Downloading and Installing software

[Guest Weidjack]

What is the best way to download and then install using Mandriva 2006

 

I have tried RPM and source code compiling and etc but seem to keep going around in circles

is there an easy method for mandriva 2006. Excuse my ignorance but ie come from windows XP Pooh!

[Crashdamage]

Software installation is actually easier than with Windoze once you get the hang of it. This should help get you going. Just skip any basic stuff you already probably know, like how to 'su' to become root, but do read all the way through it. If you still have problems or questions post back here.

 

**Basic urpmi setup and usage**

 

Urpmi will easily and automagically take care of finding, downloading

and installing software and its dependencies, if any. The "Software

Management" utility in Mandriva Control Center is a simple to use GUI

frontend for urpmi, the software management utility. Think of the

Software Management utility in Mandriva as roughly the equivilent to the

"Add/Remove Software" utility in Windows Control Center. But it's also

very easy and more powerful to use urpmi from the command line.

 

Of course you can install software from your CDs, but to best use either

the GUI installer or urpmi manually, particularly if you have a broadband

connection, it's best to set up online sources for downloading, installing

and updating software. To do this you need to know how to 'su' to become

the 'root' adminstrator, which is very simple. Just open a terminal and

at the '$' prompt do this:

 

$ su

Password: <type.your.root.password>

#

 

Note that the cursor changed from '$' to '#' indicating you now have

'root' administrator rights, so be careful! Think of this as similar

to the difference between being a 'user' or an 'administrator' in

Win2k/XP. If you don't fully understand the 'su' process or what root

permissions mean some simple Googling will explain it.

 

Now to setup your online software sources. Go here:

 

http://easyurpmi.zarb.org/

 

Follow the directions to setup your online package sources. Choose

them carefully, staying with sources for your particular version of

Mandriva. You'll want to add the main sources for your distro version,

updates, Contrib, PLF free and non-free, and maybe the Seer of Souls

and/or Thac's rpms.

Warning!! Add the Cooker sources at your own risk. Cooker is beta stuff

still in testing for the next release and may or may not cause you some

problems.

 

When you've finished setting up your source mirrors you can start using

the real power of urpmi. You can now install/uninstall a package using

your newly-setup online sources either by using the Software Manager GUI

in Mandriva Control Center, or better, by using urpmi manually from the

command line.

 

To install manually with urpmi open a terminal, 'su' to root, then type:

 

# urpmi -v <packagename> ('-v' for verbose output is optional, but I

like the extra info it provides and always use it)

 

Note that usually <packagename> can be just the 'simple' version. Using

the text email client Mutt for an example, instead of typing the full

package name:

 

# urpmi -v mutt-1.5.9i-8mdk.i586.rpm

 

Use:

 

# urpmi -v mutt

 

That's it! That's all you have to do do install! With that simple

command urpmi will automagically go to the 'Net sources you choose, find

and download the latest available Mutt rpm for your version of Mandriva,

grab any other packages needed to resolve all dependencies and install

everything in the correct order. If urpmi cannot complete the

installation, either because all the required software isn't available on

the source mirrors you choose or possibly some other conflict(s), it will

stop the install process before any actual changes are made to the system

and give you some info about the problem.

 

Similarly, for packages you've downloaded and saved, just use the 'cd'

command to navigate to the directory where you saved them:

 

# cd /mysaved/rpm/is.here

 

Then (for this, you will need to use the full packagename):

 

# urpmi -v <packagename>

 

Uninstalling a package is simply 'urpme' instead of 'urpmi'.

 

Be aware that while using rpms compiled for other versions of Mandriva

or for other distros can sometimes be done, mixing up rpm packages

between version or distros is NOT recommended or the faint of heart. It

is very possible to trash your system unless you really know what you're

doing. Always try to use correct rpms for your distro and version

whenever possible, which in the case of Mandriva is almost always. Think

of this as similar to installing Windows software where installing

something on Win98 but meant for XP (or vice-versa) may not work.

 

But unlike Windows, Linux and urpmi allows you to first do a 'test'

installation instead of having to just try installing and see what

happens. To do a test install, do this:

 

# urpmi -v --test <packagename>

 

This does a 'dry run' to check if the package(s) can be sucessfully

installed but without actually changing anything on the system. If all

is well, the test will end with "Installation is possible" and you can

remove the '--test' switch and install normally.

 

It's important to always install rpms, not from tarballs (.targz,

.tar.gz, which are often raw source code) when using any rpm-based

distro like RedHat, Suse or Mandriva, at least until you have a good

understanding of just what you're doing. This is also true of '.deb'

package based distros such as Debian or Ubuntu.

Why?

Because if you always install rpms (or .debs), then Mandriva's urpmi (or

Suse's YAST, Debian's apt or whatever package manager) is able to

properly keep track of everything installed on your system and so keep

everything correctly configured, updated and avoid conflicts. But if

you install any packages from source tarballs no information about that

package or the files it installed are entered into the urpmi database.

You then have a situation where urpmi may not properly keep things

straight since it has no info about the installed tarballs or their

contents. The chances of installing from tarballs breaking anything is

fairly slight, but it can happen, so why risk it if you don't have to?

Also, software installed from a rpm package is easier to uninstall than

that installed from a tarball.

 

Sometimes a particular piece or a newer version of software may only be

available as a source tarball. No problem. It's very easy make your

own rpms from source tarballs with a handy utility called checkinstall,

included on the Mandriva CDs. In a nutshell, checkinstall makes a

simple .rpm package by replacing the traditional compile and install

commands:

 

./configure

make

make install

 

With:

 

./configure

make

checkinstall

 

I won't go into more detail about checkinstall here. Google for more

info about it or install the checkinstall package and type

'man checkinstall' in a terminal.

 

This should be enough to get you going. For more info, open a terminal

and type 'man urpmi" or do some Googling, particularly 'easy urpmi'.

Lotsa info available.

Edited March 7, 2006 by Crashdamage

[ianw1974]

Download the CD ISO's or DVD ISO and burn to disk and install. Simple.

 

Other alternatives are booting from CD1 and then using an ftp connection to install the system that way as well. If you're talking about package installs, then crashdamage's explanation of urpmi is the best way forward to save compiling and all that hassle.