dnf-builddep

Install dependencies for a given package

$ dnf builddep [path/to/specification.spec]

$ dnf builddep --skip-unavailable [path/to/specification.spec]

$ dnf builddep [[-D|--define]] '[expression]'

$ dnf builddep --spec [argument]

$ dnf builddep --srpm [argument]

$ dnf builddep --help-cmd

dnf builddep [options] <packagename | specfile | srpm>

--check
    Verify build dependencies are satisfied without installing anything

--resolve
    Resolve abstract capabilities to concrete packages during installation

--spec=SPECFILE
    Read build requirements from the specified SPEC file

--srpm=SRPM
    Read build requirements from the specified source RPM file

-y, --assumeyes
    Automatically answer yes to prompts (common DNF option)

--best
    Install the best available versions of build dependencies

The dnf builddep command installs the build-time dependencies (BuildRequires) for a given RPM source package, SPEC file, or SRPM file. It is essential for developers and packagers on Fedora, RHEL, and other RPM-based distributions who need to replicate the build environment for compiling software from source.

DNF parses the SPEC file (either from a local SRPM or remote source package metadata), resolves all declared build requirements to installable packages, and installs them. This differs from runtime dependencies managed by dnf install, as builddeps are transient, often used in isolated environments like mock or koji.

For remote packages, source repositories must be enabled (e.g., fedora-source). It supports dry-run checks, capability resolution, and assumes yes for non-interactive use. This streamlines SRPM-based workflows, ensuring reproducible builds without manual dependency hunting.

Typical use: set up a clean system, run dnf builddep package-name, then rpmbuild. Handles complex deps like development libraries, compilers, and macros.

Requires enabled source repos for remote packages; installs many devel packages; use in chroots for isolation; weak dependencies (Suggests) ignored.

dnf builddep httpd (installs deps for httpd SRPM)
dnf builddep --spec /path/to/myspec.spec --check (dry-run check)
dnf builddep -y --resolve --srpm foo.src.rpm (non-interactive with resolution)

Honors /etc/dnf/dnf.conf and repos.d; enable sources via dnf config-manager --set-enabled fedora-source

Introduced in DNF 1.0 (Fedora 22, 2015) as successor to yum-builddep. Enhanced in DNF 4+ with modular support and better libdnf integration for RHEL 8+. Actively maintained in Fedora and EPEL.

dnf(8), yum-builddep(1), rpmbuild(8), mock(1)