your Flatpaks and the system image. Reboot afterwards. This is the one to use.
  • sudo rum upgrade updates only the packages you installed, never the system itself.

See Updating RakuOS.

Things that work differently from dnf

  • The system's own packages can't be changed with rum. Installing something the image already has prints already installed (base image or overlay) — skipping; upgrading it prints provided by the base image … skipping. Newer versions of system packages come with the next system update.
  • Your installed packages are remembered. RakuOS keeps the list in /var/lib/rakuos/packages.list and reinstalls from it when the system needs it, for example after moving to a new RakuOS release or switching desktop.
  • Apps that install into /opt (Google Chrome, Brave and others) are moved to /usr/lib/opt/<name> with a link at /opt/<name>. That's normal.
  • No offline upgrades. dnf system-upgrade download and dnf offline-upgrade don't exist here; new releases arrive as a new system image.

To check where a package comes from:

rum origin htop      # Base (the system image), Overlay (you installed it) or NotInstalled

More commands, options and error messages are in the rum reference.