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Jun 28th, 2004
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Installing Software

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I have installed RH9 on a box at home and I am really new to this OS. I was wondering if anyone can help me with installing a package manager. I am not really sure what I am doing. Once I figure out how to install this I should be able to continue with installing other applications.
Any help would be nice.
Oh and I was wondering how do I change GUI desktops from GNOME to KDE?
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Re: Installing Software

Program installation methods differ depending on the type of program you are trying to install. Redhat uses the RPM utility to manage .rpm programs, but if you have a .tar, tar.gz, .tgz, or similar install file, the steps for installing are entirely different.

From an old post of mine at the *cough!**shameless plug**cough!* other forum I moderate:


Quote ...
In general, RPM (Redhat Package Manager) files contain pre-compiled, ready-to-run programs and associated files such as instalation/usage documentation, etc.
.tar.gz files, on the other hand, often contain the source code for a given program. This isn't always true; but it often is. If that's the case, you'll have to compile the progam yourself; instructions on how to do so are usually included. The .tar.gz extension comes from the following:

The .tar part indicates that the file actually consists of multiple files combined into one large archive file using the "tar" (Tape ARchive) program. The .gz part means that the resulting .tar archive has been compressed using the "gzip" program (similar to zip or Winzip). tar does not, by itself, compress; it only "wraps" multiple files into a single archive file, hence the subsequent use of gzip to actually compress that archive.

If your distro supports the use of RPMs (Redhat and Mandrake do),you have a couple of choices:

- Your distro will include one or more installation program which you can use from within the GUI. These can vary depending on the desktop environment you use, but GnoRPM, KPackage, Software Manager and Package Manager are a few.

- Any rpm package can be installed from the command line using the "rpm" command. If you're not at the command line, open a terminal window and type "rpm -ivh filename" (no quotes). This will install the package and give you some on-screen feedback as the intallation progresses. Read the rpm man pages for more info on usage.

For .tar.gz or .tgz files, you can accomplish both the decompression and the extraction of the tarball (a common term for a .tar, .tar.gz, or .tgz file) using the GNU version of the "tar" command (which is probably the version included with your distro). For example, to uncompress and extract a file, type the following at a prompt:
tar xzvf filename. The "z" option will run the file through gzip/gunzip first (assuming you've installed gzip), and then extract the files in the tar archive. Once you've done that, look for a README or some instruction file which should tell you how to proceed from there.
Read the following link from RH's support site for more RH 9-specific info on the subject and repost if you have further questions:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/l...hical-rpm.html
DMR
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Jun 29th, 2004
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Re: Installing Software

Hello,

Welcome to RedHat! I hope you enjoy the switch.

Generally, to install a package, you have to be logged in as root (you are not using the root account for everything, are you? If you are, bad move, and ask how to make a normal user!)

General format for the package installer under Red Hat is:

rpm -i packagename

If you are trying to update a package, you may need:

rpm -i --upgrade packagename

If you have a bunch of dependancy failures, you need to check out apt-get, but that is a different lesson.

To answer your second question, to change Desktops, go to your Redhat menu, then System Tools --> More System Tools --> Desktop Switcher Tool.

I think you are going to find out that GNOME is better than KDE, but I encourage you to form your own opinion.

Take care, and let us know!

Christian
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Jun 30th, 2004
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Re: Installing Software

I did what instructions you told me but when I get to ./configure it gives me a error
I am trying to install Xine media Player.
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Re: Installing Software

Hello,

Ok. You are trying to compile the program, and not using a package (rpm). What was the error message? Were you lacking some needed libraries? Perhaps you don't have the compilers installed.

Let us know,

Christian
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Re: Installing Software

I am going to switch back to linux and do it again and will put what it says. I am currently in Windows. Another question how do I put all my music that I have from windows to linux. I have removable drives so I left all my music on one and put linux as master but I am not sure how to access that drive.
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Re: Installing Software

nemesis@localhost nemesis]$ cd xine-lib-1-rc5
[nemesis@localhost xine-lib-1-rc5]$ ./configure
checking build system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking host system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking target system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking for style of include used by make... GNU
checking for gcc... no
checking for cc... no
checking for cc... no
checking for cl... no
configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH
See `config.log' for more details.
[nemesis@localhost xine-lib-1-rc5]$

That is what I got when I put that command.
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Re: Installing Software

Quote originally posted by Nemesis ...
checking for gcc... no
checking for cc... no
checking for cc... no
checking for cl... no
Those errors indicate that you don't have a compiler installed, which you will definitely need when installing a program from source code. You probably also don't have the necessary kernel source/kernel header packages installed either (which you will also need when compiling from source).

The compilers and kernel files should be available on your RH CDs and installble from whatever Package Manager you use. In RH 9.0, go to the "Red Hat" taskbar button->System Settings->Add/Remove Applications option, Look for and install the Development and Kernel Development tools.

As for the issue of the removable drive and your music:

How is the drive formatted (NTFS, FAT, ext2, ext3, etc.)?
Where is the drive located on you IDE chain (primary slave, secondary master, etc.)?
DMR
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Re: Installing Software

Hello,

Yup. Compiler problem. WIth that in mind, you might wish to re-install linux, to avoid a lot of dependancy issues. If you have data already on the computer, this might not be the best option.... but if you are just starting out, you might want to go and put the install disks back in there, and have at it.

If that is the case, please let us know, and we can help you with suggested packages. You might also need some partition help too.

To answer DMR's question, type in

df

and post that information for us. It will tell you all of your partitions that are in use of the system.

I hope this exposure to Linux is not souring your opinion of it... the best way to learn is to DO and experience!

Christian
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Jul 1st, 2004
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Re: Installing Software

Hey Christian,

I've never had a dependency issue when installing the development/kernel packages from the install CDs. Additionally, those packages are not included in the standard/workstation default install options in Red Hat, so a reinstall, unless done in custom/expert mode (and specifically choosing the development packages) won't do the trick. For some weird reason, RedHat (among other distros) doesn't consider the compiler/kernel packages to be essential... go figure.
DMR
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