On occasions, the RPM database can break. The result is that when you try to install a package, remove a package, or query the database, your request might just hang.
The problem of corrupted RPM databases seemed to be much worse in Red Hat Linux 8 than it is in Fedora Core 1 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux. However, if your RPM database is showing signs of hanging processes that talk to it, here are a few steps you can go through that should help correct your broken RPM database:
Remove the current RPM database by typing
# rm -f /var/lib/rpm/__ db.*
Rebuild the database by typing (use the
-vv or just
-v depending on how much you like to watch output scroll by)
# rpm -vv --rebuilddb
This step can take a while to complete.