How to Set or Unset Package Management

Last modified: December 9, 2022

Note:

This document was previously titled How to Set or Unset RPM Management. Beginning in version 98, we added .deb packages to our codebase to allow cPanel & WHM installations on Ubuntu® systems.

Overview

If you do not want cPanel & WHM’s rpm.versions system to manage a package, you can set its target to an unmanaged state. This document provides steps for how to set targets to both the managed and unmanaged states.

Common unmanaged package problems

You may experience problems with certain services if cPanel & WHM does not manage them:

The rpm.versions system does not update unmanaged packages. These packages require manual upgrades and maintenance.
If you upgrade a server with unmanaged FTP targets, problems may occur in cPanel’s FTP-related interfaces. For more information, read our How to Restore Missing FTP Interfaces in cPanel documentation.
Unmanaged targets may become upgrade blockers for a future version of cPanel & WHM.

Why is my target set to unmanaged

Warning:

We strongly recommend that you allow the rpm.versions system to manage all targets.

The targets for the following services may be in the unmanaged state, even if you did not change them:

Bandmin — bandmin

Warning:

We removed the Bandmin feature from cPanel & WHM version 58. The Bandmin feature only exists in cPanel & WHM version 56 and earlier.
Courier — courier

Warning:

We removed the Courier mail server in cPanel & WHM version 54. The Courier mail server only exists for cPanel & WHM version 11.52 and earlier.
Dovecot — dovecot

Note:

We removed this target in cPanel & WHM version 58. The exim target controls Dovecot.
FTP — proftpd and pure-ftpd
NSD — nsd

Warning:

We removed the NSD nameserver in cPanel & WHM version 106 and later, and will remove this target in future versions. For more information, read our cPanel Deprecation Plan.

What is an rpm.versions target?

The rpm.versions system uses target settings. This determines whether the system will install or uninstall a target’s specific packages. The /usr/local/cpanel/etc/rpm.versions file contains the target_settings section. This contains the cPanel-provided default status for each target.

For example, cPanel provides a distribution of Clam AntiVirus Scanner (ClamAV®). This consists of the following packages:

cpanel-clamav
cpanel-clamav-virusdefs
cpanel-perl-522-File-Scan-ClamAV

In this example, the /usr/local/cpanel/etc/rpm.versions file’s setting for the clamav target controls the ClamAV packages. It also determines how the rpm.versions system manages these components. For more information, read our rpm.versions file documentation.

List of targets

This lists the associated targets for cPanel & WHM services:

Third-party software — 3rdparty

Warning:

Never set this target to unmanaged. It could cause serious problems on your server.
Analog Stats — analog
AWStats — awstats
ClamAV Scanner — clamav
Composer — composer
cPanel privilege management — cpanel-wrap

Warning:

Never set this target to unmanaged. It could cause serious problems on your server.
cPanel — cpanel

Warning:

Never set this target to the unmanaged state. This can cause serious problems on your server.
cPanel Developer Tools — cpanel-devel

Note:

This controls the files that allow you to rebuild certain packages provided by cPanel.
Dovecot — dovecot

Note:

We removed this target in cPanel & WHM version 58. The exim target controls Dovecot.
Exim — exim

Warning:

Only experienced users should set this target to unmanaged. If you do not understand the effects of the change, it can cause serious problems on your server.
FTP — proftpd or pure-ftpd
Git — git
Horde — horde

Warning:

We removed the Horde webmail client and this target in cPanel & WHM version 108. For more information, read our cPanel Deprecation Plan.
Mailman — mailman
Munin — munin
MyDNS — mydns

Warning:

We removed the MyDNS nameserver in cPanel & WHM version 106 and later, and will remove this target in future versions. For more information, read our cPanel Deprecation Plan.
NSD — nsd

Warning:

We removed NSD nameserver support in cPanel & WHM version 106 and later, and will remove this target in future versions. For more information, read our cPanel Deprecation Plan.
Obsolete services — obsolete
Passive OS Fingerprinting — p0f
PHPMyAdmin — phpmy
Pluggable Authentication Modules — pam

Note:

We added this target in cPanel & WHM version 72.
Perl 5.22 — perl522
Warning:
- Never set this target to the unmanaged state. This can cause serious problems on your server.
- We removed this target in cPanel & WHM version 64.
Perl 5.24 — perl524

Warning:

Never set this target to the unmanaged state. This can cause serious problems on your server.
Perl 5.26 — perl526

Warning:

Never set this target to the unmanaged state. This can cause serious problems on your server.
Perl 5.28 — perl528

Warning:

Never set this target to the unmanaged state. This can cause serious problems on your server.

Note:

We added this target in cPanel & WHM version 78.
PHP — cpanel-php56, cpanel-php72, cpanel-php73, cpanel-php74, cpanel-php81
Note:
- We added the cpanel-php81 target in cPanel & WHM version 110.
- We added the cpanel-php74 target in cPanel & WHM version 102 and removed this target in cPanel & WHM version 110.
- We added the cpanel-php73 target in cPanel & WHM version 84 and removed this target in cPanel & WHM version 102.
- We added the cpanel-php72 target and removed the cpanel-php56 target in cPanel & WHM version 76.
PowerDNS — powerdns
Roundcube Webmail — roundcube
cPanel Site Publisher — sitepublisher
SQLite — sqlite
SquirrelMail — cpanel-squirrelmail
Warning:
- We deprecated SquirrelMail and its functionality in cPanel & WHM version 76.
- We removed SquirrelMail in cPanel & WHM version 78.
- When you upgrade to cPanel & WHM version 78 or later, the system will remove this target.
System update — updatenow
cPanel user interface — userinterface
Webalizer — webalizer

Set a target to unmanaged

To set a target to the unmanaged state, perform the following steps:

Run the following command. In this example, service represents the name of the service that you want to set to the unmanaged state:
```
/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/update_local_rpm_versions --edit target_settings.service unmanaged
```
Note:

To set FTP services to the unmanaged state, you must run this command for both the pure-ftpd and proftpd targets.

Confirm that the target is now unmanaged. Open the following file in your preferred text editor:

/var/cpanel/rpm.versions.d/local.versions

Notice the target’s unmanaged value. For example, if you use the roundcube target, this file might look like the following example:

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file_format:
version: 2
install_targets: {}
rpm_groups: {}
rpm_locations: {}
srpm_sub_packages: {}
srpm_versions: {}
target_settings:
cpanel-devel: installed
roundcube: unmanaged
url_templates: {}

Return a target to managed

To return an unmanaged target to the managed state, perform the following steps:

Run the following command. In this example, target represents the name of the target that you want to set to the managed state:
```
/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/update_local_rpm_versions --del target_settings.service
```
Note:
- This script’s --del option returns a target to its default managed state. This can be either an installed or uninstalled state.
- To set FTP services to the managed state, you must run this command for both the pure-ftpd and proftpd targets.

Confirm that the target is no longer unmanaged. Open the following file in your preferred text editor:

/var/cpanel/rpm.versions.d/local.versions

Notice that the file no longer lists the target in the target_settings hash. For example, if you use the roundcube target, this file might look like the following example:

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file_format:
  version: 2
install_targets: {}
rpm_groups: {}
rpm_locations: {}
srpm_sub_packages: {}
srpm_versions: {}
target_settings:
  cpanel-devel: installed
url_templates: {}