LCA Package Management & Software Installation 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which command compiles and installs software from source code using the traditional UNIX build method?
- ./configure && make && make install (Correct answer)
- cmake && build && install
- autogen.sh && gcc install
- build-essentials && make all
Correct answer: ./configure && make && make install
The classic source install sequence runs configure to check dependencies, make to compile, and make install to copy binaries to the system.
Question 2: What does the 'rpm -e' command do?
- Erases (uninstalls) a specified package (Correct answer)
- Exports a package to a file
- Edits a package's metadata
- Evaluates package dependencies
Correct answer: Erases (uninstalls) a specified package
rpm -e (erase) removes an installed package from the system while checking for dependent packages.
Question 3: What is the '/etc/yum.repos.d/' directory used for?
- Storing .repo configuration files that define YUM/DNF package repositories (Correct answer)
- Caching downloaded repository metadata
- Storing installed repository packages
- Logging repository access history
Correct answer: Storing .repo configuration files that define YUM/DNF package repositories
Each .repo file in /etc/yum.repos.d/ defines one or more repositories with their URLs, GPG keys, and enabled status.
Question 4: Which apt command removes a package along with its configuration files?
- apt purge <package> (Correct answer)
- apt remove --config <package>
- apt delete <package>
- apt clean <package>
Correct answer: apt purge <package>
'apt purge' removes the package and all its system-wide configuration files, unlike 'apt remove' which leaves configs behind.
Question 5: What information does 'rpm -qi <package>' display?
- Detailed package information including version, architecture, description, and install date (Correct answer)
- A list of files installed by the package
- The package's changelog entries only
- Package installation dependencies only
Correct answer: Detailed package information including version, architecture, description, and install date
rpm -qi (query info) shows package metadata such as name, version, release, architecture, size, description, and installation date.
Question 6: What is the purpose of 'apt-get autoclean' compared to 'apt-get clean'?
- autoclean removes only obsolete cached packages; clean removes all cached packages (Correct answer)
- autoclean removes all caches automatically; clean requires confirmation
- autoclean cleans dependency caches; clean cleans package caches
- They are identical commands with different names
Correct answer: autoclean removes only obsolete cached packages; clean removes all cached packages
apt-get autoclean removes cached .deb files for packages that are no longer downloadable (obsolete), while apt-get clean removes all cached .deb files.
Question 7: When building an RPM package, which directory structure is expected under the RPM build root?
- BUILD, RPMS, SOURCES, SPECS, SRPMS (Correct answer)
- src, bin, lib, doc, spec
- input, output, build, release, source
- compile, package, install, test, publish
Correct answer: BUILD, RPMS, SOURCES, SPECS, SRPMS
The rpmbuild process expects the standard directory structure: SOURCES for tarballs, SPECS for spec files, BUILD for compilation, RPMS for binary RPMs, and SRPMS for source RPMs.
LCA Package Management & Software Installation 5
Which command compiles and installs software from source code using the traditional UNIX build method?