How To Install file on CentOS 8

file is A utility for determining file types

Introduction

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

What is `file`

The file command is used to identify a particular file according to the type of data contained by the file. File can identify many different file types, including ELF binaries, system libraries, RPM packages, and different graphics formats.

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

Install file 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 file using dnf by running the following command:

sudo dnf -y install file

Install file 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 file using yum by running the following command:

sudo yum -y install file

How To Uninstall file on CentOS 8

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

sudo dnf remove file

file Package Contents on CentOS 8

/etc/magic
/usr/bin/file
/usr/lib/.build-id
/usr/lib/.build-id/89
/usr/lib/.build-id/89/5077a840385f977d10a2402d58f8b4edc8bd48
/usr/share/doc/file
/usr/share/doc/file/ChangeLog
/usr/share/doc/file/README
/usr/share/licenses/file
/usr/share/licenses/file/COPYING
/usr/share/man/man1/file.1.gz

References

file website

Summary

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