How To Rebuild Corrupted RPM database

Sometime it is possible to fix RPM database errors. I am surprised that many Admin do not take back up of RPM DB (/var/lib/rpm).

Anyways if you ever messed up with RPM database, here is a quick guide to fix it (you must have rpmdb tools installed):

Take system to single user mode to avoid further damage and to make backup/restore process easy:

# init 1

Method # 1

Remove /var/lib/rpm/__db* files to avoid stale locks:
# cd /var/lib
# rm __db*

Rebuild RPM database:
# rpm --rebuilddb
# rpmdb_verify Packages

Method # 2

If you are still getting errors, then try your luck with following commands:

# mv Packages Packages-BAKUP
# db_dump Packages-BAKUP | db_load Packages
# rpm -qa
# rpm --rebuilddb