You got a taste of how YaST installs software during the initial system installation. You chose from among four standard installation types: Minimum (command-line only, no X), Minimum Graphical (with X, but no desktop environment), Standard with GNOME, or Standard with KDE. YaST then assembled the packages included in your selection and installed them.

Sooner or later, you will need an application not included in that standard system installation. Unless that application is brand new, chances are you’ll find it on the SUSE Linux CDs. This means you’re just a few minutes away from having it installed on your system.

Follow these steps to install any new software package(s) from the SUSE Linux installation disks.

After inserting the first SUSE Linux installation CD, start YaST. Enter your SuperUser password and YaST will open to the Software page. Click Software Management. After reading the current package setup, YaST displays the Search page (see Figure 21.1).

Figure 21.1. Search for a specific package or type of package in this YaST screen.

This is a standard search page, and it is excellent for finding specific applications, either by name or function. You can use Search if, for example, you want to see what Perl modules you have installed and what others are included in the distribution. Enter perl- into the Search box (the hyphen is there because all Perl module packages use the syntax perl-<module name>).

Sometimes you might want to explore the CDs for interesting applications or to look for a particular type of program. The Package Groups filter lets you do that. Use the drop-down Filter menu to display the Package Groups (see Figure 21.2).

Figure 21.2. Use the Package Groups filter to browse through a list of similar or complementary applications.

With Package Groups, everything is organized in a tree by type of application. Click a branch to see all the relevant packages. Some branches are further subdivided for a narrower selection, but the Multimedia branch displays everything in CD, Sound, Video, and Other.

Whatever filter you choose, YaST will show all the matching packages in the upper-right pane, with pertinent details. Click any individual package for a more detailed description of that package in the lower-right pane. Installed packages will be checked. To install any others, check the box. You can also right-click any package and choose from the following menu options:

You can also configure special installation options without right-clicking the package using the check box. Clicking the check box next to an installed package once displays the Update icon, which is really a reinstall. Double-clicking the check box marks the package for removal. Some installed packages appear in red type; this means that the version you have installed now is newer than the package on the CD. Choosing Update on these packages will revert the current version to the version on the CD.

When you have finished choosing packages, click Accept to complete the installation. Occasionally, you’ll see one of two additional screens. One screen tells you that some other packages will be installed in addition to your selected packages to satisfy some dependencies (see more about dependencies in the next section “The Basics of the Red Hat Package Management System [RPM]”). The other screen indicates that one or more of your selections will conflict with an existing package and offers suggestions about how to deal with the conflict.

YaST then installs the selected packages (see Figure 21.3), processes any other requests made in this session, and runs SUSEConfig to make sure everything’s in order. When completed, YaST asks whether you want to install any other packages. Click Install More to do so or click Finish to close the Install module.

Figure 21.3. YaST Installs the selected packages.

You can also use YaST to install a package from the command line. To do this, you must first know the name of the package you want to install. When you do, enter the following:

yast -i package_name

For example, if you wanted to install the dosbox package, you would enter the following:

yast -i dosbox

Just as when using the Software Management module, installing a package from the command line performs a dependency check and automatically installs any dependent packages required.

After installing any new package, you should always run YOU to check for updated versions of the software. This protects your system against any bug or security problem that may have been discovered and fixed since the last SUSE Linux release; it often gives you new features, as well.

You’ll learn more about YOU later in this chapter.

In the preceding example, you used YaST to install additional packages from the SUSE installation CDs. However, you can use YaST to specify other locations from which packages should be installed. You can select an FTP or HTTP server on the Internet, a server on your local network, or a directory on your local hard drive (assuming the packages have been copied there).

Having an alternative installation source can be a lifesaver when you need to install a new package, but have misplaced or damaged your SUSE Linux CDs. Installing from the Internet also ensures that the packages you are installing are the most current available.

Let’s take a look at how to add a SUSE mirror site on the Internet as an additional installation source. Complete the following:

At this point, you can test your new installation source by opening the Software Management module in YaST. When you do, you’ll see that the module retrieves its package information from the remote mirror site instead of from your local CD or DVD drive.

With this in mind, we need to relate a little background about applications and packages.

The RPM system was inaugurated in 1995 to manage applications in Red Hat Linux 2.0. It was the successor to a collection of Perl scripts that functioned as the earliest Linux packaging tools. Rewritten in the C language in 1996, it quickly became the de facto standard for managing application installations for several distributions, including SUSE Linux.

The basic idea behind RPM is to have a single “pristine” archive of an application’s source code that can build packages for different systems and that can track new versions. An RPM database of all available applications is installed on your computer (in /var/lib/rpm) and is accessed by YaST and other configuration tools to determine exactly what is on your system, what might be new and updated, and what files each package provides that another package might need to run properly.

This last part, the dependency resolver, is one of the features that made RPM so successful among Linux developers and distributors. When you look at a package in YaST, click the Dependencies tab in the lower-right corner. Here, under Provides, is a list of every file included in the package. After the Provides list, the Requires list tells you every file that this package needs to run, and the Prerequisites list tells you what needs to be installed before you install this package (down to the minimum version number, if necessary). Next up is the list of packages that this package will replace or make obsolete. You have to hope that some other package doesn’t require one of these; if it does, you’ll get a warning. Finally is a list of conflicts; installing this package will create problems for applications on this list.

RPM packages are now more secure, as packagers can include digital signatures encrypted with GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG). All packages produced by SUSE Linux are signed, so you know they are genuine.

An Internet connection is all you need to keep your SUSE Linux system current. This section tells you about using YOU and its companion application, SUSEwatcher, to maintain your system in tip-top shape. Every package posted to a YOU server has been tested by SUSE staff to ensure that it works correctly with your system.

Running YOU

For the most control over the update process, run YOU manually. You can choose which server to access, which applications to update (or not), and get more information on the patch applied to the application. It takes a little time, but it is not especially complex.

Open YaST and click Online Update. Figure 21.7 will appear.

Figure 21.7. Select a nearby update server for fast service.

For a long time, SUSE maintained just a few online update servers, in Germany and in a few other European locations. YOU always checked for a new list of servers whenever it opened, but the list changed rarely. In early 2004, many more update servers came online, and YOU delivered a geographic list to users.

Select one of the choices from the drop-down menu. You have the option to define a location from the menu, add a new server, or edit the current server address from buttons on this screen. You should rarely, if ever, have to do that.

Click Next to check for updates. YaST will compare its list of currently installed packages to the packages in the Update directory. If there are updates available, you’ll see a screen similar to Figure 21.8. At the top of the screen is the list of available updates. Security updates are marked in red. If you had the Select Packages Manually box checked on the Server page, you may see some packages that aren’t relevant to your system, but you can install them nonetheless by checking the appropriate box.

Figure 21.8. The YOU Update screen lists security updates (marked in red) with detailed descriptions of the problem the fix solves.

You can see a detailed description of each patch in the left middle pane. In the case of security patches, this describes the problem solved by the patch. For more mundane updates (bug fixes, new releases, and other patches unrelated to system security), the level of detail in the descriptions runs the gamut. Click Accept to download and install the updated packages.

YOU will download and install the selected packages, giving you an onscreen progress report (see Figure 21.9). When the download is complete, check the Remove Source Packages After Update box to conserve space on your hard drive, and then click Finish to run SUSEConfig and return to the YaST Control Center.

Figure 21.9. The progress bar keeps you informed on the download and installation process.

As with installing packages, you can also update your SUSE Linux system from the command line. This is done using the online_update command. This utility utilizes the following options:

• -u—Specifies the URL where updates should be downloaded from.

• -g—Download the updates, but don’t install them.

• -i—Install downloaded updates.

• -k—Check for new updates.

• -p—Product for which updates should be downloaded.

• -v—Product version for which updates should be downloaded.

• -a—CPU architecture for updates.

• -d—Download updates and simulate installation (for testing).

• -s—Display a list of available updates.

That’s all there is to it. With the exception of kernel updates, you should never have to reboot the system to complete an update.

Using SUSEwatcher to Monitor YOU Servers

Since version 8.2, the SUSEwatcher utility monitors your designated YOU server for updates and notifies you when there’s something new.

Included in the KDE-SUSE package, SUSEwatcher (and its companion, the Plugger hardware detection utility) sits in the KDE and GNOME panels. Most of the time, you’ll just see the green smiling face of the SUSE Linux mascot, Geeko, indicating you are current. But occasionally, the icon will turn an eye-catching red with an exclamation point. This tells you that new security updates are available. More rarely, the icon will turn yellow, indicating that a nonsecurity update has been posted.

Click the SUSEwatcher icon to display the dialog box shown in Figure 21.10. This dialog box is the only settings interface for SUSEwatcher.

Figure 21.10. SUSEwatcher checks the YOU server for updated software. Click Start Online Update to run YOU.

To run YOU, click Start Online Update. YOU will ask for the SuperUser password and then run normally.

Unless you have a real aversion to taskbar icons, you should have SUSEwatcher set to start automatically. If you have a broadband or LAN connection to the Internet, you should have SUSEwatcher automatically check for updates. It will then check the server once every 24 hours. If you have a modem connection, you have two options: If you want to have the servers checked automatically, you need to have your modem set in YaST to Dial on Demand. See “Configuring Your Dial-Up Internet Connection” in Chapter 12, “Connecting to the Internet,” to learn how. If you want to run SUSEwatcher yourself, click the icon regularly and choose Check for Updates from the dialog box.

Tip

Can’t find the SUSEwatcher icon? From the KDE menu (or the main menu in GNOME), go to System, Desktop Applet to start SUSEwatcher.

Automating YOU Updates

Maybe you don’t want to know exactly what package is getting updated at any given time. Maybe you don’t want to take a few minutes every so often to keep your system secure and updated. You don’t have to sacrifice security for a little laziness. YaST can do this for you.

When you open YOU, click Configure Fully Automatic Update. Figure 21.11 appears.

Figure 21.11. Configure YOU to run daily or weekly and you never have to worry about keeping your system current and secure.

Check the Enable Automatic Update box and the default times appear. If you are more concerned with pulling down security updates, choose to update daily. If you connect to the Internet with a modem, be sure to select a time when you are always online, or configure your modem to Dial on Demand. Click OK to confirm. You can still run YOU manually if, for example, SUSEwatcher identifies a new update.

In addition to the RPM system, the APT packaging system developed for the Debian Linux distribution is the other most popular Linux install and update tool. APT’s ease of use rates highly. Using APT to install most packages from the command line involves typing apt-get install <package> and APT does the rest.

Developers for the Brazilian Linux distribution Conectiva first created apt4rpm to bring the benefits of APT to RPM-based distributions. Richard Bos further adapted the program to SUSE’s eccentricities. APT is not yet included in the official SUSE distribution, but is readily available from the APT for SUSE website, http://linux01.gwdg.de/apt4rpm. Many APT repositories have also been created to make using APT to download and install new software that much easier.

APT works a lot like YOU. Both applications require the SuperUser to run them; each application accesses the same RPM database when they start up to determine what application packages are installed on your system. To find new versions of current applications, and completely new packages, YaST and APT seek out designated remote servers, but YaST has a list of Novell/SUSE-owned servers that are known to mirror the existing SUSE Linux distribution. APT uses a special server-list file, /etc/apt/sources.list, to access file repositories. APT repositories include mirrors of the SUSE Linux distribution and other sites hosting SUSE-compatible RPMs. With the separate apt4rpm utility, you can even host your own APT repository.

A broader range of packages appear in APT repositories than on the official SUSE servers, and updated versions of many popular applications (web browsers, desktop environments, The GIMP, and the like) appear much faster on the APT repositories than on the SUSE servers. The downside of this speed is that SUSE doesn’t put an updated package on the YOU server until it has been tested and functions well under SUSE Linux. It doesn’t happen often, but you can run into trouble using new applications installed with APT, although no more trouble than you would experience downloading an RPM from another website yourself and installing it.

To download and install APT, go to the APT for SUSE site and scroll to the Software Installation section. Click the link for your SUSE version and architecture (9.2 for x86 PCs, 9.2-x86_64 for 64-bit processors). Download both the apt and apt-libs packages; then run the YaST Software Management module to install the two packages.

Before you can use APT, you need a sources.list text file to point to SUSE APT repositories. You can find a good default file at the APT for SUSE site in the Advanced Package Tool Configuration section. As before, choose the link for your version and architecture.

Save the text file to your home directory, edit the file to your liking, and then copy it as the SuperUser to /etc/apt/sources.list.

When you have your sources.list file installed, you can run APT. Connect to the Internet and open a shell as the SuperUser. From the shell, gather the list of current files at the repositories by typing the following:

apt-get update

The first time you run this, it may take a little while, especially if you have a modem connection.

When the repository update is completed, you can install (or update) any package in the repository. One package you might like to start with is the fine GUI front-end for APT, called Synaptic. Type the following:

apt-get install synaptic

After it is installed, Synaptic adds itself to both the KDE and GNOME System Configuration menus, so you can launch it from there. After prompting you for the SuperUser password, Synaptic will display a YaST-like Search screen, but you might prefer to browse through the list of available updates. In the lower-left corner are four package views, including the Search view you’re seeing now. The Sections view corresponds to YaST’s sections, and you can see both installed and available packages here. The Status view groups packages by whether they are installed, upgradable, or not installed. Click Status to display this view (see Figure 21.12).

Figure 21.12. Synaptic makes it easy to manage application packages. Installed packages with available updates have the fill-in check box with a star in the corner.

In the smaller left pane, you’ll see five or six status categories. To see all packages with available updates, click Installed (upgradable). Notice that the check box to the left of each package is filled in with a yellow star in the upper-right corner. Click any package to see a description in the right bottom pane. Right-click and choose Mark for Upgrade from the context menu. If you want to upgrade everything on this list, click Mark All Upgrades from the toolbar. As with RPM, Synaptic (and APT as well) may add and remove packages to resolve dependency issues and will tell you before you commit to the changes.

Before committing to any new update, click the Custom view button, and then click Marked Changes to see the list of packages you are updating, installing, or removing. When you’re ready to run APT, click Apply from the toolbar. APT will download all the marked packages and then install them one by one. You will see a progress bar and be notified of any problems. To get more information about the installation process while it is happening, go to Settings, Preferences, and check the Apply Changes in a Terminal Window box.

Ximian started out as a company that built applications for the GNOME desktop, and it did some terrific stuff, especially the Evolution personal information manager. Ximian started branching out from the GNOME focus with an updating product it called Red Carpet. Because Ximian was acquired by Novell a few months before SUSE, Novell has been integrating Ximian products into its own product line. Red Carpet now is the main updating tool for the Novell Linux Desktop. In the guise of Novell ZENWorks Linux Management, Red Carpet also updates the Novell Open Enterprise Server.

Like the other tools covered in this chapter, Red Carpet simplifies the task of updating and installing software for your distribution. Some terminology is different, however. For example, a Red Carpet download site is called a channel, to which you subscribe to see what’s new. You should, nonetheless, find Red Carpet easy to understand and learn.

subd? | Alias | Name
------+-----------------------+----------------------
| redcarpet2 | Red Carpet 2
| rcd-snaps | rcd snapshots
| suse-92-x86_64 | suse-92-x86_64
| suse-92-x86_64-kernel | suse-92-x86_64-kernel

subd? | Alias | Name
------+-----------------------+----------------------
Yes | redcarpet2 | Red Carpet 2

| rcd-snaps | rcd snapshots
Yes | suse-92-x86_64 | suse-92-x86_64
| suse-92-x86_64-kernel | suse-92-x86_64-kernel

Updating with the Red Carpet GUI

The Red Carpet graphical application operates very much like Synaptic for APT, rather than the way YaST goes about updating. It uses a tabbed interface to keep you in the know without overwhelming you with lots of material on a page. To begin in KDE, go to System, Configuration, Red Carpet. Red Carpet checks your channels for new stuff and tells you if there are updates for your installed applications (or tells you if you are current).

Click Available Software to see what applications are available in your channels that you have not installed. Use the Section menu to break all the packages down by function, if you are looking for something specific, or just browse through the alphabetical list.

If you find something on this tab that you want, select it and click Mark for Installation. An icon appears and your choice is added to the Pending Actions list on the left (see Figure 21.13).

Figure 21.13. In Red Carpet, you can see the choices you make in the Pending Actions list on the left.

When you’ve identified the applications you want to install or update, click Run Now to begin. Red Carpet checks dependencies and lists all tasks to be carried out. Click Continue.

Red Carpet downloads and installs your selection(s). Click OK when it is finished. You will return to the main screen, where you can choose more applications to install, or exit.

Tip

There are so many applications included in the SUSE Linux distribution, sometimes you may not know everything you’ve installed. Even if you’re not the SuperUser, Red Carpet can help you if you just want to see if you have installed that application you just read about in a magazine. Open the Red Carpet graphical application and click Installed Applications.

Some programs are too complex or too specialized for the programmer to go to the trouble of creating RPMs for them. So the programmer archives the source code in a tarball and sends it out. Often, simply extracting the code into an appropriate directory is all that’s needed to make the application work, as you’ve seen with several of the blogging tools in Chapter 14, “Creating Basic Websites,” and the Azureus BitTorrent client in Chapter 17, “Secure File Transfer.”

Other programs must be compiled before they can work. This section will help you do this. Before beginning, you will need to have the GNU Compiler Collection (gcc) installed to handle this task.

First, when compiling new source code, create a new subdirectory in your home directory called source. This will let you compile your code as a user and help prevent any bad (or even malicious) code from harming your system.

Now the task is to extract the archive into the new ~/source directory. You can do this in GNOME File Roller or Ark for KDE, but it will be faster from the shell. Change directory to the ~/download folder (or wherever your source archive is sitting). Depending on the archive format of the original file, type one of the following commands:

tar xzvf <package>.tgz -C ~/source

tar xzvf <package>.tar.gz -C ~/source


tar xjvf <package>.bz -C ~/source

tar xjvf <package>.tar.bz2 -C ~/source

The first two are different extensions for a tar/gnuzip archive, whereas the last two were archived using BZip. The -C switch extracted the archived files to the ~/source directory. If you are not sure what archiving method was used, use the file command to help you determine the format. Type file <package>.

Now change to the extracted program directory under the ~/source directory. Look for a file (usually named in ALL CAPS so you can find it better) called something like README or INSTALL. This file will have detailed instructions on how to compile and make the program work. Chances are these instructions will be some variation on the Configure/Make/Make Install process. This means you will first run a script called configure, as follows:

./configure

This script confirms that all dependencies are met and the build environment is solid. When this script runs successfully, compile the program with the make utility included in gcc:

make

Finally, log in as the SuperUser and install the program with the same make utility:

make install

This should safely install your new source program.