Pure Perl RPM Version checker

Some hints

You do't need grep e.g.

rpm -q radvd
radvd-1.9.2-9.el7.x86_64
echo $?
0

If a package is missing $? is 1

rpm -q nc 
package nc is not installed
echo $?
1

You can get the version of an installed rpm package using --queryformat

rpm -q radvd --queryformat "%{VERSION}\n"
1.9.2

There is much more you can do with just rpm - have a look at the rpm.org site.

You may even be able to get away without using perl so take a look at Dennis's answer here on SO.

While this doesn't answer my original question I'd like to provide what I ended up with. I've been able to convince those in power to allow me to install the RPM::VersionSort Perl module. So this isn't a Pure Perl solution as I was hoping to find.

Here's what I'm using now for anyone who's interested:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use RPM::VersionSort;

my $cmd;
my $cmdResults;
my %installedRPMs; #This will hold a list of all the RPMs from the baseRPMs list that ARE currently installed on the machine.
my @missingRPMs; #This will hold a list of all the RPMs from the baseRPMs list that ARE NOT installed on the system.
my %baseRPMs; #This is the list of RPMs that should be installed on the system and their corresponding version numbers.

%baseRPMs = ("bwm-ng" => "0.6-6.el6.2",
        "celt051" => "0.5.1.3-0.el6",
        "device-mapper-multipath" => "0.4.9-87.el6",
        "device-mapper-multipath-libs" => "0.4.9-87.el6",
        "dhcp" => "4.1.1-49.P1.el6.centos",
        "dhcp-common" => "4.1.1-49.P1.el6.centos", 
        "ebtables" => "2.0.9-6.el6",
        "freeglut" => "2.6.0-1.el6",
        "glusterfs-api" => "3.4.0.57rhs-1.el6_5",
        "glusterfs-libs" => "3.4.0.57rhs-1.el6_5",
        "gnutls-utils" => "3.8.5-18.el6",
        "gpm" => "1.20.6-12.el6",
        "hmaccalc" => "0.9.12-2.el6",
        "iftop" => "1.0-0.7.pre4.el6",
        "iperf" => "2.0.5-11.el6",
        "ipsec-tools" => "0.8.0-25.3",
        "iptraf" => "3.0.1-14.el6",
        "iscsi-initiator-utils" => "6.2.0.873-14.el6",
        "libsysfs" => "2.1.0-7.el6",
        "lm_sensors" => "3.1.1-17.el6",
        "lm_sensors-libs" => "3.1.1-17.el6",
        "log4cpp" => "1.0-13.el6_5.1",
        "lrzsz" => "0.12.20-27.1.el6",
        "lzop" => "1.02-0.9.rc1.el6",
        "mcsctrans" => "0.3.1-4.el6",
        "minicom" => "2.3-6.1.el6",
        "nc" => "1.84-24.el6",
        "netcf-libs" => "0.2.4-3.el6",
        "net-snmp" => "5.5-54.el6",
        "net-snmp-libs" => "5.5-54.el6",
        "net-snmp-utils" => "5.5-54.el6",
        "omping" => "0.0.4-1.el6",
        "perl-AppConfig" => "1.66-6.el6",
        "perl-Pod-POM" => "0.25-2.el6",
        "perl-Template-Toolkit" => "2.22-5.el6",
        "pimd" => "2.3.0-1",
        "python-lxml" => "2.2.3-1.1.el6",
        "quagga" => "0.99.23.1-2014082501",
        "radvd" => "1.6-1.el6",
        "smcroute" => "2.0.0-0",
        "usbredir" => "0.5.1-2.el6",
        "yajl" => "1.0.7-3.el6",
    );

print "The following RPMs and version numbers will be checked against this system:\n";
foreach(keys %baseRPMs){
    print "\t" . $_ . ": " . %baseRPMs($_) . "\n";
}

print "Press any key to continue.";
<STDIN>;

#Loop through the %baseRPMs list and build both the %installedRPMs list as well as the @missingRPMs list.
for my $pkg (keys %baseRPMs){
    $cmd = "rpm -q " . $pkg . " --queryformat \"%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}\"";
    $cmdResults = `$cmd`;
    if ($cmdResults =~ /not installed/) {
        push @missingRPMs, $pkg;
    } else {
        $installedRPMs{$pkg} = $cmdResults;
    }
}

#Loop through the %installedRPMs list and verify their version numbers against the %baseRPMs list.
foreach (keys %installedRPMs){
    if (exists $baseRPMs{$_}){
        print "Expected: " . $_ . ": " . $baseRPMs{$_} .  "\n";
        print "Installed: " . $_ . ": " . $installedRPMs{$_} .  "\n";
        if (rpmvercmp($installedRPMs{$_}, $baseRPMs{$_}) < 0 ) {
            print "RESULT: !!FAIL!! " . $_ . " version is OLDER than the specified version in the Functional Test Plan.\n";
        } else {
            print "RESULT: PASS. " . $_ . " version is equal to or newer than the specified version in the Functional Test Plan. \n";
        }
        print "-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n";
    }
}

#Print the list of @missingRPMs.
if (@missingRPMs){
    print "The following RPMs are NOT installed as defined by the Functional Test Plan:\n";
    foreach(@missingRPMs){
        print "\t" . $_ . "\n";
    }
    print "\n*Any missing RPMs indicates the system is NOT built as defined by the Functional Test Plan.*\n";
}

print "\n";

exit(0)

;