List all versions of a package

List all versions of a package

It might be interesting to know how many different versions of a given package are available to install, no? We just had a use case for rear. Suppose we want to install ReaR release 2.2 and not the most recent one. How do we know it is available to install?

On RedHat alike Linux distributions it can be done as follow:

# yum --showduplicates list rear | expand
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: be.mirror.guru
 * epel: fr.mirror.babylon.network
 * extras: mirror.plusserver.com
 * updates: centos.mirrors.ovh.net
Available Packages
rear.x86_64   1.17.2-1.el7                        Archiving_Backup_Rear         
rear.x86_64   1.18-3.el7                          Archiving_Backup_Rear         
rear.x86_64   1.19-2.el7                          Archiving_Backup_Rear         
rear.x86_64   2.00-1.el7                          Archiving_Backup_Rear         
rear.x86_64   2.00-2.el7                          base                          
rear.x86_64   2.00-3.el7_4                        updates                       
rear.x86_64   2.1-2.el7                           Archiving_Backup_Rear         
rear.x86_64   2.2-5.el7                           Archiving_Backup_Rear         
rear.x86_64   2.3-1.el7                           Archiving_Backup_Rear         
rear.x86_64   2.3-11.git.0.952e698.unknown.el7    Archiving_Backup_Rear_Snapshot

Wow - really a bunch of possibilities are available to install! Haha, the 2.2-5.el7 version is available and that is the release we wanted to test out:

# yum install rear-2.2-5.el7

Note: if rear package was already installed then yum install won’t work for older versions. You better remove the old version first.

Reference:

• YUM Cheat Sheet (pdf file)