Emergency Extraction: When RPM Bites the Dust

Luke Hebert

- One minute read - 132 words

Need to peek inside an RPM package without installing it? rpm2cpio converts the package into a cpio archive, and cpio extracts the files into your current directory. This is handy for inspecting configuration files, scripts, or binaries before committing to a full install.

Usage

rpm2cpio myrpmfile.rpm | cpio -idmv
  • -i tells cpio to extract (in) the archive.
  • -d creates directories as needed.
  • -m preserves modification times.
  • -v prints each file as it is extracted.

Tips

  • Run the command from the directory where you want the extracted files to land.
  • If you only need to list the contents without extracting, swap -idmv for -t:
rpm2cpio myrpmfile.rpm | cpio -t
  • On systems where rpm2cpio is not installed by default, it typically ships in the rpm or rpm-tools package depending on your distribution.