varlibrpm

Varlibrpm is a software library designed to provide a programmatic interface to the RPM package manager’s metadata and database. In technical documentation it is presented as a modular alternative to invoking RPM command-line tools, enabling applications to inspect installed packages and available metadata without forking a shell.

Core features include opening and closing access to the RPM database, enumerating installed packages, querying by name, version, or architecture, and reading package headers and file lists. It also exposes dependency information, licenses, summaries, and changelogs, and can verify package signatures and integrity.

Varlibrpm is typically implemented as a C library with language bindings for higher-level languages such as Python, Rust, and Go. It models RPM headers and packages, provides a stable API, and reads data from the system RPM database located at /var/lib/rpm.

Usage scenarios include packaging tools, system inventory, and software compliance audits, where varlibrpm enables programmatic data gathering, repository cross-checks, and dependency resolution without invoking external shell commands.

The project is maintained by an open-source community and released under a permissive license. Contributions are coordinated via a public repository and issue tracker, with development focused on API stability, cross-language bindings, and compatibility with common RPM data formats.

Varlibrpm is related to the RPM Package Manager and the RPM database; the name itself nods to the typical database directory /var/lib/rpm and the broader ecosystem of RPM-based tooling.