Using YUM history to see package changes#
When you install or update packages on your system, then changes may occur that were not expected. Recent security updates on a server and left Nagios in a failed state, but what exactly happened, and can it be traced back as yum-cron installs all required security updates? Luckily YUM keeps a history database of all actions and with yum history can you list all transactions.
$ sudo yum history list all
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
ID | Login user | Date and time | Action(s) | Altered
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15 | root <root> | 2019-02-02 07:30 | Update | 2
14 | root <root> | 2019-01-05 07:52 | Update | 50
13 | System ... <sysadmin> | 2018-11-04 20:45 | I, U | 62
12 | Ansible ... <ansible> | 2018-11-04 01:36 | Install | 4
11 | root <root> | 2018-10-20 04:21 | Update | 2
10 | root <root> | 2018-10-06 07:45 | Update | 2
9 | System ... <sysadmin> | 2018-09-15 08:06 | I, U | 9
8 | System ... <sysadmin> | 2018-09-12 03:19 | Install | 1
7 | Ansible ... <ansible> | 2018-09-09 13:19 | Install | 1
6 | Ansible ... <ansible> | 2018-09-09 13:14 | Install | 29
5 | Ansible ... <ansible> | 2018-09-06 14:11 | I, U | 81
4 | Ansible ... <ansible> | 2018-09-06 13:21 | Install | 1
3 | Ansible ... <ansible> | 2018-09-06 13:20 | Install | 51
2 | Ansible ... <ansible> | 2018-09-06 13:14 | Install | 1
1 | System <unset> | 2018-09-06 03:17 | Install | 275
As transaction 15 was the latest and only transaction before the defect occurred it is the one to look into. With yum history info the details of the transaction can be shown. It shows when and who triggered the transaction, but also with which version of RPM, YUM, and which plugins for YUM were used. Most importantly it also shows which package was updated with versions used and from which repository. This narrows the search down to the packages shown as updated and sees what they changed on the system.
$ sudo yum history info 15
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Transaction ID : 15
Begin time : Sat Feb 2 07:30:58 2019
Begin rpmdb : 450:5f24b4b6a7aaef9f42874d6c8643385133020181
End time : 07:31:04 2019 (6 seconds)
End rpmdb : 450:246b0b638aa8b6b851529eb1b040714b7149d0e9
User : root <root>
Return-Code : Success
Transaction performed with:
Installed rpm-4.11.3-32.el7.x86_64 @anaconda
Installed yum-3.4.3-158.el7.centos.noarch @anaconda
Installed yum-plugin-fastestmirror-1.1.31-46.el7_5.noarch @updates
Packages Altered:
Updated nagios-4.3.4-5.el7.x86_64 @epel
Update 4.4.3-1.el7.x86_64 @epel
Updated nagios-common-4.3.4-5.el7.x86_64 @epel
Update 4.4.3-1.el7.x86_64 @epel
Red Hat Linux 8 will be using dnf instead of yum like Fedora 18 and later, but you don’t have to relearning anything as you can use dnf in the same way as yum and with the same parameters for now.