Ever wondered exactly what changed in a package update before you hit „y“? While Fedora 42 continues to refine the DNF5 experience, the changelog plugin remains your best friend for transparency and security.

Here is an extract of the program mplayer:

sven@fedora:~$ dnf changelog mplayer
Aktualisiere und lade Paketquellen:
Paketquellen geladen.
Listing all changelogs
Changelogs for mplayer-1.5.1-0.17.20250127svn.fc42.x86_64
* Mon Jan 27 12:00:00 2025 Leigh Scott <leigh123linux@gmail.com> - 1.5.1-0.17.20250127svn
- Update snapshot

* Tue Oct 08 12:00:00 2024 Nicolas Chauvet <kwizart@gmail.com> - 1.5.1-0.16.20241008svn
- Update snapshot

* Fri Aug 02 12:00:00 2024 RPM Fusion Release Engineering <sergiomb@rpmfusion.org> - 1.5.1-0.15.20240415svn
- Rebuilt for https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_41_Mass_Rebuild

* Mon Apr 15 12:00:00 2024 Leigh Scott <leigh123linux@gmail.com> - 1.5.1-0.14.20240415svn
- Update snapshot to fix AVChannelLayout issue (rfbz#6911)

* Tue Apr 09 12:00:00 2024 Leigh Scott <leigh123linux@gmail.com> - 1.5.1-0.13.20240409svn
- Update snapshot to fix AVChannelLayout issue (rfbz#6911)

* Mon Mar 18 12:00:00 2024 Leigh Scott <leigh123linux@gmail.com> - 1.5.1-0.12.20240317svn
- Drop GUI

* Sun Mar 17 12:00:00 2024 Leigh Scott <leigh123linux@gmail.com> - 1.5.1-0.11.20240317svn
- Update snapshot
- Readd GUI

* Sun Feb 04 12:00:00 2024 RPM Fusion Release Engineering <sergiomb@rpmfusion.org> - 1.5.1-0.10.20230811svn
- Rebuilt for https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_40_Mass_Rebuild

* Tue Jan 09 12:00:00 2024 Leigh Scott <leigh123linux@gmail.com> - 1.5.1-0.9.20230811svn
- Use compat-ffmpeg5

* Fri Aug 11 12:00:00 2023 Leigh Scott <leigh123linux@gmail.com> - 1.5.1-0.8.20230811svn
- Update snapshot
- Drop GUI

🔍 What is it?

The dnf changelog command allows you to view the chronological record of changes, bug fixes, and security patches applied to a package by its maintainers.

🛠 How to use it

To use this feature, you typically need the dnf-plugins-extras-changelog package installed.

1. View recent changes for a specific package: dnf changelog <package-name>

2. See what’s new since the last update: dnf changelog --since=last <package-name>

3. Check changes for all pending updates: dnf changelog --upgrades

💡 Why does this matter?

• Security: Quickly identify if a specific CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) has been patched.
• Stability: Check if a new version includes a fix for a bug that’s been bothering you.
• Transparency: See the „why“ behind the version bump directly from the terminal.

🐧 Pro-Tip for Fedora 42

In Fedora 42, with DNF5 becoming the standard, performance is snappier than ever. The changelog data is pulled directly from the RPM metadata, making it a lightning-fast way to audit your system.

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The output of man DNF changelog:

DNF5-CHANGELOG(8)                                                                         dnf5                                                                        DNF5-CHANGELOG(8)

NAME
       dnf5-changelog - Changelog Command

SYNOPSIS
       dnf5 changelog [options] [<package-spec-NI>...]

DESCRIPTION
       Show package changelogs.

OPTIONS
       --since=DATE
              Show only changelog entries since DATE.
              YYYY-MM-DD date format is expected.

       --count=VALUE
              Limit the number of changelog entries shown per package to VALUE.

       --upgrades
              Show only new changelog entries for packages that provide upgrades for already installed packages.

EXAMPLES
       dnf5 changelog --since=2023-04-01
              Display changelog entries since April 1, 2023 for all packages.

       dnf5 changelog --count=5 bash
              Display the 3 latest changelogs for the bash package.

SEE ALSO
          dnf5-specs(7), Patterns specification