DNF5 by default uses the global configuration file at /etc/dnf/dnf.conf.
The configuration file has INI format consisting of section declaration and name=value options below each on separate line. There are two types of sections in the configuration files: main and repository. Main section defines all global configuration options and should be only one.
The repository sections define the configuration for each (remote or local) repository. The section name of the repository in brackets serve as repo ID reference and should be unique across configuration files. The allowed characters of repo ID string are lower and upper case alphabetic letters, digits, -, _, . and :. The minimal repository configuration file should aside from repo ID consists of baseurl, metalink or mirrorlist option definition.
If enabled, DNF5 allows downgrading packages while resolving dependencies.
Default: True.
If disabled, DNF5 will stick to the original vendor during RPM upgrades or downgrades. This preference, however, can be fine-tuned using Vendor change policies <#dnf5-vendor-change-policy-label>.
Default: True.
Warning:
If enabled DNF5 will assume No where it would normally prompt for confirmation from user input
Default: False.
If enabled DNF5 will assume Yes where it would normally prompt for confirmation from user input (see also defaultyes).
Default: False.
If True, instructs the solver to either use a package with the highest available version or fail. If False, do not fail if the latest version cannot be installed and go with the lower version.
Default: True.
Note:
Path to a directory used by various DNF5 subsystems for storing cache data including repositories metadata and downloaded packages. Has a reasonable root-writable default depending on the distribution. DNF5 needs to be able to create files and directories at this location.
Regular user default: ~/.cache/libdnf5.
For superuser the value is overwritten by system_cachedir option.
Can be all, metadata, none.
If set to all DNF5 will run entirely from system cache, will not update the cache and will use the system cache even if it is expired.
If set to metadata DNF5 will cache metadata only.
Default: none.
Note:
If enabled DNF5 should automatically expire metadata of repos, which are older than their corresponding configuration file (usually the dnf.conf file and the foo.repo file).
Default: True.
Note:
metadata_expire.
If enabled, DNF5 will remove dependencies that are no longer used during dnf remove. A package only qualifies for removal via clean_requirements_on_remove if it was installed through DNF5 but not on explicit user request, i.e. it was pulled in as a dependency.
installonlypkgs are never automatically removed.
Default: True.
Location where libsolv debug files will be created when enabled by debug_solver.
Default ./debugdata.
If enabled, libsolv debug files will be created when solving the transaction. The debug files are created in the debugdir directory.
Default: False.
If enabled, the default answer to user confirmation prompts will be Yes. Not to be confused with assumeyes which will not prompt at all.
Default: False.
Redirect downloaded packages to provided directory.
Default: <package repository cachedir>/packages
Prevent installing packages as weak dependencies (recommends or supplements). The packages can be specified by a name or a glob and separated by a comma.
Defaults to [].
If enabled, DNF5 will autodetect unmet weak dependencies (recommends or supplements) of packages installed on the system. Providers of these weak dependencies will not be installed by dnf as weak dependencies any more (they will still be installed if pulled in as a regular dependency).
Defaults to true.
Exclude environments, specified by an id or a glob and separated by a comma, from all operations.
Can be disabled using disable_excludes config option.
Default: [].
Exclude groups, specified by an id or a glob and separated by a comma, from all operations.
Can be disabled using disable_excludes config option.
Default: [].
List of the following: optional, default, mandatory or conditional.
Tells DNF5 which type of packages in groups will be installed when 'group install <group-spec>' or 'install @<group-spec>' is called.
Default: default, mandatory, conditional.
If enabled, RPM will allow attempts to install packages incompatible with the CPU's architecture.
Default: False.
List of provide names of packages that should only ever be installed, never upgraded. Kernels in particular fall into this category. These packages are never removed by dnf autoremove even if they were installed as dependencies (see clean_requirements_on_remove for auto removal details). This option append the list values to the default installonlypkgs list used by DNF5. The number of kept package versions is regulated by installonly_limit.
Number of installonly packages allowed to be installed concurrently.
1 is explicitly not allowed since it complicates kernel upgrades due to protection of the running kernel from removal.
Minimum is 2.
0 means unlimited number of installonly packages.
Default: 3.
The root of the filesystem for all packaging operations. It requires an absolute path. See also --installroot commandline option.
Default: /.
If enabled, when a new package is about to be installed, all packages linked by weak dependency relation (Recommends or Supplements flags) with this package will be pulled into the transaction.
Default: True.
If enabled, keeps downloaded packages in the cache. If disabled cache will persist until the next successful transaction even if no packages have been installed.
Default: False.
Directory where the log files will be stored.
Regular user default: ~/.local/state.
Superuser default: /var/log.
Log files are rotated log_rotate times before being removed. If log_rotate is 0, the rotation is not performed.
Default: 4.
Log files are rotated when they grow bigger than log_size bytes. If log_size is 0, the rotation is not performed.
The size applies for individual log files, not the sum of all log files. See also log_rotate.
Default: 1M.
Set this to $name:$stream to override PLATFORM_ID detected from /etc/os-release. It is necessary to perform a system upgrade and switch to a new platform.
Default: empty.
If enabled, allows switching enabled streams of a module.
Default: False.
Controls how multilib packages are treated during install operations.
Can either be best for the depsolver to prefer packages which best match the system's architecture, or all to install packages for all available architectures.
Default: best.
If enabled, DNF5 uses obsoletes processing logic, which means it checks whether any dependencies of given package are no longer required and removes them.
Useful when doing distribution level upgrades.
It has effect during install/upgrade processes.
Command-line option: --obsoletes
Default: True.
List of the following: comps, filelists, other, presto, updateinfo, all
Specifies the types of metadata to load in addition to the essential primary and modules metadata, which are always loaded. Note that individual DNF commands may extend this list at runtime.
Note: The list includes only metadata types recognized by DNF. However, a repository's metadata may include various other types (e.g., AppStream or metadata stored as databases instead of XML files). The special value all represents all metadata types present in the repository, including those unknown to DNF.
Default: comps,updateinfo
Directory where DNF5 stores its persistent data between runs.
Default: /var/lib/dnf.
List of directories that are searched for libdnf5 plugin configurations to load.
All configuration files found in these directories, that are named same as a plugin, are parsed.
Default: /etc/dnf/libdnf5-plugins.
List of directories that are searched for libdnf5 plugins to load. Plugins found in any of the directories in this configuration option are used.
Default: /usr/lib64/libdnf5/plugins/
If enabled, libdnf5 plugins are enabled.
Default: True.
This append list option contains names of packages that DNF5 should never completely remove.
They are protected via Obsoletes as well as user/plugin removals.
Default: dnf5,glob:/etc/dnf/protected.d/*.conf.
Note:
DNF5 will protect also the package corresponding to the running version of the kernel. See also protect_running_kernel option.
Controls whether the package corresponding to the running version of kernel is protected from removal.
Default: True.
Note:
Sets the time period in days used for the --recent option in the repoquery <#repoquery-command-ref-label>, info <#info-command-ref-label> and list <#list-command-ref-label> commands.
Default: 7
Repository configuration files locations.
The behavior of reposdir could differ when it is used along with --installroot option.
Default: [/etc/yum.repos.d, /etc/distro.repos.d, /usr/share/dnf5/repos.d]
If enabled, DNF5 will skip uninstallable packages instead of failing while resolving dependencies.
Default: False.
Skip acquiring a lock on the system repository (equivalent to the RPM database). The lock is used to prevent processes from reading the system repository while another process is running a transaction. Unprivileged users are allowed to acquire a read lock on the system repository, so skip_system_repo_lock=true may be used to ignore their lock.
If enabled, DNF5 will skip unavailable packages instead of failing while preparing rpm transactions.
Default: False.
system_cachedir
For superuser overwrites the cachedir option value.
Allows one to differentiate user and superuser cachedir.
Default: /var/cache/libdnf5.
System state files location. See dnf5-system-state(7), system state <#systemstate-misc-ref-label> for details.
Default: /usr/lib/sysimage/libdnf5.
transaction_history_dir
History database location.
By default it has the same value as system_state_dir.
List of strings adding extra flags for the RPM transaction.
| tsflag value | RPM Transaction Flag |
| noscripts | RPMTRANS_FLAG_NOSCRIPTS |
| test | RPMTRANS_FLAG_TEST |
| notriggers | RPMTRANS_FLAG_NOTRIGGERS |
| nodocs | RPMTRANS_FLAG_NODOCS |
| justdb | RPMTRANS_FLAG_JUSTDB |
| nocontexts | RPMTRANS_FLAG_NOCONTEXTS |
| nocaps | RPMTRANS_FLAG_NOCAPS |
| nocrypto | RPMTRANS_FLAG_NOFILEDIGEST |
| deploops | RPMTRANS_FLAG_DEPLOOPS |
The nocrypto option will also set the _RPMVSF_NOSIGNATURES and _RPMVSF_NODIGESTS VS flags.
The test option provides a transaction check without performing the transaction. It includes downloading of packages, OpenPGP keys check (including permanent import of additional keys if necessary), and rpm check to prevent file conflicts.
The nocaps is supported with rpm-4.14 or later. When nocaps is used but rpm doesn't support it, DNF5 only reports it as an invalid tsflag.
Default: empty.
use_host_config
Default: False.
List of directories where variables definition files are looked for.
See variable files in Configuration reference.
Default: /etc/dnf/vars.
If enabled, repository metadata are compressed using the zchunk format (if available).
Default: True.
Color of available packages that are newer than installed packages. The option is used during list operations.
Default: bold,blue.
Color of available packages that are older than installed packages. The option is used during list operations.
Default: dim,magenta.
Color of available packages that are identical to installed versions and are available for reinstalls. The option is used during list operations.
Default: bold,green.
Color of packages that are available for installation and none of their versions in installed. The option is used during list operations.
Default: bold,cyan.
Color of removed packages. This option is used during displaying transactions.
Default: dim,red.
Color of local packages that are installed from the @commandline repository. This option is used during displaying transactions.
Default: dim,green.
Color of packages that are installed/upgraded/downgraded from remote repositories. This option is used during displaying transactions.
Default: bold,green.
Color of patterns matched in search output.
Default: bold,magenta.
List of URLs for the repository.
Default [].
URLs are tried in the listed order (equivalent to yum’s “failovermethod=priority” behaviour).
The relative cost of accessing this repository, defaulting to 1000. This value is compared when the priorities of two repositories are the same. The repository with the lowest cost is picked. It is useful to make the library prefer on-disk repositories to remote ones.
Include this repository as a package source.
Default: True.
URLs of a OpenPGP key files that can be used for signing metadata and packages of this repository. If a file can not be verified using the already imported keys, import of keys from this option is attempted and the keys are then used for verification.
Default: []
URL of a metalink for the repository.
Default: None.
URL of a mirrorlist for the repository.
Default: None.
A human-readable name of the repository. Defaults to the ID of the repository.
The priority value of this repository. If there is more than one candidate package for a particular operation, the one from a repo with the lowest priority value is picked, possibly despite being less convenient otherwise (e.g. by being a lower version).
Default: 99
Type of repository metadata. Supported values are: rpm-md. Aliases for rpm-md: rpm, repomd, rpmmd, yum, YUM.
Default: empty.
For a given repository with an identifier in the form "<ID>-rpms", its corresponding source repository is expected to have an identifier in the form "<ID>-source-rpms" and debuginfo repository an identifier in the form "<ID>-debug-rpms". Otherwise (if the repository identifier doesn't have the "-rpms" suffix), the source repository is expected to have an identifier in the form "<ID>-source" and debuginfo repository an identifier in the form "<ID>-debuginfo".
For example, for repository "fedora", the source repository is "fedora-source" and debuginfo repository is "fedora-debuginfo". For repository "fedora-rpms", the source repository is "fedora-source-rpms" and debuginfo repository is "fedora-debug-rpms".
Right side of every repo option can be enriched by the following variables:
$arch
$basearch
$releasever
In addition to these hard coded variables, user-defined ones can also be used. They can be defined either via variable files, or by using special environmental variables. The names of these variables must be prefixed with DNF_VAR_ and they can only consist of alphanumeric characters and underscores:
$ DNF_VAR_MY_VARIABLE=value
To use such variable in your repository configuration remove the prefix. E.g.:
[myrepo] baseurl=https://example.site/pub/fedora/$MY_VARIABLE/releases/$releasever
Note that it is not possible to override the arch and basearch variables using either variable files or environmental variables.
Although users are encouraged to use named variables, the numbered environmental variables DNF0 - DNF9 are still supported:
$ DNF1=value [myrepo] baseurl=https://example.site/pub/fedora/$DNF1/releases/$releasever
Some options can be applied in either the main section, per repository, or in a combination. The value provided in the main section is used for all repositories as the default value, which repositories can then override in their configuration.
Total bandwidth available for downloading. Meaningful when used with the throttle option.
Default: 0.
If enabled, DNF5 will save libsolv cache generated from downloaded metadata to cachedir. These solv files are loaded during subsequent runs which significantly speeds up DNF5.
Default: True.
When enabled, one (and only one) HTTP GET request for the metalink file will be selected at random every week to carry a special URL flag.
This flag allows the repository provider to estimate the number of systems consuming the repository, by counting such requests over a week's time. This method is more accurate than just counting unique IP addresses (which is subject to both overcounting and undercounting due to short DHCP leases and NAT, respectively).
This is not an out-of-band HTTP request made for this purpose alone. Only requests initiated by DNF during normal operation, such as to check for metadata updates, can get this flag.
The flag is a simple "countme=N" parameter appended to the metalink URL where N is an integer representing the age "bucket" this system belongs to. Four buckets are defined, based on how many full weeks have passed since the installation of a system:
| bucket | system age |
| 1 | first week |
| 2 | first month (2 - 4 weeks) |
| 3 | first 6 months (5 - 24 weeks) |
| 4 | more than 6 months (> 24 weeks) |
This number is meant to help distinguish short-lived (throwaway) machines from long-term installs and get a better picture of how systems are used over time.
To determine a system's installation time ("epoch"), the machine-id(5) file's modification time is used as the single source of truth. This file is semantically tied to the system's lifetime as it's typically populated at installation time or during the first boot by an installer tool or init system (such as systemd(1)), respectively, and remains unchanged.
If the file is empty or missing (such as in containers), the time of the very first request made using the expanded metalink URL (i.e. with any repository variables such as $releasever substituted) that carried the flag is declared as the epoch.
If no metalink URL is defined for this repository but a mirrorlist URL is, the latter is used for this purpose instead.
Default: False.
Used to disable package, group and environment filtering. It can include a list of repository IDs (globs allowed) for which repository-specific package excludes are ignored. If it contains the special value main, excludes from the main configuration files are bypassed. If it contains the special value *, no excludes filtering is applied at all.
If enabled, DNF5 will allow the use of package groups.
Default: True.
Exclude packages of this repository, specified by a name or a glob and separated by a comma, from all operations.
Can be disabled using disable_excludes config option.
Default: [].
If enabled, TCP socket latency is used to find the closest available mirror. A mirror is then selected at random with less than twice the lowest latency for load balancing purposes. This overrides the order provided by the mirrorlist/metalink file itself, and does not take into consideration mirrorlist parameters such as mirror bandwidth nor preferred mirrors for client IP addresses.
Default: False.
Whether to perform OpenPGP signature check on packages found in this repository.
The default is False.
Doesn't apply for packages passed directly as arguments, as they are not in any repository, see localpkg_gpgcheck.
Due to compatibility gpgcheck option is supported as well but pkg_gpgcheck is preferred.
Include packages of this repository, specified by a name or a glob and separated by a comma, in all operations.
Inverse of excludepkgs, DNF5 will exclude any package in the repository that doesn't match this list.
This works in conjunction with excludepkgs and doesn't override it, so if you 'excludepkgs=*.i386' and 'includepkgs=python*' then only packages starting with python that do not have an i386 arch will be seen by DNF5 in this repo.
Can be disabled using disable_excludes config option.
Default: [].
Determines how DNF5 resolves host names. Set this to 4, IPv4, 6, IPv6 to resolve to IPv4 or IPv6 addresses only.
Default: whatever.
If enabled, DNF5 will perform a OpenPGP signature check on local packages (packages in a file, not in a repository).
Default: False.
Maximum number of simultaneous downloads. Max is 20.
Default: 3.
Maximum number of simultaneous downloads per mirror. Max is 20.
Default: 3.
The period after which the remote repository is checked for metadata update and in the positive case the local metadata cache is updated. It can be -1 or never to make the repo never considered expired.
Expire of metadata can be also triggered by change of timestamp of configuration files (dnf.conf, <repo>.repo).
See also check_config_file_age.
Default: 60 * 60 * 48, 48 hours.
Sets the low speed threshold in bytes per second. If the server is sending data at the same or slower speed than this value for at least timeout option seconds, DNF5 aborts the connection.
Default: 1000.
The password used to connect to a repository with basic HTTP authentication.
Default: empty.
URL of a proxy server to connect through.
Set to an empty string in the repository configuration to disable proxy setting inherited from the main section. The expected format of this option is <scheme>://<ip-or-hostname>[:port]. (For backward compatibility, '_none_' can be used instead of the empty string.)
Default: empty.
Note:
The username to use for connecting to the proxy server.
Default: empty.
The password to use for connecting to the proxy server.
Default: empty.
The authentication method used by the proxy server. Valid values are
| method | meaning |
| basic | HTTP Basic authentication |
| digest | HTTP Digest authentication |
| negotiate | HTTP Negotiate (SPNEGO) authentication |
| ntlm | HTTP NTLM authentication |
| digest_ie | HTTP Digest authentication with an IE flavor |
| ntlm_wb | NTLM delegating to winbind helper |
| none | None auth method |
| any | All suitable methods |
Default: any.
Path to the file containing the certificate authorities to verify proxy SSL certificates.
Default: empty, uses system default.
Path to the SSL client certificate used to connect to proxy server.
Default: empty.
Path to the SSL client key used to connect to proxy server.
Default: empty.
If enabled, proxy SSL certificates are verified. If the client can not be authenticated, connecting fails and the repository is not used any further. If False, SSL connections can be used, but certificates are not verified.
Default: True.
If enabled, DNF5 will perform OpenPGP signature check on this repository's metadata.
Note:
This means that DNF5 may ask to import the same key multiple times. For example, when a key was already imported for package signature verification and this option is turned on, it may be needed to import it again for the repository.
Default: False.
If enabled, DNF5 will continue running and disable the repository that couldn't be synchronized for any reason. This option doesn't affect skipping of unavailable packages after dependency resolution. To check inaccessibility of repository use it in combination with refresh command line option.
Default: False.
Note:
Path to the file containing the certificate authorities to verify SSL certificates.
Default: empty, uses system default.
Path to the SSL client certificate used to connect to remote sites.
Default: empty.
Path to the SSL client key used to connect to remote sites.
Default: empty.
If enabled, remote SSL certificates are verified. If the client can not be authenticated, connecting fails and the repository is not used any further. If disabled, SSL connections can be used, but certificates are not verified.
Default: True.
Limits the downloading speed. It might be an absolute value or a percentage, relative to the value of the bandwidth option option. 0 means no throttling.
Default: 0.
Number of seconds to wait for a connection before timing out. Used in combination with minrate option option.
Default: 30.
The username to use for connecting to repo with basic HTTP authentication.
Default: empty.
The User-Agent string to include in HTTP requests sent by DNF5.
Default:
libdnf (NAME VERSION_ID; VARIANT_ID; OS.BASEARCH)
Note:
libdnf (Fedora 39; server; Linux.x86_64)
One of following options can be used: 1, 0, True, False, yes, no.
One of the following options can be used: 4, IPv4, 6, IPv6.
Example: 'item1,item2\,with\,commas,item3\ with\ spaces item4'
Valid units are k, M, G.
DNF5 loads configuration options that are defined in the main configuration file, user configuration files and distribution configuration files.
The configuration files are processed following this order:
User configuration files:
Distribution configuration files:
Resulting file loading order by default (/usr/share/dnf5/libdnf.conf.d/60-something.conf is skipped, masked by the user file /etc/dnf/libdnf5.conf.d/60-something.conf):
After the repository configurations are loaded other repo configurations can be overloaded from the directories user repos override directory and distribution repos override directory.
The format of the files inside the directories is the same as the format of the repository configuration files. The options in the overridden files can modify existing repos but cannot create new repositories.
Override files support globs in the repository ID in order to support bulk modifications of repository parameters.
The repository overrides are processed following this order:
Note:
# Enable `skip_if_unavailable` for all repositories [*] skip_if_unavailable = true # And then disable `skip_if_unavailable` for repositories with id prefix "fedora" [fedora*] skip_if_unavailable = false
This example shows the order in which override files are processed.
Files with user repos overrides:
Files with distribution repos overrides:
Resulting file processing order:
Directories are listed in the order in which they are processed.
Note:
See AUTHORS.md in dnf5 source distribution.
Contributors to the dnf5 project.