DNF (software)

Last updated
Dandified Yum
Developer Fedora Project (Red Hat)
Initial release18 January 2012;13 years ago (2012-01-18) [1]
Stable release
5.3.0.0 [2]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 4 November 2025;35 days ago (4 November 2025)
Repository https://github.com/rpm-software-management/dnf, [3] https://github.com/rpm-software-management/dnf5 [4]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Written in
Operating system Linux, IBM AIX
Platform RPM
Available inEnglish
Type Package management system
License GPLv2+ & LGPLv2.1+ & New BSD License
Website rpm-software-management.github.io

DNF (abbreviation for Dandified YUM) [7] [8] [9] is a package manager for Red Hat-based Linux distributions and derivatives. DNF was introduced in Fedora 18 in 2013 as a replacement for yum; [10] it has been the default package manager since Fedora 22 in 2015 [11] and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 in 2019 [12] and is also an alternative package manager for Mageia. DNF performs package management tasks on top of RPM, and supporting libraries.

Contents

Usage

The DNF package manager works similarly to other package managers. [13] Its core usage works very similarly to the Apt Package Manager, such as install, remove, update, and upgrade. [14] [13]

Usage for basic command is as follows: [13]

sudo dnf install <package_name>

sudo dnf remove <package_name>

sudo dnf update

sudo dnf upgrade

History

Perceived deficiencies of yum (which DNF is intended to address) include poor performance, high memory usage, and the slowness of its iterative dependency resolution. [15] DNF uses libsolv, an external dependency resolver (developed by openSUSE). [15]

DNF was originally written in Python, but as of 2016, efforts were under way to port it to C and move most functionality from Python code into the new libdnf library[ needs update ]. [16] In 2018, the DNF team announced the decision to move libdnf from C to C++. [17] [18] libdnf is already used by PackageKit, a Linux distribution-agnostic package system abstraction library, even though the library doesn't have most of DNF's features. [19]

Since the launch of Fedora Linux 41, DNF5 is the new default packaging tool. This release features new performance enhancements, updated terminal output, and fully integrated modularity. [20]

Adoption

DNF has been the default command-line package manager for Fedora since version 22, which was released in May 2015. [11] The libdnf library is used as a package backend in PackageKit, [19] which offers a graphical user interface (GUI). Later, dnfdragora was developed for Fedora 27 as another alternative graphical front-end of DNF. [21] [22] DNF has also been available as an alternate package manager for Mageia Linux since version 6 and may become the default sometime in the future. [23]

In Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and by extension, AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux, yum is an alias for dnf. [12]

References

  1. ↑ 0.6.4-1 for rpm-software-management/dnf dnf on GitHub
  2. ↑ "5.3.0.0". 4 November 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
  3. ↑ "GitHub - rpm-software-management/dnf: Package manager based on libdnf and libsolv. Replaces YUM". GitHub. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  4. ↑ "GitHub - rpm-software-management/dnf5: Next-generation RPM package management system". GitHub. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "The dnf Open Source Project on Open Hub: Languages Page". Open Hub. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "The dnf5 Open Source Project on Open Hub: Languages Page". Open Hub. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  7. ↑ "DNF". Fedora Project Wiki. Archived from the original on 2018-10-14. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
  8. ↑ "What does DNF stand for". DNF User's FAQ. Archived from the original on 2018-10-14. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
  9. ↑ README.rst · rpm-software-management/dnf on GitHub
  10. ↑ Byfield, Bruce. "Will DNF Replace Yum?". Linux Magazine . Archived from the original on 2015-09-26. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  11. 1 2 "Fedora 22 Released, See What's New [Workstation]". WebUpd8. 2015-05-26. Archived from the original on 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  12. 1 2 Matteson, Scott (2019-03-30). "What's new with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and Red Hat Virtualization". TechRepublic. Archived from the original on 2019-09-24. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  13. 1 2 3 "Dnf Package Manager - Documentation". docs.rockylinux.org. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  14. ↑ Djere, Rex (2025-10-23). "The Histories, Similarities and Differences of the APT and DNF GNU/Linux Package Managers". Djere.com. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  15. 1 2 Edge, Jake (2014-01-15). "DNF and Yum in Fedora". LWN.net. Archived from the original on 2015-09-30. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  16. ↑ Šilhan, Jan (2016-02-24). "DNF into C initiative started". DNF blog. Archived from the original on 2017-07-02. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  17. ↑ Mach, Daniel; Mracek, Jaroslav (22 March 2018). "Announcing DNF 3 development". DNF: A Blog of The DNF Team. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  18. ↑ Edge, Jake (28 March 2018). "DNF 3: better performance and a move to C++". LWN.net . Archived from the original on October 14, 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  19. 1 2 Aleksandersen, Daniel (2017-07-05). "Use DNF rather than PackageKit on Fedora". Ctrl blog. Archived from the original on 2017-08-07. Retrieved 2017-08-07.
  20. ↑ "Changes/ReplaceDnfWithDnf5". Archived from the original on 2023-11-12. Retrieved 2023-11-12.
  21. ↑ "Changes/Replace yumex-dnf with dnfdragora - Fedora Project Wiki". fedoraproject.org. Archived from the original on 2021-09-27. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  22. ↑ "F27 Self Contained Change: Replace Yumex-DNF with dnfdragora - devel - Fedora Mailing-Lists". lists.fedoraproject.org. Archived from the original on 2021-09-27. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  23. ↑ Larabel, Michael (2016-09-05). "Mageia To Offer DNF, But Will Keep Using URPMI By Default". Phoronix. Archived from the original on 2017-12-06. Retrieved 2017-12-04.
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