dnf

The dnf module offers pseudo-declarative package and repository management using dnf5.

Features

This module is capable of:

Repository Management
- Enabling/disabling COPR repos
- Adding repo files via url or local files
- Removing repos by specifying the repo name
- Automatically cleaning up any repos added in the module
- Adding keys for repos via url or local files
- Adding non-free repos like rpmfusion and negativo17
Package Management
- Installing packages from RPM urls, local RPM files, or package repositories
- Installing packages from a specific repository
- Removing packages
- Replacing installed packages with versions from another repository
Optfix
- Setup symlinks to /opt/ to allow certain packages to install

Repository Management

Add Repository Files

Add repos from
- any https:// or http:// URL
- any .repo files located in ./files/dnf/ of your image repo
If the OS version is included in the file name or URL, you can substitute it with the %OS_VERSION% magic string
- The version is gathered from the VERSION_ID field of /usr/lib/os-release

type: dnf
repos:
  files:
    - https://brave-browser-rpm-release.s3.brave.com/brave-browser.repo
    - custom-file.repo # file path for /files/dnf/custom-file.repo

Add COPR Repositories

COPR contains software repositories maintained by fellow Fedora users
The chroot can be specified for the repo. The chroot is basically the OS in which the package was built.

type: dnf
repos:
  copr:
    - atim/starship
    - name: trixieua/mutter-patched
      chroot: fedora-42-x86_64

Disable/Enable Repositories

type: dnf
repos:
  files:
    add:
      - repo1
      - repo2
    remove:
      - repo3
  copr:
    enable:
      - ryanabx/cosmic-epoch
      - name: trixieua/mutter-patched
        chroot: fedora-42-x86_64
    disable:
      - kylegospo/oversteer

Add Repository Keys

type: dnf
repos:
  keys:
    - https://example.com/repo-1.asc
    - key2.asc

Add Non-free Repositories

This allows you to add a commonly used non-free repository. You can choose between negativo17 and rpmfusion. Your choice will also disable the opposite repository if it was already enabled.

type: dnf
repos:
  nonfree: negativo17

Options

There is currently only one option that can be specified in the repository management section.

cleanup automatically cleans up repositories added in this section
- Disabled by default

type: dnf
repos:
  cleanup: true

Package Management

Installing

Packages from Any Repository

type: dnf
install:
  packages:
    - package-1
    - package-2

Exclude packages

Optionally prevent packages from being installed. This is useful when a package pulls in another package as a dependency that you don’t want to install.

type: dnf
install:
  packages:
    - niri
  exclude:
    - alacritty
    - waybar
    - fuzzel

Packages from URL or File

If the OS version is included in the file name or URL, you can substitute it with the %OS_VERSION% magic string
- The version is gathered from the VERSION_ID field of /usr/lib/os-release

type: dnf
install:
  packages:
    - https://example.com/package-%OS_VERSION%.rpm
    - custom-file.rpm # install files/dnf/custom-file.rpm from the image repository

Packages from Specific Repositories

Set repo to the name of the RPM repository, not the name or URL of the repo file

type: dnf
install:
  packages:
    - repo: copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:custom-user:custom-repo
      packages:
        - package-1

Package Groups

See list of all package groups by running dnf5 group list --hidden on a live system
Set the option with-optional to true to enable installation of optional packages in package groups

type: dnf
group-install:
  with-optional: true
  packages:
    - de-package-1
    - wm-package-2

Replace Packages

You can specify one or more packages that will be swapped from another repo
This process uses distro-sync to perform this operation
All packages not specifying old: and new: will be swapped in a single transaction

type: dnf
replace:
  - from-repo: copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:custom-user:custom-repo
    packages:
      - package-1

If a package has a different name in another repo, you can use the old: and new: properties
This process uses swap to perform this operation for each set
This process is ran before distro-sync

type: dnf
replace:
  - from-repo: repo-1
    packages:
      - old: old-package-2
        new: new-package-2

Options

The following options can specified in the package installation, group installation, and package replacement sections.

install-weak-deps enables installation of the weak dependencies of RPMs
- Enabled by default
- Corresponds to the --setopt=install_weak_deps=True / --setopt=install_weak_deps=False flag
skip-unavailable enables skipping packages unavailable in repositories without erroring out
- Disabled by default
- Corresponds to the --skip-unavailable flag
skip-broken enables skipping broken packages without erroring out
- Disabled by default
- Corresponds to the --skip-broken flag
allow-erasing allows removing packages in case of dependency problems during package installation
- Disabled by default
- Corresponds to the --allowerasing flag
exclude allows excluding packages from being installed during package installation
- Empty by default
- Corresponds to the --exclude flag

type: dnf
install:
  skip-unavailable: true
  exclude:
    ...
  packages:
    ...
group-install:
  skip-broken: true
  exclude:
    ...
  packages:
    ...
replace:
  - from-repo: repo-1
    allow-erasing: true
    exclude:
      ...
    packages:
      ...

Removing

Packages

You can set the auto-remove option to false to only remove the specific package and leave unused dependencies

type: dnf
remove:
  auto-remove: false
  packages:
    - package-1
    - package-2

Package Groups

type: dnf
group-remove:
  packages:
    - de-package-2

Optfix

Optfix was an option that existed to allow installation of programs into /opt/ at build-time. With BlueBuild CLI version v0.9.23 and above, this fix happens automatically. The option is now deprecated and does nothing

Note

This documentation page uses the installation of the Brave Browser as an example of a package that required a custom repository and a custom key to install properly. This is not an official endorsement of the Brave Browser by the BlueBuild project.

Example configuration

type: dnf
repos:
  cleanup: true # clean up added repos after module is done
  files:
    - https://brave-browser-rpm-release.s3.brave.com/brave-browser.repo
    - fury.repo
  copr:
    - atim/starship
    - trixieua/mutter-patched
  keys:
    - https://brave-browser-rpm-release.s3.brave.com/brave-core.asc
  nonfree: rpmfusion
install:
  skip-unavailable: true # skip unavailable packages
  packages:
    - repo: brave-browser
      packages:
        - brave-browser
    - starship
    - https://github.com/Eugeny/tabby/releases/download/v1.0.209/tabby-1.0.209-linux-x64.rpm
    - kubectl.rpm
  exclude:
    - alacritty
remove:
  packages:
    - firefox
    - firefox-langpacks
replace:
  - from-repo: copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:trixieua:mutter-patched
    skip-unavailable: true # skip unavailable packages
    packages:
      - mutter
      - mutter-common
      - gdm
group-install:
  with-optional: true # install optional packages from group
  packages:
    - cosmic-desktop
    - cosmic-desktop-apps
    - window-managers
group-remove:
  packages:
    - development-tools

Configuration options

`repos:`

object

`cleanup:`

boolean

Cleans up the repos added in the same step after packages are installed.

`files:`

enum with valid values:

array of string
object
- add[]: array of string List of repo files/URLs to add.
- remove[]: array of string List of repos to disable. This must be the ID of the repo as seen in dnf5 repolist.

List of paths or URLs to .repo files to import

`copr:`

enum with valid values:

array of enum with valid values:
- string
- object
  - name: string The COPR repo’s name
  - chroot: string The chroot for the COPR repo
object
- enable[]: array of enum with valid values:
  - string
  - object
    - name: string The COPR repo’s name
    - chroot: string The chroot for the COPR repo List of COPR repos to enable
- disable[]: array of string List of COPR repos to disable

List of COPR project repos to add. You can also specify 2 lists instead to ‘enable’ or ‘disable’ COPR repos.

`keys[]:`

array of string

List of links to key files to import for installing from custom repositories.

`nonfree:`

enum with valid values:

negativo17
rpmfusion

Enable one of the nonfree repos.

This allows you to enable one of the nonfree repos. However, only one can be enabled at a time so if one is enabled, the other will be disabled if it is already enabled.

List of links to .repo files to download into /etc/yum.repos.d/.

`optfix[]:`

array of string

DEPRECATED: List of folder names under /opt/ to enable for installing into.

`group-remove:`

object

`packages[]:`

array of string

List of RPM groups to remove.

Configuration of RPM groups removal.

`group-install:`

object

`packages[]:`

array of string

List of RPM groups to install.

`with-optional:`

boolean

Include optional packages from group.

`install-weak-deps:`

boolean

Whether to install weak dependencies.

`skip-unavailable:`

boolean

Whether to continue with the install if there are no packages available in the repository.

`skip-broken:`

boolean

Whether to continue with the install if there are broken packages.

`allow-erasing:`

boolean

Whether to allow erasing (removal) of packages in case of dependency problems.

`exclude[]:`

array of string

A list of packages to prevent from being installed

Configuration of RPM groups install.

`remove:`

object

`packages[]:`

array of string

List of RPM packages to remove.

`auto-remove:`

boolean

Whether to remove unused dependencies during removal operation.

Configuration of RPM packages removal.

`install:`

object

`packages[]:`

array of enum with valid values:

string
object
- repo: string The repo to use when installing packages
- packages[]: array of string List of RPM packages to install.
- install-weak-deps: boolean Whether to install weak dependencies.
- skip-unavailable: boolean Whether to continue with the install if there are no packages available in the repository.
- skip-broken: boolean Whether to continue with the install if there are broken packages.
- allow-erasing: boolean Whether to allow erasing (removal) of packages in case of dependency problems.
- exclude[]: array of string A list of packages to prevent from being installed

List of RPM packages to install.

`install-weak-deps:`

boolean

Whether to install weak dependencies.

`skip-unavailable:`

boolean

Whether to continue with the install if there are no packages available in the repository.

`skip-broken:`

boolean

Whether to continue with the install if there are broken packages.

`allow-erasing:`

boolean

Whether to allow erasing (removal) of packages in case of dependency problems.

`exclude[]:`

array of string

A list of packages to prevent from being installed

Configuration of RPM packages install.

`replace[]:`

array of object

`from-repo:`

string

URL to the source COPR repo for the new packages.

`packages[]:`

array of enum with valid values:

string
object
- old: string The package to be replaced.
- new: string The package to replace with.
- allow-erasing: boolean Whether to allow erasing (removal) of packages in case of dependency problems.

List of packages to replace using packages from the defined repo.

`install-weak-deps:`

boolean

Whether to install weak dependencies.

`skip-unavailable:`

boolean

Whether to continue with the install if there are no packages available in the repository.

`skip-broken:`

boolean

Whether to continue with the install if there are broken packages.

`allow-erasing:`

boolean

Whether to allow erasing (removal) of packages in case of dependency problems.

`exclude[]:`

array of string

A list of packages to prevent from being installed

List of configurations for replacing packages from another repo.