To install, uninstall, and update software on your machine, use Figure 7.2, “YaST Package Manager”.
+ . This opens a package manager dialog as shown inIn SUSE® Linux Enterprise, software is available in the form of RPM packages. Normally, a package contains everything needed for a program: the program itself, the configuration files, and all documentation. A list of individual packages is displayed to the right in the individual package window. The content of this list is determined by the currently selected filter. If, for example, the filter is selected, the individual package window displays all packages of the current selection.
In the package manager, each package has a status that determines what to do with the package, such as “Install” or “Delete.” This status is shown by a symbol in a status box at the beginning of the line. Change the status by clicking or selecting the desired status from the menu that opens when the item is right-clicked. Depending on the current situation, some of the possible status flags may not be available for selection. For example, a package that has not yet been installed cannot be set to “Delete.” View the available status flags with + .
The font color used for various packages in the individual package window provides additional information. Installed packages for which a newer version is available on the installation media are displayed in blue. Installed packages whose version numbers are higher than those on the installation media are displayed in red. However, because the version numbering of packages is not always linear, the information may not be perfect, but should be sufficient to indicate problematic packages. If necessary, check the version numbers.
To install packages, select packages for installation and click
. Selected packages should have the status icon. The package manager automatically checks the dependencies and selects any other required packages (resolution of dependencies). To view other packages required for installation before clicking , choose + from the main menu. After installing packages, continue working with the package manager by clicking or close it by clicking .The package manager provides preselected groups for installation. You can select an entire group instead of single packages. To view these groups, use
in the left frame.![]() | List of All Available Packages |
---|---|
To display all packages on your installation media, use the filter and select at the bottom of the tree. SUSE Linux Enterprise contains a number of packages and it might take some time to display this long list. |
The Patterns filter groups the program packages according to their application purpose, such as multimedia or office applications. The various groups of the Patterns filter are listed with the installed packages preselected. Click the status box at the beginning of a line to install or uninstall this pattern. Select a status directly by right-clicking the pattern and using the context menu. From the individual package overview to the right, which displays the packages included in the current pattern, select and deselect individual packages.
To find language-specific packages, such as translated texts for the user interface of programs, documentation, and fonts, use the
filter. This filter shows a list of all languages supported by SUSE Linux Enterprise. If you select one of these, the right frame shows all packages available for this language. Among these, all packages applying to your current software selection are automatically tagged for installation.![]() | Note |
---|---|
Because language-specific packages may depend on other packages, the package manager may select additional packages for installation. |
If you want to find only packages from the specific source, use the
filter. In the default configuration, this filter shows a list of all packages from the selected source. To restrict the list, use a secondary filter.To view a list of the all installed packages from the selected installation source, select the filter
then select from and deactivate all check boxes except .The package status in the individual package window can be changed as usual. However, the changed package may no longer meet the search criteria. To remove such packages from the list, update the list with
.A package containing the source files for the program is usually available. The sources are not needed for running the program, but you may want to install the sources to compile a custom version of the program.
To install sources for selected program, mark the check box in the
column. If you cannot see a check box, your installation sources do not contain the source of the package.To remove packages, assign the correct status to the packages to remove and click
. Selected packages should have the status. If a package required by other installed packages is marked for deletion, the package manager issues an alert with detailed information and alternative solutions.If you find damaged files that belong to package or you want to reinstall the original version of a package from your installation media, reinstall the package. To reinstall packages, select packages for reinstallation and click
. Selected packages should have the status. If any dependency issues arise with installed packages, the package manager issues an alert with detailed information and alternative solutions.To find a specific package, use the
filter. Enter a search string and click . By specifying various search criteria, you can restrict the search to display a few or even only one package. You can also define special search patterns using wild cards and regular expressions in .![]() | Quick Search |
---|---|
In addition to the filter, all lists of the package manager feature a quick search. Simply enter a letter to move the cursor to the first package in the list whose name begins with this letter. The cursor must be in the list (by clicking the list). |
To find a package by name, select
, enter the name of the package to find in the search field, and click . To find a package by text in the description, select and , enter a search string, and click .To search for the package that contains a certain file, enter the name of the file, select
, and click . To find all packages that depend on a particular package, select , enter the name of package, and click .If you are familiar with the package structure of SUSE Linux Enterprise, you can use the
filter to find packages by subject. This filter sorts the program packages by subjects, such as applications, development, and hardware, in a tree structure to the left. The more you expand the branches, the more specific the selection is. This means fewer packages are displayed in the individual package window.After selecting the packages for installation, update, or deletion, view the installation summary with
. It shows how packages will be affected when you click . Use the check boxes to the left to filter the packages to view in the individual package window. For example, to check which packages are already installed, deactivate all check boxes except .The package status in the individual package window can be changed as usual. However, the respective package may no longer meet the search criteria. To remove such packages from the list, update the list with
.Get information about the selected package with the tabs in the bottom right frame. If another version of the package is available, you get information about both versions.
The
tab with the description of the selected package is automatically active. To view information about package size, version, installation media, and other technical details, select . Information about provided and required files is in . To view available versions with their installation sources, click .During the selection of the software, the resource window at the bottom left of the module displays the prospective disk usage of all mounted file systems. The colored bar graph grows with every selection. As long as it remains green, there is sufficient space. The bar color slowly changes to red as you approach the limit of disk space. If you select too many packages for installation, an alert is displayed.
Some packages depend on other packages. This means that the software of the package only works properly if another package is also installed. There are some packages with identical or similar functionalities. If these packages use the same system resource, they should not be installed at the same time (package conflict).
When the package manager starts, it examines the system and displays installed packages. When you select to install and remove packages, the package manager automatically checks the dependencies and selects any other required packages (resolution of dependencies). If you select or deselect conflicting packages, the package manager indicates this and submits suggestions for solving the problem (resolution of conflicts).
and are located under the information window. If you click , the package manager checks if the current package selection results in any unresolved package dependencies or conflicts. In the event of unresolved dependencies, the required additional packages are selected automatically. For package conflicts, the package manager opens a dialog that shows the conflict and offers various options for solving the problem.
If you activate
, any change of a package status triggers an automatic check. This is a useful feature, because the consistency of the package selection is monitored permanently. However, this process consumes resources and can slow down the package manager. For this reason, the autocheck is not activated by default. In either case, a consistency check is performed when you confirm your selection with .
For example, sendmail
and
postfix
may not be installed concurrently.
Figure 7.3, “Conflict Management of the Package Manager”
shows the conflict message prompting you to make a decision.
postfix
is already installed. Accordingly, you
can refrain from installing sendmail
, remove
postfix
, or take the risk and ignore the
conflict.
![]() | Handling Package Conflicts |
---|---|
Unless you are very experienced, follow the suggestions of YaST when handling package conflicts, because otherwise the stability and functionality of your system could be endangered by the existing conflict. |
Add-on products are extensions for your system. You can install a third party add-on product or a special extension of your SUSE Linux Enterprise, for example, the SDK add-on or a CD with binary drivers. To install a new add-on, use
+ . You can select various types of product media, like CD, FTP or local directory. You can work also directly with ISO files. To add an add-on as ISO file media, select then choose .After successfully adding the add-on media, the package manager window appears. If the add-on provides a new pattern, see the new item in the filter. To view the list of all packages from the selected installation source, select the filter and choose the installation source to view. To view packages from a selected add-on by package groups, select the secondary filter .
Some hardware needs binary-only drivers for correct function. If you have such hardware, refer to the release notes for more information about availability of binary drivers for your system. To read the release notes, open YaST and select
+ .SUSE Software Development Kit 10 is an add-on for SUSE Linux Enterprise 10. It is a complete tool kit for application development. In fact, to provide a comprehensive build system, SUSE Software Development Kit 10 includes all the open source tools that were used to build the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server product. It provides you, as a developer, independent software vendor (ISV), or independent hardware vendor (IHV), with all the tools needed to port applications to all the platforms supported by the SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
SUSE Software Development Kit also contains integrated development environments (IDEs), debuggers, code editors, and other related tools. It supports most major programming languages (including C, C++, Java, and most scripting languages). For your convenience, SUSE Software Development Kit includes multiple Perl packages that are not included in the SUSE Linux Enterprise.
For detailed information, refer to http://developer.novell.com/ndk/susesdk.htm. Use the YaST add-on installer and package manager to install SUSE Software Development Kit 10.
You can use multiple installation sources of several types. Select them and enable their use for installation or update using For example, you can specify SUSE Software Development Kit as an installation source. When started, it displays a list of all previously registered sources. Following a normal installation from CD, only the installation CD is listed. Click to include additional sources in this list. Sources can be CDs, DVDs, or network sources, such as NFS and FTP servers. Even directories on the local hard disk can be selected as the installation medium. See the detailed YaST help text for more details.
+ .All registered sources have an activation status in the first column of the list. Enable or disable individual installation sources by clicking
. During the installation of software packages or updates, YaST selects a suitable entry from the list of activated installation sources. When you exit the module with , the current settings are saved and applied to the configuration modules and .Install important updates and improvements with YaST Online Update (YOU). The current patches for your SUSE product are available from the SUSE catalogs. To add or remove catalogs, use the Section 7.3.3, “Selecting the Installation Source”.
+ module, described inFind the list of available patches on the left. Patches are sorted by security importance:
You must install these patches. Not installing the patches is a real security hazard.
You should install these patches, because your computer could be compromised.
You can install these patches, but if you do not install them your computer remains secure.
To install a patch, select it in the list and click
. You can select multiple patches. To cancel your changes, click .If you need special settings, for example, if your computer is behind a proxy server, use the command line tool rug. It is described in Section 7.12, “Update from the Command Line”.
+ allows you to schedule automatic online updates. First enable automatic online update by activating then set the time of the update. If you want to have full control over installed patches, you can schedule only the download of patches and install patches manually later. To download patches only, check .
Some patches need some additional actions, for example, patches for the kernel require a reboot for activation. Information about the additional actions are provided with preinstallation information. To use automatic update only for normal patches without preinstallation information, check
. Click to exit the dialog.The
module from the section installs patches from CD, not from an FTP server. The advantage lies in a much faster update with CD. After the patch CD is inserted, all patches on the CD are displayed in the dialog. Select the desired packages for installation from the list of patches. The module issues an error message if no patch CD is present. Insert the patch CD then restart the module.Update the version of SUSE Linux Enterprise installed on your system with
+ . During operation, you can only update application software, not the base system. To update the base system, boot the computer from an installation medium, such as CD. When selecting the installation mode in YaST, select .The procedure for updating the system is similar to a new installation. Initially, YaST examines the system, determines a suitable update strategy, and presents the results in a suggestion dialog. Click
or the individual items to change any details.Set the update method for your system. Two options are available.
To update the entire system to the latest versions of software, select one of the predefined selections. These selections ensure that packages that did not exist previously are also installed.
This option merely updates packages that already exist on the system. No new features are installed.
Additionally, you can use
to remove packages that do not exist in the new version. By default, this option is preselected to prevent outdated packages from unnecessarily occupying hard disk space.During the update, the configuration files of some packages may be replaced by those of the new version. Because you may have modified some of the files in your current system, the package manager normally makes backup copies of the replaced files. With this dialog, determine the scope of these backups.
![]() | Scope of the Backup |
---|---|
This backup does not include the software. It only contains configuration files. |
Primary and other languages currently installed on the system are listed here. Change them by clicking Section 7.5.16, “Language Selection”.
in the displayed configuration or with + . Optionally, adapt the keyboard layout and time zone to the region where the primary language is spoken. Find more about language selection inThe system update is a very complex procedure. For each program package, YaST must first check which version is installed on the computer then determine what needs to be done to replace the old version with the new version correctly. YaST also tries to adopt any personal settings of the installed packages.
In most cases, YaST replaces old versions with new ones without problems. A backup of the existing system should be performed prior to updating to ensure that existing configurations are not lost during the update. Conflicts can then be resolved manually after the update has finished.
This YaST module allows you to install packages into a directory specified by you. Select where to place the root directory, how to name directories, and the type of system and software to install. After entering this module, YaST determines the system settings and lists the default directory, installation instructions, and software to install. Edit these settings by clicking
. All changes must be confirmed by clicking . After changes have been made, click until informed that the installation is complete. Click to exit the dialog.Install packages into a directory for Xen with Find detailed information about Xen in Chapter 23, Virtual Machine Server.
+ . Xen is a virtual machine monitor (VMM) for x86-compatible computers that enables you to run more than one virtual machine, each with its own OS, on a single physical system and with excellent performance. After this module starts, YaST determines the system settings and lists the default directory, installation instructions, and software to install. Edit the defaults by clicking . Confirm all changes by clicking . After making all desired changes, click until you are informed that the installation is complete. Click to exit the dialog.If you encounter any problems using the SUSE Linux Enterprise installation media, you can check the CDs or DVDs with
+ . Media problems are more likely to occur with media you burn yourself. To check that a SUSE Linux Enterprise CD or DVD is error-free, insert the medium into the drive and run this module. Click for YaST to check the MD5 checksum of the medium. This may take several minutes. If any errors are detected, you should not use this medium for installation.The registration and activation of your product is a precondition for technical support and product updates. If you skipped the registration during installation, you can register later with the help of the
module from . Before you start registration, prepare your contact e-mail and registration key.In
, select whether to obtain some of the necessary information from your system. This simplifies the registration process. If you want to see what is required to register your system or what happens with your data, use .To register, you can also use the command line tool suse_register. Refer to suse_register --help for directions.
To register your system without Internet access from a different computer, you must obtain a registration URL first. To obtain the URL, run suse_register without options on your new system. From the suse_register output, copy the URL and enter it in the URL field of a browser on a different computer.
![]() | Technical Support |
---|---|
Find more information about the technical support at http://www.novell.com/support/products/linuxenterpriseserver/. |