SQLite RPM database in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and later

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SQLite RPM database (rpmdb) in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9 and later

The database backend has seen significant improvements with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9. Now based on the sqlite3 database engine, it is anticipated that a large number of corruption events will simply no longer be possible within the newer code base. Should a database corruption event occur, it is recommended to reach out to Red Hat Support to gain assistance in investigating the source.

Contacting Red Hat Technical Support

Details:

  • In RHEL 9, the rpmdb is located at /var/lib/rpm, while in RHEL 10, it has been moved to /usr/lib/sysimage/rpm/.
  • rpmdb.sqlite is the main database file.
  • Other two files (-shm and -wal) may exist as below.
RHEL 9: 
# ls -l /var/lib/rpm
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 43454464 Mar 18 02:56 rpmdb.sqlite
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root    32768 Apr  5 03:50 rpmdb.sqlite-shm
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root        0 Mar 18 02:56 rpmdb.sqlite-wal

RHEL 10:
# ls -l /var/lib/rpm
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 26 May 28 18:15 /var/lib/rpm -> ../../usr/lib/sysimage/rpm

# ls -l /usr/lib/sysimage/rpm/
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 38940672 May 28 18:16 rpmdb.sqlite
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root    32768 Jun  9 19:52 rpmdb.sqlite-shm
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root        0 May 28 18:16 rpmdb.sqlite-wal

What is the WAL file?

  • WAL: Write-Ahead Logging
  • One of the “atomic commit and rollback” implementations in SQLite.
  • Steps per event
    • MODIFY
      A change was written to the WAL file (rpmdb.sqlite-wal). The original database (rpmdb.sqlite) has not changed yet.
    • COMMIT
      A special record indicating a commit is added to the WAL file.
    • CHECKPOINT
      WAL file transaction moves into the original database.

How to check the database integrity?

# rpm --verifydb
# echo $?
0

If the command returns 0, it indicates that the database is healthy and no errors were detected. Any non-zero value suggests potential corruption or structural issues.

How to recover data from a corrupted database?

In advance of a database issue, create a current backup.

RHEL 9: 

# cd /var/lib
# tar zcvf /var/preserve/rpmdb-`date +"%d%m%Y"`.tar.gz rpm

RHEL 10:

# cd /usr/lib/sysimage
# tar zcvf /var/preserve/rpmdb-`date +"%d%m%Y"`.tar.gz rpm

Most problems can then be solved by running:

# rpmdb --rebuilddb

or

# rpm --rebuilddb

which creates the database structure from the RPM headers that are also stored in the database. This should succeed as long as the primary Packages table is not corrupted.

Alternatively, try dumping the RPM database to a file with the following command:

# rpmdb --exportdb > /tmp/rpmdb-exportdb.out

If the verify fails and the dump succeeds, the rpmdb-exportdb.out can be used to create a new RPM database:

RHEL 9:

# rm /var/lib/rpm/*
# rpmdb --importdb < /tmp/rpmdb-exportdb.out

RHEL 10:

# rm /usr/lib/sysimage/rpm/*
# rpmdb --importdb < /tmp/rpmdb-exportdb.out

Direct database access

The following steps are provided for clarity and completeness. However, Database access and manipulation is only supported via the rpm and various package managers such as DNF. Direct access as shown above should be strictly avoided without the guidance of Red Hat Support Engineers.

How to access the underlying database?

  • Use the sqlite3 command.
# yum install sqlite

RHEL 9: 

# sqlite3 /var/lib/rpm/rpmdb.sqlite
sqlite> .databases
main: /var/lib/rpm2/rpmdb.sqlite r/w
sqlite> .tables
Basenames       Name              Sigmd5         Conflictname        Obsoletename
Suggestname     Dirnames          Packages       Supplementname      Enhancename
Providename     Transfiletriggername             Filetriggername     Recommendname
Triggername     Group             Requirename    Installtid          Sha1header 

RHEL 10: 

# sqlite3 /usr/lib/sysimage/rpm/rpmdb.sqlite
sqlite> .databases
main: /usr/lib/sysimage/rpm/rpmdb.sqlite r/w
sqlite> .tables
Basenames             Name                  Sigmd5              
Conflictname          Obsoletename          Suggestname         
Dirnames              Packages              Supplementname      
Enhancename           Providename           Transfiletriggername
Filetriggername       Recommendname         Triggername         
Group                 Requirename         
Installtid            Sha1header

How to dump all data from the database?

# sqlite3 rpmdb.sqlite '.dump' > /tmp/rpmdb.dump

How to restore from a dump file?

# cat /tmp/rpmdb.dump | sqlite3 rpmdb-new.sqlite

Reference

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