SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Chapter 6 Manage Software

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Objectives Objective 1—Install and Uninstall Software Packages Objective 2—Manage Installation Sources Objective 3—Configure Novell Customer Center and Online Update Objective 4—Understand RPM 2

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Objective 1—Install and Uninstall Software Packages Install additional software –Start the YaST module Software > Software Management –Installed packages and the packages that are available on the installation media are analyzed Dependencies between packages are checked –See Figure 6-1 3

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration4 Figure 6-1 Install additional software

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Objective 1—Install and Uninstall Software Packages (continued) Find software you want to install using filters –Patterns –Package Groups –Languages –Installation Sources –Search –Installation Summary Matched packages are listed in the area to the right –See Figure 6-2 5

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration6 Figure 6-2 Matching packages

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Objective 1—Install and Uninstall Software Packages (continued) To uninstall a package, select the symbol of the package until the Delete symbol appears –Then select Accept Dependencies are checked –See Figure 6-3 7

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration8 Figure 6-3 Checking dependencies when uninstalling packages

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Exercise 6-1: Install and Uninstall Software In this exercise, you install a software package (locate) that is available on the SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 installation media, and you uninstall a software package that you do not need during the course (isdn support, i4-base) 9

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Objective 2—Manage Installation Sources The Software Installation dialog lists only the packages that are on the current installation media To add more installation sources, select Software > Installation Source from the YaST Control Center –See Figure

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration11 Figure 6-4 Manage installation sources

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Exercise 6-2: Add an Installation Source In this exercise, you add installation sources for the graphics drivers from ATI and Nvidia 12

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Objective 3—Configure Novell Customer Center and Online Update This objective covers software updates on the SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10: –Novell Customer Center Configuration –Online Update 13

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Novell Customer Center Configuration To configure the Novell Customer Center after installation, start YaST –Then select Software > Novell Customer Center Configuration See Figure 6-5 –Select Next to start a browser and connect to the Novell Web site See Figure

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration15 Figure 6-5 Novell Customer Center Configuration

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration16 Figure 6-6 Novell Customer Center System Registration

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Novell Customer Center Configuration (continued) Visit the Novell Customer Center at –To administer your Novell products and subscriptions –See Figures 6-7 through

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration18 Figure 6-7 Novell Customer Center Novell Customer Center Configuration (continued)

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration19 Figure 6-8 Novell Customer Center Products and Subscriptions

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration20 Figure 6-9 Novell Customer Center Systems Information

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Online Update YaST Online Update –During installation, the Online Update dialog appears after successful registration –To update an installed system, access the Online Update by starting YaST and selecting Software > Online Update See Figure 6-10 –Select the patches you want to install; then start the update process by selecting Accept The updates are transferred to your computer and installed 21

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration22 Figure 6-10 YaST Online Update

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Online Update (continued) Software Updater –Select the red icon with an exclamation mark in the panel of the GNOME desktop To open the Software Updater dialog See Figure 6-11 –If you select Update in the Software Updater window, you start the update process –When all available software updates have been installed The Software Updater icon changes from the exclamation mark on red background to a globe icon 23

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration24 Figure 6-11 Software Updater dialog

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration25 Figure 6-12 Software Updater requires root privileges

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Online Update (continued) Software Updater (continued) –Select Configure to add update repositories, change catalogs, or view preferences See Figure

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration27 Figure 6-13 Configure Software Updater

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Objective 4—Understand RPM Installing software in the RPM format can be done with YaST or with the rpm command YaST ensures the automatic resolution of dependencies –While rpm only controls them 28

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration RPM Components and Features RPM Package Manager (or RPM) –A package management system primarily intended for Linux –Installs, updates, uninstalls, and verifies software, and allows various queries about the installed software Basic components –RPM Package Manager –RPM Database –RPM Package –Package Label 29

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration RPM Components and Features (continued) Advantages of using RPM Package Manager and RPM packages –Users have a consistent method for installing programs in Linux –Programs are easily uninstalled –Original source archives (such as tar.gz,.tar.bz2) are included as needed, and easy to verify –RPM tools can be used to enable software installations using noninteractive scripts –RPM tools can be used to verify that software was installed correctly 30

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration RPM Components and Features (continued) Advantages of using RPM Package Manager and RPM packages (continued) –RPM tracks dependent software, preventing deinstallation of packages needed by other packages Also informs the administrator if required software is missing when he or she tries to install a software package –Digital signatures are supported to verify integrity of RPM archives 31

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration RPM Basics RPM package file-naming convention –RPM package files use the following naming format: software_name software_version release_no architecture. rpm –Example: apache i586.rpm RPM configuration file –The global RPM configuration file of the rpm command is /usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc When the rpm command is updated, all changes to this file are lost –Changes of the RPM configuration should be written to the file /etc/rpmrc or to the file ~/.rpmrc 32

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration RPM Basics (continued) RPM database –The files of the RPM database are stored in /var/lib/rpm/ –If the database is much larger than expected, it is useful to rebuild the database by entering rpm -- rebuilddb –The cron script suse.de-backup-rpmdb checks daily to see if there are any changes If so, a copy of the database is made 33

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration RPM Basics (continued) Query the RPM database and RPM archives –With the -q option, you can query the RPM database of installed packages –By adding the option –p, you can inspect RPM archives that are not yet installed –With the help of the RPM database, you can perform verification checks with the option –V, or –verify If any files in a package have been changed since installation, they will be displayed See Table

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration35 Table 6-1 The most commonly used RPM query options RPM Basics (continued)

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration36 Table 6-2 Character symbols used by RPM to provide hints about the changes RPM Basics (continued)

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration RPM Basics (continued) Install, update, and uninstall Packages –Use the following command to install the software: rpm --i package_name.rpm –Use the options -U (or --upgrade) and -F (or --freshen) to update a package by using the following syntax: rpm --F package_name.rpm –To uninstall (remove) an RPM package, enter the following: rpm --e package_name 37

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Exercise 6-3: Manage Software with RPM In this exercise, you gather information on installed software, and uninstall and install software packages 38

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Summary The easiest way to install, update, manage, and uninstall software packages after a SUSE Linux installation is to use the Software Management module of YaST You can use the Online Update module of YaST to obtain the latest software updates for your SUSE Linux system Most Linux software is in Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) format SUSE Linux maintains a database of all RPM installed software in the /var/lib/rpm directory 39

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Administration Summary (continued) You can install, remove, verify, and find information about RPM software packages using the rpm command in a terminal or using YaST in a desktop environment To configure the default options for the rpm command, you can edit the /etc/rpmrc and ~/.rpmrc files Periodically, you should verify the contents of packages using the –V (or –verify) option to the rpm command 40