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The Many Faces of DNF: From YUM to DNF5

If you’ve been around the RHEL/Fedora ecosystem for a while, you’ve probably noticed a confusing mix of package managers: yum, dnf, dnf-3, dnf4, dnf5, even microdnf. On Fedora 41 today, all of these names can exist side by side in /usr/bin. Let’s untangle what’s really going on.

A Quick History

  • YUM (Yellowdog Updater, Modified) The classic Python package manager used up to RHEL 7. It handled dependencies but had a reputation for being slow.

  • DNF (aka DNF4) Introduced in Fedora 18 and adopted fully by Fedora 22 and RHEL 8. A rewrite of yum in Python 3, using the new libdnf backend. Faster, cleaner, better API support.

  • microdnf A tiny, dependency-free variant of DNF4 for minimal container images. Good for scripted installs, but very limited compared to full dnf.

  • DNF5 A complete rewrite in C++ with the libdnf5 backend. Smaller footprint, faster execution, and meant to replace both DNF4 and microdnf. Fedora 41 makes this the default.

What You’ll See in /usr/bin

On Fedora 41, a directory listing reveals the transition in action:

  • dnf → dnf5 → the default command is now the C++ version.
  • dnf5 → the actual binary (\~1.5 MB ELF, no Python needed).
  • dnf4 → dnf-3 → legacy symlink, still calling the Python-based DNF4.
  • dnf-3 → the DNF4 implementation in Python 3.
  • yum → dnf5 → yum is just an alias for dnf5.
  • microdnf → dnf5 → microdnf is fully retired.
  • dnf-utils helpers (repoclosure, yumdownloader, etc.) → still small Python wrappers.

In other words: you really only have two implementations left—Python-based DNF4 (for compatibility) and C++-based DNF5 (for everything new).

Key Differences in DNF5

  1. Performance & Footprint

  2. Written in C++, starts faster and avoids Python dependencies.

  3. Unifies what used to be dnf, yum, and microdnf.

  4. Command Behavior Changes

  5. Some options are stricter: short options no longer take =, global flags moved to per-command scope.

  6. dnf updateinfo → dnf5 advisory.
  7. dnf history <id> → dnf5 history info <id>.
  8. dnf config-manager --add-repo URL → dnf5 config-manager addrepo URL.
  9. --downloaddir → --destdir.

  10. --sec-severity → --advisory-severities.

  11. Removed or Changed Features

  12. Deltarpm support is gone.

  13. best=true is now the default.
  14. Metadata caching handled differently (dnf5-makecache.timer).

  15. dnf-automatic replaced by dnf5-automatic.

  16. System Upgrade Built-in

  17. No plugin required. dnf5 system-upgrade download --releasever=42 is the new workflow.

Cheat Sheet: Old vs New

Task Old (dnf/yum) Fedora 41 (dnf5)
Install pkg dnf install foo dnf5 install foo
Remove pkg dnf remove foo dnf5 remove foo
Upgrade all dnf upgrade dnf5 upgrade [--minimal]
Distro sync dnf distro-sync dnf5 distro-sync
Advisory list dnf updateinfo list dnf5 advisory list
Security severity --sec-severity=… --advisory-severities=…
Add repo dnf config-manager --add-repo URL dnf5 config-manager addrepo URL
Disable repo dnf config-manager --set-disabled fedora dnf5 config-manager setopt fedora.enabled=0
Dump config dnf config-manager --dump dnf5 --dump-main-config
Offline staging (N/A) dnf5 <cmd> --offline
System upgrade dnf system-upgrade (plugin) dnf5 system-upgrade (built-in)

Where We Are Now

  • On RHEL 8/9: yum and dnf both mean DNF4 (Python).
  • On Fedora 41: dnf, yum, and microdnf all mean DNF5 (C++).
  • dnf-3/dnf4 remain for backward compatibility, but the future is DNF5.

Conclusion

What used to be a tangle of names is consolidating fast. With Fedora 41, DNF5 is the one package manager to rule them all—faster, cleaner, and consistent across desktop, server, and containers. If you’re writing scripts or documentation, start using dnf5 syntax now. The old commands are still there for compatibility, but their days are numbered.