How to roll back an update in CentOS or RedHat

This post explains how to roll back an update in CentOS using yum. Sometimes a package update may lead to unexpectable problems on your system. It is very helpful if we can revert the update in such cases. The command yum history helps to revert the latest updates. Continue reading to know how to use yum to revert an update.

If you want to print the full yum transaction history, just run the command:

yum history

Sample Output:

[root@server ~]# yum history
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
ID     | Login user  | Date and time    | Action(s)   | Altered
----------------------------------------------------------------
    23 | root        | 2019-04-19 03:44 | Update      |   17 E<
    22 | root        | 2019-03-31 03:36 | Install     |    1 > 
    21 | root        | 2019-03-31 03:35 | Install     |   42   
    20 | root        | 2019-03-31 03:33 | Install     |    1   
    19 | root        | 2019-03-31 01:24 | Install     |    9   
    18 | root        | 2019-03-31 01:24 | Erase       |    9 EE
    17 | root        | 2019-03-31 00:54 | Install     |    9   
    16 | root        | 2019-03-31 00:53 | Erase       |    9   
    15 | root        | 2019-03-31 00:39 | Install     |    4   
    14 | root        | 2019-03-31 00:09 | Install     |    1   
    13 | root        | 2019-03-31 00:09 | Install     |    1   
    12 | root        | 2019-03-31 00:09 | Install     |    2   
    11 | root        | 2019-03-31 00:07 | Install     |   25   
    10 | root        | 2019-03-31 00:06 | Install     |    1   
     9 | root        | 2019-03-31 00:06 | Install     |    1   
     8 | root        | 2019-03-31 00:03 | Install     |   38   
     7 | root        | 2019-03-31 00:02 | Install     |    5   
     6 | System      | 2019-03-30 23:59 | I, O, U     |  201 EE
     5 | root        | 2018-01-08 06:44 | Install     |    4   
     4 | root        | 2018-01-08 06:22 | Install     |    1   
history list
[root@server ~]#

To have information about a transaction:

yum history info <Transaction ID>

Here, I am quriying about the transaction ID 22 to provide you an example:

[root@server ~]# yum history info 22
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Transaction ID : 22
Begin time     : Sun Mar 31 03:36:31 2019
Begin rpmdb    : 426:31e16c0521bbf7d8d4ac5d1aa103524e56f06b53
End time       :                           (0 seconds)
End rpmdb      : 427:306e3c38d229651383d292dbd72ede56ed42118e
User           : root <root>
Return-Code    : Success
Command Line   : install mlocate -y
Transaction performed with:
    Installed     rpm-4.11.3-35.el7.x86_64                      @base
    Installed     yum-3.4.3-161.el7.centos.noarch               @base
    Installed     yum-plugin-fastestmirror-1.1.31-50.el7.noarch @base
Packages Altered:
    Install mlocate-0.26-8.el7.x86_64 @base
history info
[root@server ~]#

To undo a transaction:

yum history undo <Transaction ID>

For example, the altered packages in transaction 22 can be reverted using the following command:

[root@server ~]# yum history undo 22
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Undoing transaction 22, from Sun Mar 31 03:36:31 2019
    Install mlocate-0.26-8.el7.x86_64 @base
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package mlocate.x86_64 0:0.26-8.el7 will be erased
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

=================================================================
 Package           Arch       Version        Repository     Size
=================================================================
Removing:
 mlocate           x86_64     0.26-8.el7     @base         379 k

Transaction Summary
=================================================================
Remove  1 Package

Installed size: 379 k
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading packages:
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction
  Erasing    : mlocate-0.26-8.el7.x86_64                      1/1 
  Verifying  : mlocate-0.26-8.el7.x86_64                      1/1 

Removed:
  mlocate.x86_64 0:0.26-8.el7                                                   

Complete!
[root@server ~]#

Note: Roll back of the packages selinux, selinux-policy-*, kernel, glibc to older version is not supported. Use yum history for small roll back as it is not recommended to downgrade a system to a minor version. ex: CentOS 6.10 to CentOS 6.9)

That’s it!

Also Read:

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