3.4. Installing pre-compiled software packages.
Section quotes:
- "A well-used door needs no oil on its hinges. (...) Software rots
if not used. These are great mysteries."
-- The Tao Of Programming by Geoffrey James.
Section contents:
3.4.1. Before you start.
Most free developers release there programs in the form of source code,
to install you have to be expert enough and having builing packages installed,
mean while the pre-compiled packages are ready to be installed using
distribution specific package manager, this manager could tell installed
packages (query), remove, update and install new package, it also could
handle packages relationships (package A depends on package B and conflicts with package C),
most famous package manager is the RedHat Package Manager (RPM),
only used RedHat, Mandrake and other RedHat based distributions,
RedHat released under terms of GNU GPL, any one is allowed to create a
distribution based on this manager, most distributions has this tool
or at least a tool to convert from this format to it's own format.
Debian has it's own powerful 'deb' packages and Slackware uses usual tarballs
('tgz' compressed archives). Package manager saves you troubles and save
your time, all you have to do is to get a small ready package (they are compressed)
and ask the manager to install it, it will make sure you have it's requirments
(dependency) and you don't have an package that conflict with it,
then install it and do basic configurations, imagine that Debian package manager
could upgrade a package while it's working without closing it, and even more
it could upgrade the whole distribution without reboot!
Package managers does not denying you from installing software your own way,
for example from source tarballs or binary archives.
 Warning
Any change happened at any of the following folders:
'/bin', '/sbin', '/usr',
'/lib or '/var' and all subfolders except
'/val/local' and '/usr/local' will confuse
the package manager, you should install your own binaries on '/usr/local'.
Before you look for a software on the internet, search on your distributions CDs,
you could search by hand or using distributions specific tools for example
with Mandrake you could use RPM drake: 'Mandrake Control Center -> Packages -> add'
then type something and click search, and with RedHat use 'Main Menu -> Settings -> Packages'
or run 'redhat-config-packages' which is a less flexible tool than RPM drake,
it lackes searching.
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Exercises
Try to install (eg. Mandrake conttrol center) to install:
WINE and some games like 'rocksndiamons', 'frozenbubbles', 'marbels' and
'lbreakout2', then use run to execute them for example type 'wine sol'
 Tip
To install an RPM file on Mandrake it's enough to (double) click it, then you
will be asked for root password, this file should be packed for Mandrake
you get packages from links found on '2.2. After Installation.' section.
Warning
Installing packages needs root user privileges, if you try to install them
(from console) as regular user it will fail, but sometimes it won't say so
and a display bogus message like "could't read so and so" or "could't write so and so".
Packages packed for some distribution may and may not work on another,
it may not work because of 'dependency problem',
for example if package A needs (we say depends) on version X of library B,
but the other distribution have an older version of B so it does
not satisfy A dependency requirments, you could solve this by upgrading
the B library from the other distribution, for example if you have a package
for RedHat 8.0 but you are using 7.2, you try to install it and it asks for
glibc 3.2 but you have 2.9, you could upgrade this library then install your
package, but you may end with upgrading too many packages.
Some packages are compiled for specific CPU and others are generic
(like source code,wordlists,themes and documentations),
for CPU specific packages we found CPU name written at the end of
the filename just before last period, for example:
kernel-2.4.21.i586.rpm
kernel-2.4.20.athlon.rpm
gcc-3.2.ppc.rpm
mplayer-0.9.i386.rpm
winex-20032203.src.rpm
xmms-skins-1.8.noarch.rpm
bash# arch
bash# cat /proc/cpuinfo
Instead of having all packages optimized for your CPU, sometimes
it's enough to have optimized kernel and 'glibc'.
Binary device drivers depends not only on your kernel version but also
for what CPU the kernel optimized. Issue the following commands and notice the output:
bash# rpm -q /boot/vmlinuz # only for RPM, discussed later
bash# uname -a
bash# uname -r
3.4.2. RPM packages.
First read the manual page of the 'rpm' tool (with 'man rpm'),
'rpm' tool could do many things like: query for informations about a file or package,
installing a package, remove an installed package.
Query for a package or a file
All queries is done using 'q' options, to query for information about an
installed package use 'i' option like 'rpm -qi gpm' which display
information about 'gpm' package, to query about
a package file that need not be installed, use 'p' option in the form:
bash# rpm -qi -p PACKAGE-VER.ARCH.rpm
bash# rpm -q -f /PATH/TO/THE/FILE
bash# rpm -q -f $(which COMMAND)
Do you think that you have removed an important file ? or force installing
a package without satisfying it's requirments, how could you verify
your entire package system ? try :
Installing or upgrading packages
First be root, if you are in a harry here is the method:
bash# rpm -Uvh PACKAGE-VER.ARCH.rpm
bash# rpm -ivh PACKAGE-VER.ARCH.rpm
bash# rpm --rebuild PACKAGE-VER.src.rpm
Removing packages
Be a root then use 'e' option, like:
To remember options notice what they mean:
U (Up-Grade),i (install),v (verbos),h (hash[#]),e (erase)
Practical session.
bash$ rpm --help
# gives you help about it
bash$ man rpm
# Shows the manual pages of rpm
bash$ rpm -qi -p /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/ggv*.rpm
# Gives some info about ggv
bash$ rpm -qf /boot/vmlinuz
kernel-2.4.18.i586
bash$ rpm -qf `which sol`
gnome-games
bash$ su root
password:********
bash# rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/Mandrake/RPMS2/*xmms*.rpm
lib-xmms: ########################################
xmms: ########################################
xmms-smpg: ########################################
xmms-skins: ########################################
bash# exit
bash$
# to know where we are
bash$ pwd
/home/ahmad
# list the files
bash$ ls mplayer*.rpm
mplayer-common-1.0pre2-1.i386.rpm mplayer-1.0pre2-1.i386.rpm
mplayer-gui-1.0pre2-1.i386.rpm mplayer-skin-default-1.0-2.noarch.rpm
# be the root user
bash$ su
password:
bash# rpm -Uvh mplayer*.rpm
mplayer-common: ########################################
mplayer: ########################################
mplayer-gui: ########################################
mplayer-skin-default: ########################################
# back to be regular user
bash# exit
bash$
Another example if you are using RedHat or Fedora which lacks
the support for MP3 and you have downloaded it's plugin 'xmms-mp3' from
let's say 'http://dag.wieers.com/packages/xmms-mp3'
then just install it as usual with 'rpm -ivh xmms-mp3*.rpm' then run 'xmms'
and enable the 'libmpeg123' plugin.
Before I know 'apt' or 'yum' I was using this nice trick,
I used to create a file listing of all 'rpm' files on each CD
and give it the name of the CD using:
# Put the first CD
bash$ mount /mnt/cdrom # or just wait until RedHat autorun mount it
bash$ ls /mnt/cdrom/Fedora/RPMS > ~/fc2.cd1.txt
bash$ eject
# put the second CD
bash$ mount /mnt/cdrom
bash$ ls /mnt/cdrom/Fedora/RPMS > ~/fc2.cd2.txt
# and so on
bash$ grep 'MYPKG' ~/fc2.cd*.txt
3.4.3. Debian packages.
Debian 'deb' packages are manipulated using 'dpkg' command line tool,
(now 'dpkg' is just backend tool there are smarter, more simple tools),
those package files named something on the form 'PACKAGE_VER-REV_ARCH.deb'
where PACKAGE is the package name,VER is the upstream version,
REV is Debian specific revision numbers, ARCH is the architecture
the it should work on like 'i386' and 'all'.
to install a package use '--install' or '-i'
option followed by name, in other words
'dpkg -i PACKAGE_VER-REV_ARCH.deb', and to remove it
use '--remove' or '-r' followed by package name (without the version)
in the form:
'dpkg -r PACKAGE', this will remove the package
but it keeps it related user files (configurations, so when you install it
again you won't start from zero), to remove it completely
use the option '--purge', those two could not remove
necessary packages like kernel-image (BTW. this how Debian calls the kernel binary itself)
add '--force-remove-essential option to '--remove' or
'--purge option.
When you install a package it will be configured, using 'debconf'
(which could be interactive if it could not guess)
if you just want the files to be copied use '--unpack' option instead.
Then you could use '--configure' followed by package name you want configure,
you could use 'dpkg-reconfigure' tool followed by package name,
or just use 'dpkg -a' to configure all unconfigured packages.
'dpkg -C' will search for partially installed packages
and fix them.
To search for the name and small description of an installed package
using usual shell wildcards ('*' and '?'), use 'dpkg -l' followed by the pattern
between strong quote
bash# dpkg -l '*xfree86*'
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-==============-==============-============================================
ii xfree86-common 4.3.0-0ds3v1 X Window System (XFree86) infrastructure
ii xserver-xfree8 4.3.0-0ds3v1 the XFree86 X server
bash # dpkg -f fbset_2.1-14_i386.deb
Package: fbset
Version: 2.1-14
Section: base
Priority: optional
Architecture: i386
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.3.2.ds1-4), debconf (>= 0.5) | debconf-2.0, makedev (>= 2.3.1-24) | devfsd
Installed-Size: 264
Maintainer: Guillem Jover
Description: framebuffer device maintenance program
Program to modify settings for the framebuffer devices (/dev/fb[0-9]*
or /dev/fb/[0-9]*) on Linux, like depth, virtual resolution, timing
parameters etc.
.
This program is useful for all Linux/m68k kernel versions, and
for late 2.1 kernels and above on most other architectures.
bash # dpkg -I fbset_2.1-14_i386.deb
new debian package, version 2.0.
size 82012 bytes: control archive= 3061 bytes.
14 bytes, 1 lines conffiles
305 bytes, 19 lines * config #!/bin/sh
583 bytes, 15 lines control
2249 bytes, 31 lines md5sums
326 bytes, 25 lines * postinst #!/bin/sh
206 bytes, 8 lines * postrm #!/bin/sh
2177 bytes, 37 lines templates
Package: fbset
Version: 2.1-14
Section: base
... the rest of the output is omitted ...
You could use 'tasksel' (or 'gnome-tasksel' for GUI) to add or remove software
packages not by name but by task, it list some tasks like "web server",
then you could select tasks to install or remove, issue the command
'tasksel -s' to install recommended system packages.
One of Debian best features is virtual packages, those are just
common names for other packages, for example a virtual package like
'editor' it could be 'vim' or 'emacs' (depending on your taste that you tell Debian),
if a package needs text editor one will be install, for example in other systems
if a package needs a web browser the packager will put his favorite
as dependency, mean while with Debian they specify a virtual package called
www-browser which install your favorite browser, another example is
a virtual package 'vi' which could be VIM, 'nvi' or 'elvis'.
To list alternatives for 'editor' virtual package use
'update-alternatives --display editor',
to set which one do you like to be your editor use
'update-alternatives --config editor'.
Debian has a package called 'debsums' which verify installed
packages using 'md5sum'.
3.4.4. Slackware 'tgz' packages.
The most simple package format (they did not bother making a complicated design),
for sure what do you expect if the name is Slackware. Any package
is just a tarball (compressed TAR archive with 'gzip') having
a special folder having information and installation shell script, this
is not so bad 'GNU tar' and 'GNU gzip' are very powerful tools, and tested
for long time. To install those Slackware 'tgz' packages use 'installpkg'
and to remove it use 'removepkg', also 'removepkg' could be used to
get an installed package in the form of 'tgz' Slackware package.
3.4.5. Next generation tools.
It's simple to install a package if all dependencies are satified,
you have correct version of each dependency installed, this is ideal
it's difficult to track all those dependencies by hand, GNU/Linux policy
is "DO NOT reinvent the wheel" packages depends on functions of
other packages, for example a package for drawing needs HTML browser to
display help, instead of reinventing the brower it depends on a free standard
browser. You will fail to install a package dependening on a file that is
not yet installed, package manager will complain about that,
where on Earh could you get this file, what package provide this file ?
What if you want to upgrade many package or the entire system, how could you
do that ? New generation of package manager appeared to solve the problem
of dependency, those tools are just front end to old tools.
3.4.6. 'apt' Package Tool.
Debian has the first smart package system, it's called 'apt'
short for 'Advanced Package Tool', or more humle 'A Package Tool',
it replaces the 'dselect', both are front ends to 'dpkg',
'apt' is not ported to 'rpm', you could use it with RedHat Linux.
'apt' tools searchs automatically for packages to satisfy dependencies,
it search current directory, official CDs and maybe networks (LAN, official and user added internet mirrors),
the official 'apt' site is 'www.apt-get.org'
to get the source code, but if you are using Debian then 'apt'
is installed by default, while if you are using RedHat Linux and Fefora
you could get it from RPM repositories, it's an RPM package
called 'apt' see '2.2. After Installation.'
section for those sites, for example get it from
http://apt.freshrpms.net or
http://dag.wieers.com.
The command line interface is 'apt-get', also there are user interfaces
like the menu driven console application 'aptitude' (see
'1.5. How to install Linux ?' section, in specific 1.5.6 subsection),
and we have graphical interfaces like 'synaptic' and 'gnome-apt'.
those are found on separated packages.
Use 'apt-setup' at least once to set package sources
(where to get packages) for example to add first 13 CDs and nearest
official Internet Debian repository, you could do this by hand editing
the file '/etc/apt/sources.list' to have some line like this
deb http://www.somewhere.net stable main contrib non-free
To install a package, just tell 'apt-get' it's name in the form:
'apt-get install PACKAGE', for example
to install 'epiphany-browser' type:
bash# apt-get install epiphany-browser
bash# apt-get update
bash# apt-get dist-upgrade
The 'apt-cache' tool could help you to find a package for example:
bash# apt-cache search foo
Another smart Debian tools is called 'debfoster' it will search for
packages (specially libraries) that are not needed any more, for example
if you install package 'A' which needs 'B', 'B' will be also installed,
now if you remove 'A' and it's the only package that needs ''b,
then 'B' is no more used. By running 'debfoster' it will
detect them and ask you if you want to remove them.
3.4.7. 'urpmi' for Mandrake.
Mandrake has it's own smart tool, just like apt-get but using 'rpm' back end,
it's the command line interface for RPM Drake,
see it's official site at 'www.urpmi.org'.
To install a package (and it's dependencies) use
'urpmi mypackage'
to remove a package (what depends on it) use 'urpme mypackage'
to update packages database use
'urpmi.update -a', to update (eg. security updates) the whole distribution use
'urpmi --update --auto-select', to upgrade use 'urpmi --auto-select '
to display files on a package file use 'urpmf mypackage.rpm'
(also you could use usual RPM queries),
to tell to which package some file belongs to use 'urpmf myfile'
and to packages that nothing depends on use 'urpmi_rpm-find-leaves'
Thanks to Alla'a Abdulfatah a Linux-egypt member
for this 'urpmi' information.
Warning
If you are using your local language (eg. Arabic) and you are using a terminal that does not supporting it
(eg. does not support bidirectional languages)
you could use somethting like 'LC_ALL=C urpmi mypackage.rpm'
to see messages in English.
3.4.8. 'yum' for RedHat.
Since RadHat Linux 8.0 (maybe before) and also with Fedora, RedHat
offers their 'up2date' and 'yum' tools to access RedHat Network
to get updates (there is a red button applet flashes when you click you see the GUI inteface to it),
this is a payed service, but there are some free sites (not supported by RedHat)
that could use the same tools.
Those tools make it easy to get and install packages through the Internet,
it also solve dependencies just like 'apt'. First you have
to add RPM repositories to the file
'/etc/sysconfig/rhn/sources' like
rpm.livna.org and freshrpms.net, using the format :
yum fedora-us-stable-fc2 http://download.fedora.us/fedora/fedora/2/i386/yum/stable
yum fedora-us-testing-fc2 http://download.fedora.us/fedora/fedora/2/i386/yum/testing
yum livna-stable-fc2 http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/2/i386/yum/stable
yum flash-plugin http://macromedia.mplug.org/apt/fedora/2
yum dag http://apt.sw.be/redhat/fc2/en/i386/dag
[livna-stable]
name=Livna.org Fedora Compatible Packages (stable)
baseurl= http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/2/i386/yum/stable
gpgcheck=1
[livna-testing]
name=Livna.org Fedora Compatible Packages (testing)
baseurl=http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/2/i386/yum/testing
gpgcheck=1
[livna-unstable]
name=Livna.org Fedora Compatible Packages (unstable)
baseurl=http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/2/i386/yum/unstable
gpgcheck=1
[flash-plugin]
name=Macromedia flash-plugin site
baseurl=http://macromedia.mplug.org/apt/fedora/2
[dag]
name=Fedora Core 2 Dag Wieers' repository
baseurl=http://apt.sw.be/redhat/fc2/en/i386/dag
bash# up2date flash-plugin xmms-mp3 xine totem mozilla-j2re mozilla-acroread
3.4.9. 'slack-get' for Slackware.
The Slackware reply on 'apt-get' is 'slack-get'.
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