Find and install software packages on an AL2 instance
You can use a package management tool to find and install software packages. In Amazon Linux 2 and Amazon Linux, the default software package management tool is YUM. In AL2023, the default software package management tool is DNF. For more information about AL2023, see Package management tool in the AL2023 User Guide.
Note
The Amazon Linux AMI reached its end-of-life on December 31, 2023 and will not receive any
security updates or bug fixes starting January 1, 2024. For more information
about the Amazon Linux AMI end-of-life and maintenance support, see the blog post
Update on Amazon Linux AMI
end-of-life
Find software packages on an AL2 instance
You can use the yum search command to search the descriptions of packages that are available in your configured repositories. This is especially helpful if you don't know the exact name of the package you want to install. Simply append the keyword search to the command; for multiple word searches, wrap the search query with quotation marks.
Important
This information applies to Amazon Linux. For information about other distributions, see their specific documentation.
[ec2-user ~]$yum search "find"
The following is example output for AL2.
Loaded plugins: extras_suggestions, langpacks, priorities, update-motd ============================== N/S matched: find =============================== findutils.x86_64 : The GNU versions of find utilities (find and xargs) gedit-plugin-findinfiles.x86_64 : gedit findinfiles plugin ocaml-findlib-devel.x86_64 : Development files for ocaml-findlib perl-File-Find-Rule.noarch : Perl module implementing an alternative interface to File::Find robotfindskitten.x86_64 : A game/zen simulation. You are robot. Your job is to find kitten. mlocate.x86_64 : An utility for finding files by name ocaml-findlib.x86_64 : Objective CAML package manager and build helper perl-Devel-Cycle.noarch : Find memory cycles in objects perl-Devel-EnforceEncapsulation.noarch : Find access violations to blessed objects perl-File-Find-Rule-Perl.noarch : Common rules for searching for Perl things perl-File-HomeDir.noarch : Find your home and other directories on any platform perl-IPC-Cmd.noarch : Finding and running system commands made easy perl-Perl-MinimumVersion.noarch : Find a minimum required version of perl for Perl code texlive-xesearch.noarch : A string finder for XeTeX valgrind.x86_64 : Tool for finding memory management bugs in programs valgrind.i686 : Tool for finding memory management bugs in programs
The following is example output for Amazon Linux.
Loaded plugins: priorities, security, update-motd, upgrade-helper ============================== N/S Matched: find =============================== findutils.x86_64 : The GNU versions of find utilities (find and xargs) perl-File-Find-Rule.noarch : Perl module implementing an alternative interface to File::Find perl-Module-Find.noarch : Find and use installed modules in a (sub)category libpuzzle.i686 : Library to quickly find visually similar images (gif, png, jpg) libpuzzle.x86_64 : Library to quickly find visually similar images (gif, png, jpg) mlocate.x86_64 : An utility for finding files by name
Multiple word search queries in quotation marks only return results that match the exact query. If you don't see the expected package, simplify your search to one keyword and then scan the results. You can also try keyword synonyms to broaden your search.
For more information about packages for AL2 and Amazon Linux, see the following:
Install software packages on an AL2 instance
In AL2 and Amazon Linux, the yum package management tool searches all of your enabled repositories for different software packages and handles any dependencies in the software installation process. For information about installing software packages in AL2023, see Managing packages and operating system updates in the AL2023 User Guide.
To install a package from a repository
Use the yum install
package command, replacing
package with the name of the software to install. For
example, to install the links text-based web browser, enter the
following command.
[ec2-user ~]$sudo yum install links
To install RPM package files that you have downloaded
You can also use yum install to install RPM package files that you have downloaded from the internet. To do this, append the path name of an RPM file to the installation command instead of a repository package name.
[ec2-user ~]$sudo yum installmy-package.rpm
To list installed packages
To view a list of installed packages on your instance, use the following command.
[ec2-user ~]$yum list installed
