Linux · Package Management: RPM & zypper

Two Java versions are installed and typing java runs the right one, even though /usr/bin/java is a fixed path. What mechanism decides which real binary that path leads to?

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More in Package Management: RPM & zypper

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The RPM database has drifted out of sync with reality after someone cleaned up disk space. What did they most likely do wrong, and where does that database actually live?

Reading the filename abc-2.0.7-1.x86_64.rpm, what do the 2.0.7, the 1, and the x86_64 each tell you — and how can a package's release number climb while its version stays fixed?

You spot an unfamiliar config file in /etc and want to know which package put it there, read that package's description, then see everything else it installed. Which three rpm queries do you run, in that order?

Your Python install is misbehaving and you suspect a file was tampered with since installation. Which rpm command checks whether the installed files still match the package, and what does an empty result mean?

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