How To Install dkms on CentOS 8

dkms is Dynamic Kernel Module Support Framework

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install dkms on CentOS 8.

What is `dkms`

This package contains the framework for the Dynamic Kernel Module Support (DKMS) method for installing module RPMS as originally developed by Dell.

We can use yum or dnf to install dkms on CentOS 8. In this tutorial we discuss both methods but you only need to choose one of method to install dkms.

Install dkms on CentOS 8 Using dnf

Update yum database with dnf using the following command.

sudo dnf makecache --refresh

The output should look something like this:

CentOS Linux 8 - AppStream                                       43 kB/s | 4.3 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - BaseOS                                          65 kB/s | 3.9 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - ContinuousRelease                               43 kB/s | 3.0 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - Extras                                          23 kB/s | 1.5 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - FastTrack                                       40 kB/s | 3.0 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - HighAvailability                                36 kB/s | 3.9 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - Plus                                            24 kB/s | 1.5 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - PowerTools                                      50 kB/s | 4.3 kB     00:00    
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Modular 8 - x86_64           13 kB/s | 9.2 kB     00:00    
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64                   24 kB/s | 8.5 kB     00:00    
Metadata cache created.

After updating yum database, We can install dkms using dnf by running the following command:

sudo dnf -y install dkms

Install dkms on CentOS 8 Using yum

Update yum database with yum using the following command.

sudo yum makecache --refresh

The output should look something like this:

CentOS Linux 8 - AppStream                                       43 kB/s | 4.3 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - BaseOS                                          65 kB/s | 3.9 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - ContinuousRelease                               43 kB/s | 3.0 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - Extras                                          23 kB/s | 1.5 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - FastTrack                                       40 kB/s | 3.0 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - HighAvailability                                36 kB/s | 3.9 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - Plus                                            24 kB/s | 1.5 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - PowerTools                                      50 kB/s | 4.3 kB     00:00    
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Modular 8 - x86_64           13 kB/s | 9.2 kB     00:00    
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64                   24 kB/s | 8.5 kB     00:00    
Metadata cache created.

After updating yum database, We can install dkms using yum by running the following command:

sudo yum -y install dkms

How To Uninstall dkms on CentOS 8

To uninstall only the dkms package we can use the following command:

sudo dnf remove dkms

dkms Package Contents on CentOS 8

/etc/dkms
/etc/dkms/framework.conf
/etc/dkms/kernel_install.d_dkms
/etc/dkms/sign_helper.sh
/etc/dkms/template-dkms-mkrpm.spec
/etc/dkms/template-dkms-redhat-kmod.spec
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/dkms
/etc/kernel/prerm.d/dkms
/usr/lib/dkms
/usr/lib/dkms/common.postinst
/usr/lib/dkms/dkms_autoinstaller
/usr/lib/dkms/find-provides
/usr/lib/dkms/lsb_release
/usr/lib/dkms/mkkerneldoth
/usr/lib/kernel/install.d/40-dkms.install
/usr/lib/systemd/system/dkms.service
/usr/sbin/dkms
/usr/share/bash-completion/completions/dkms
/usr/share/doc/dkms
/usr/share/doc/dkms/AUTHORS
/usr/share/doc/dkms/README.md
/usr/share/doc/dkms/sample.conf
/usr/share/doc/dkms/sample.spec
/usr/share/licenses/dkms
/usr/share/licenses/dkms/COPYING
/usr/share/man/man8/dkms.8.gz
/var/lib/dkms
/var/lib/dkms/dkms_dbversion

References

dkms website

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install dkms on CentOS 8 using yum and dnf.