YumDNF

YUMDNF (also known as yum-dnf) is a compatibility wrapper that provides a Yum-compatible command line interface using the DNF backend. It is commonly distributed as the yum-dnf package. It was created to ease the transition from Yum to DNF by allowing existing Yum-based scripts, aliases, and habits to work on systems where DNF is the default package manager.

Implementation

The wrapper forwards commands like install, update, upgrade, remove, list, and search to DNF, translating options as needed. It relies on DNF's Python libraries and transaction handling while presenting a Yum-like output and syntax. It does not reimplement Yum's old codebase from scratch; instead it delegates to DNF.

Usage

Users can run yum commands as they did before: yum install package, yum update, yum remove package, yum list installed. The wrapper performs the operation via DNF and reports results in a familiar Yum-style format.

History

With the shift from Yum to DNF in Fedora and related distributions, yum-dnf was introduced to preserve compatibility. On newer systems Yum is often a transitional package; in some distributions the Yum command is provided by or symlinked to the yum-dnf wrapper.

Limitations

While designed to be compatible, not all Yum plugins are supported, and certain command options or behaviors may differ. Scripts relying on specific Yum output or plugin behavior may require adjustment. For full feature access, using DNF directly is recommended.

See also

DNF, Yum (package manager), Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise Linux.