How to Extract Contents of an RPM Package

To extract files from an RPM package, one can use the command:

rpm2cpio rpmfile.rpm | cpio -idmv

It does the following:

• first rpm2cpio command converts the rpm package to a cpio archive
• then the cpio command:
  • unpacks the archive (option -i)
  • creates a full directory structure (option -d)
  • and preservers file modification times (option -m).