How to Use dnf repoquery to List Package Dependencies

Updated: 28 September 2026 · Applies to: dnf 4.14 to 4.20 on AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux 9 and 10 and RHEL 9 and 10; dnf5 on Fedora

repoquery answers questions about packages without installing anything: what a package needs, what needs it, which package provides a file, and what is available in which repository. On CentOS 7 and older releases it was a separate tool from yum-utils. Today it is built into dnf as dnf repoquery. If old scripts call plain repoquery, install the yum-utils package, which provides it as a shortcut on dnf 4 systems. We tested the examples on AlmaLinux 9.

What does a package need?

dnf repoquery --requires --resolve nano

--requires lists the capabilities the package needs (libraries, commands). --resolve turns them into the package names that provide them, for example glibc, ncurses-libs and file-libs for nano.

The full tree, including dependencies of dependencies:

dnf repoquery --requires --resolve --recursive nano

Each requirement with its provider, in detail:

dnf repoquery --deplist nano

What needs a package?

dnf repoquery --installed --whatrequires ncurses-libs

This lists installed packages that would break if you removed ncurses-libs. Without --installed, it searches all packages in the enabled repositories.

Which package provides a file?

dnf repoquery --whatprovides '*/bin/dig'
dnf provides '*/bin/dig'

Both work for files you do not have yet. For a file that is already installed, rpm -qf /usr/bin/dig is instant.

Versions and repositories

dnf repoquery --show-duplicates nginx               # every available version
dnf repoquery --qf '%{name} %{version} %{repoid}' nginx
dnf repoquery --list nano                           # files in a package
dnf repoquery --userinstalled                       # what you installed yourself

On Fedora (dnf5), add \n at the end of a --qf format, for example --qf '%{name} %{version}\n'.

Common problems

• No results for a package you expect: its repository is disabled. Add --enablerepo=epel (or the repository you need), or check dnf repolist --all.
• Old results: the metadata is cached; refresh it with dnf makecache --refresh.

To download packages together with their dependencies, see downloading RPM packages with dependencies.

Official documentation: DNF command reference (repoquery).