Differences between YUM and DNF in RHEL 7 and RHEL 8

 Here is a detailed comparison between YUM (Yellowdog Updater Modified) and DNF (Dandified YUM), highlighting their key differences:

Feature	YUM (Yellowdog Updater, Modified)	DNF (Dandified YUM)
Introduced	2003	2012
Introduction	Legacy package manager introduced in RHEL 5	Next-generation package manager introduced in RHEL 8
Performance	Slower, higher memory usage	Faster, lower memory usage
Repository Metadata	Requires downloading all metadata for a repository	Downloads only required metadata using zchunk compression
Dependency Handling	Basic dependency resolution	Advanced dependency resolution
Plugins	Supports YUM plugins	Supports YUM and DNF plugins
Configuration Files	/etc/yum.conf	/etc/dnf/dnf.conf
Python Version	Python 2	Python 3
Error Handling	Less robust	More informative error messages

Key Differences

• Performance: DNF is generally faster and uses less memory compared to YUM. DNF is significantly faster than YUM due to its use of the libsolv library for dependency resolution and efficient metadata handling

• Reduced Metadata Size: Metadata in DNF is compressed using zchunk, reducing download sizes and improving performance for slow networks.

• Error Handling: DNF offers more informative error messages, making it easier to troubleshoot issues.

• Python 3 Support: DNF is built for modern environments with Python 3, providing better performance, security, and maintainability.

Overall, DNF is designed to be a more efficient and powerful tool compared to YUM, with better performance, dependency handling, and extensibility