dnf clean all: Usage, Options & Common CI Errors

dnf clean all empties the dnf metadata and package cache to reduce image size.

dnf clean all is the Red Hat-family equivalent of clearing apt lists: it removes cached repo metadata and downloaded rpms so they do not bloat a Docker layer.

What it does

dnf clean all deletes cached repository metadata, downloaded packages, and dbcache from /var/cache/dnf (or /var/cache/yum). Running it in the same RUN layer as the install keeps the cached data out of the committed image.

Common usage

dnf install -y git && dnf clean all && rm -rf /var/cache/dnf
yum install -y curl && yum clean all && rm -rf /var/cache/yum
dnf clean metadata        # clear only the repo metadata
dnf clean packages        # clear only downloaded rpms

Common errors in CI

A subtle one: if dnf clean all runs in an earlier Docker layer than the install, the cache is rebuilt in the install layer and the cleanup saved nothing - keep install and clean in the same RUN. After cleaning, a later dnf command re-downloads metadata, which can fail on a flaky mirror ("Failed to download metadata for repo"). For reproducibility some images also delete /var/cache/dnf explicitly since clean all leaves empty directories.

Options

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