I just posted another thread about my boot partition being full and the reply said that I could change some of the settings for what is retained in /boot by editing /etc/dnf/dnf.conf. But I don’t seem to have a /etc/dnf directory in this system at all. Any explanation about why this would be missing from a pretty standard fresh install?
Rocky 9.5 Cinnamon desktop
/etc/dnf should not be missing in normal installations. It is owned by dnf-data. The directory was either removed intentionally or the package was somehow removed.
I wonder how that affects DNF?
Normally, one can ask with dnf which packages provide a feature or file. For example:
# dnf provides /etc/dnf
Last metadata expiration check: 2:13:43 ago on Thu 06 Mar 2025 08:02:17 AM EET.
dnf-data-4.14.0-17.el9.alma.1.noarch : Common data and configuration files for DNF
Repo : @System
Matched from:
Filename : /etc/dnf
dnf-data-4.14.0-17.el9.alma.1.noarch : Common data and configuration files for DNF
Repo : baseos
Matched from:
Filename : /etc/dnf
tells that the directory /etc/dnf is provided by package dnf-data, which is in repository baseos and is installed (“@”), probably by the installer (“System”).
A look with dnf history list dnf-data confirms that the package was installed first time in transaction 1, (done by installer). if package were since removed, the history should still show when.
Since I have the package installed, I can verify the files it provides with:
# rpm -V dnf-data
..5....T. c /etc/dnf/dnf.conf
That output reveals that I have modified config file /etc/dnf/dnf.conf.
More verbose verify and other commands can list all the files in the package:
rpm -Vv dnf-data
rpm -ql dnf-data
dnf rq -l dnf-data
The last of them works on package even when it is not installed.
One can run the verify check on all installed packages with rpm -Va
That does always list some modified files.
If package is installed, then one can force reinstall with
dnf reinstall dnf-data
Hmm. Here’s what I’m seeing with a couple of those commands.
[chmedly@localhost ~]$ rpm -V dnf-data
.M....... g /var/lib/dnf
.M....... g /var/log/dnf.librepo.log
.M....... g /var/log/dnf.log
.M....... g /var/log/dnf.rpm.log
[chmedly@localhost ~]$ dnf history list dnf-data
ID | Command line | Date and time | Action(s) | Altered
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | | 2024-11-16 01:23 | Install | 1420 EE
Wait! What the…
I just tried to cd to /etc/dnf and what do you know? It’s there.
I tried from a couple different terminals and file browsers (both on the machine and remotely from cockpit) before and it simply wasn’t showing. I’m losing my mind…
Thanks everyone.