Step 1: See if there is a package available in the yum repository (yum search <thingyouarelookingfor>. If yes, do that instead. If no, proceed.

Step 2: Locate the RPM somehow. Googling seems to work? I have gotten a bunch from http://rpm.pbone.net . There might be a better way. Make sure you’re selecting the appropriate one for your OS version and architecture. Today I’m working on an x86_64 server running Red Hat EL6, so I’m going to choose one that is specified as such (note: CentOS 6 also seems to be appropriate for RHEL6). If you don’t know this info about your system, you can run the command uname -a and find out.

Step 3: Download the RPM to the machine. I’m working on a remote server, so I used wget:

wget <the url to the rpm>

Step 4: Install the RPM package.

rpm -i <the rpm file>

If you get a message about failed dependencies, locate and install the missing packages by starting at Step 1. Once they are installed, try step 4 again. The end.