SDB:Installing Applications under SuSE Linux 8.0

Version: 8.0

Situation:

After having downloaded an application/package from the Internet, you want to install it. The downloaded package has a RPM or tar.gz file format.

Procedure:

You have downloaded the package and saved it in you home directory. Please note that you need root permissions in order to install packages and applications in the Linux file structure. In the following steps we assume that the package has been saved in your user's home directory.

In this article, the following topics are discussed:

SDB:Installing Applications under SuSE Linux 8.0#yast Package installation with YaST

SDB:Installing Applications under SuSE Linux 8.0#kpackage1 Graphical installation with KPackage

SDB:Installing Applications under SuSE Linux 8.0#kpackage2 Uninstalling packages with KPackage

SDB:Installing Applications under SuSE Linux 8.0#rpm1 Text-based installation of packages with RPM

SDB:Installing Applications under SuSE Linux 8.0#rpm2 Text-based uninstallation of packages with RPM

SDB:Installing Applications under SuSE Linux 8.0#targz Extracting tar.gz files

For more information please refer to pages 69 to 77 of your Reference manual. The Reference manual is also available on the system under /usr/share/doc/packages/suselinux-reference_en/ as PDF and HTML file. Please note that some problems might arise in connection with KPackage. In any case, we recommend you to perform the installation of RPM packages with the rpm commands from the console. Proceed in the same way for the tar.gz files.

Note: by default and for security reasons, passwords are not represented by * or any other characters unless you have explicitly configured it that way. Therefore, you will have to enter passwords for root or your users "blind".

Package installation with YaST

Situation: you work on the system as user and want to install a package.

Open a console and enter the command

sux -

Now enter root's password.

YaST offers two ways of installing rpm packages:

1. Package installation from an installation source (CD-ROM/DVD).

2. Package installation from a directory.

Execute the following command to install packages from an installation source:

yast -i gvim

By entering this command, the package gvim is installed from the DVD or CD. With this approach, you must know the name of the package. On the other hand, all package dependencies will be automatically resolved. Therefore, if you want to install a package that is based on other packages, these packages will be installed, too.

The second approach enables you to install rpm packages from any given directory. The necessary command reads:

yast -i /path/to/package/PACKAGE_NAME

Graphical installation with KPackage

Once you have downloaded the package, start Konqueror in order to open your user's home directory. Click on the package and proceed to install it with KPackage.

After KPackage has been started, a window pops up in which some options for the package you want to install are displayed:

Upgrade
Replace Files
Replace Packages
Check Dependencies
Test (do not install)

The options Upgrade, Replace Packages and Check Dependencies are preset. If you want to install the package, click on Install. After a while, you will be asked to enter the root password. If the package installation is successful, you will be shown the category in the RPM data base the package has been assigned to.

Uninstalling packages with KPackage

KPackage is not merely designed for the installation of packages; it also offers the possibility to uninstall them. You can easily start this application through the SuSE Menu:

System -> Configuration -> KPackage

If you are working with the KDE Menu (the K icon on the lower panel on the left), the way to start the application is:

System -> KPackage

In order to look for a specific package or a file, click on:

File -> Find Package

or

File -> Find File

and give the package name or a search item. After searching for this item in the database, the results will be displayed. Of course, these functions are also available as "buttons" on the left tool bar of KPackage.

If you want to uninstall a package, use the search function in order to find it and click on Uninstall. Once you have entered the root password anew, the package will be removed from the system.

Text-based installation of packages with RPM

Open a console with

ALT+F2

and type in the command

xterm

Click then on execute. Log in on this console as root user by entering:

sux -

Once you have executed this command, the system displays:

Password:

Now enter then the root password and confirm this entry. RPM packages can be installed by using the following commands:

rpm -i package_name.rpm - 	installs the package

rpm -U package_ name.rpm - 	installs or upgrades an application.
 		       		As opposed to install, all older entries
				will be removed

rpm -F package_name.rpm - 	upgrades a package only when a previous
				version is found in the system

If the options -vh are appended, you will also get a status output concerning the installation of the package. For example:

linux:/tmp# rpm -ivh opera-6.0-20020218.2-shared-qt.i386.rpm
opera                       ##################################################
linux:/tmp#

As opposed to the uninstallation process, the whole name of the package must be given for its installation. It can be shortened with the so-called wildcards:

rpm -ivh opera*.rpm

This is helpful e.g. if you have saved several packages in a directory and you want to install of all them with a single command. In this case, the command syntax will be as follows:

rpm -ivh *.rpm

In this way, all RPMs located in root user's current directory will be installed.

Text-based uninstallation of packages with RPM

The command to uninstall packages is the following:

rpm -e package_name

The option -vh is useless when uninstalling packages! For uninstallation purposes, the package name must be given without any option. For example:

rpm -Uvh rpm -e opera-6.0-20020218.2-shared-qt.i386.rpm

is WRONG. In this case, you would obtain this error message:

error: package opera-6.0-20020218.2-shared-qt.i386.rpm is not installed

Whereas the following example is RIGHT:

rpm -e opera

SuSEconfig

If you install RPM packages manually, the following command should be executed as root after having installed these packages

SuSEconfig

Thus your system is upgraded and changes concerning applications or window managers such as KDE and GNOME are applied.

Extracting tar.gz files

tar.gz files can be extracted as follows:

tar xvfz file_name.tar.gz

By doing this, a directory will be created in your current path. This directory contains information on the additional steps that must be taken in order to install these files.

If the files end with tar.bz2, please use the command:

tar xvfj file_name.tar.bz2

For further information please refer to the tar man page, which can be accessed by executing the following command in a console:

man tar

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