Smart Package Manager

What are .rpmsave .rpmorig .rpmnew files? Why do I see messages about them during an Install?

Asked by Rehan Khan

When I install packages I see messges about files which have an extension of .rpmsave, .rpmorig and .rpmnew. What are these files? How come I don't see these messages when using other package managers? Does it means that the package installation has failed somehow?

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Rehan Khan (rasker) said : 		#1

These files are usually created on RPM based systems. They are produced by rpm itself not Smart. They are defined and created according to rules in the actual RPM package you are trying to install (usually these are lines prefixed with a %config in the RPM's spec file). They are, usually, configuration files which might have some of your own customisations so RPM does not overwrite/delete them. It will either back them up (e.g. .rpmsave) and create a new file or create the file with a different extension (e.g. .rpmnew). Some package manager's don't notify you of these changes but Smart does.

Generally you can ignore these messages. If however an upgrade breaks something in your configuration for a particular package you can use these files to help you fix the configuration problem.
FAQ #138: “What are .rpmsave .rpmorig .rpmnew files? Why do I see messages about them during an Install?”.