[Gllug] Installing Stuff?

Tue Dec 11 08:19:23 UTC 2001

Hi Vincent, Mike, Sean

> ahhh the joy of chasing RPM dependencies!
> OK, i'm not too sure of a great way of working out whats required, but
> most of the time, the requested files map really closely to the
> package names.
> So have a look on your installation CD's for RPM's that sound like some
> of the above requested files. such as:
> libSDL*.rpm
> libogg*.rpm
> BTW, the stars above are just shorthand wildcards, on my system
> they might be:
> libSDL1.2-1.2.2-1mdk.i586.rpm
> libogg0-1.0-0.rc2.1mdk.i586.rpm
> on yours, they'll probably be something different.

Phew ...from the sound of it I'm not so thick then, everyone has problems :
-)

OK ... I will look for those kind of files.

> on a more easier note, some of the GUI based package managers make
> this sort of thing easier. checkout kpackage, rpmdrake and probably
others.
> i'd hope (but cant confirm), that they take care of this stuff.

I will also look for those ... I do, however, want to learn to do it
"properly" (if indeed there is a "proper" way) as, whilst I certainly
prefer an easy life, I think it is important to know what is going on
"under the hood". This is an area where I think Windows is losing it's way
inasmuch as the apparent ease of use of its GUI masks infernal complexity
underneath a great deal of which MS won't reveal.

> Divine intuition :-)

Can't be that ... I'm an atheist :-)

> Seriously though, some of this stuff you just need to make educated
guesses
> at - it's always annoyes the life out of me that rpm will complian that
> library X is missing, without tellinh you where to find it.

At this point I find myself wistfully remembering those easy days of run
setup & watch the progress bar ... aahhh!

I find it strange that the designers of KOffice don't provide references to
such things ... I suppose they assume that Linux users have at least a
vague clue as to what they're doing ... something like I don't at present :
-(

> libcrypto and libssl are provided by openssl
> many of the others can be found by taking the "lib" off the front, and
> looking for a package called that. You can use rpm like so:-
> $ rpm -q --whatprovides libssl.so.2
> openssl-0.9.6b-8
> the catch is if the rpm isn't installed..... it won't tell you.
> Helpful, isn't it?

Indeed :-)

OK (tried that) ... if it says "no package installs libssl.so.2" then that
presumably means rpm IS installed but can't find the library ... yes?

Does rpm look at all packages it knows to be installed on the system or
does it look only in the current directory?

> Probably the best way is to go to www.rpmfind.net. For example,
> OpenSSH requires openssl - if you were to get an error
> message indicating that libcrypto was needed, and didn't know where to
find
> it, you can go to rpmfind, look for OpenSSH under "packages by name",
> and under the "requires" section, click on the libcrypto link. This'll
give you
> a list of packages that provide that library. Awkward, but at least
workable.

OK ... I'll try that (thanks to Sean for this too).

> RedHat really needs an apt equivalent. I'm in the (slow) process
> of heading towards Debian, mostly for the superior package and
> update managment.

You mean you're going to switch over to Debian Linux or just their package
manager? As far as I can tell there are 3 main types of binary (RPM, TAR/GZ
& whatever Debian use) ... does YaST count as a package manager? What are
the advantages of the Debian system?

This also raises another question ... assuming one wants a standard, stable
version of Linux (not really for gameplay) which version is best? Some
magazines seem to suggest that Debian or Caldera are the "Rolls Royce's" of
the Linux world.

> Easiest way is by looking on rpmfind search http://rufus.w3.org
> but for the record I have annotated your list with those that I know

Thanks for the list I will look for the required files :-)

> try man rpm

A bewildering array of options ... er .. .thanks :-)

> basicaly
> -i means install
> -U means upgrade (ie version 2 --> 3)
> -F means freshen (ie version 2.1 --> 2.1)
> -v means verbose (doesn't seem to make much difference)
> -h means show hashes (gives you the nice little progress bar thingy)

That helps thanks :-)

> rpmfind.net is very helpful - often once you have found out what the
> package is you may be able to find a copy locally

So they don't keep an archive of the files (I'll check later)

> some of these things may be for packges you don't need eg kdelibs-devel
> -doc looks like a package of documentation aimed at developers - you
> may just be able to leave out this package and so not have to
> worry about its dependancies.

But presumably it is not installing if it generates these messages or is it
installing and highlighting the dependencies ... if so (assuming I run such
commands from a terminal session) where does it install to? Does it (like
Opera) place shortcuts (symbolic links) in the KDE menu, on the desktop or
do I have to go find the application that runs it (and if so how do I know
what it's called beyond an educated guess at, say, "kword").

More importantly than that am I asking way too many questions?

> Often many of the dependencies are satisfied by one package so it may
> not be as daunting as it seems. (libogg libvorbis libvorbisenc are all
> probably part of the Ogg Vorbis sound file format - a replacement
> for the patented mp3 format)

OK :-)

Thanks

James

James C. Rocks,
Technical Development Consultant
Archway House,
Canary Wharf.
EQUANT
E-Mail:    james.rocks at equant.com (work)
Phone:   07771-767405 (mobile), 0207-5226856 (work)

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