Installing a Package
You can install a package called (for example) mozilla-0.8-2, using this command:
rpm -Uvh mozilla-0.8-2.ppc.rpm
What Does That Command Do?
rpm #Name of Program that Installs Packages
-U #Upgrade Package (ie. Replace Older one with Newer One)
-v #Verbrose, Explain Any Errors in Detail
mozilla #Name of Package
0.8 #Version of Software
-2 #Version of Package (ie. Number of Changes in Package
.ppc.rpm #Extension for a PowerPC RPM, i386.rpm nor src.rpm won't
#work with command.
Depends Errors
You may get errors when running this command, called depencies errors. Programs in Linux frequently depend on other programs, or other libaries.
The easiest way to deal with this, is use a tool like yup to install packages instead.
If you can't use a tool like yup, you will have to figure out what package contains the file that it is requesting (such as libXm.so is in the OpenMotif package).
rpmsearch is another tool that you might find helpful to figure out what depends it requires.
Removing a Package
You can remove a package using this command:
rpm -e mozilla-0.8-2
This is a bit different from installing, you do NOT and should not, include the .ppc.rpm part (once it's installed, it's no longer an RPM, it's an expanded bundle of files managed by RPM.
What Does That Command Do?
rpm #Name of Program that Installs Packages
-e #Upgrade Package (ie. Replace Older one with Newer One)
mozilla #Name of Package
0.8-2 #Version of Software/Package (Optional, used in rare cases
#where you have multiple versions of the same package installed).
Again, you will have depends errors, if you try to remove a library (for example GTK+), or a program that provides services to other programs (for example mailx).
Checking to See if A Package is Installed
You can check if a package is installed using:
rpm -qa | grep mozilla
What Does That Command Do?
rpm #Name of Program that Installs Packages -q #Query (List) Packages -a #List All Packages | #Pipe Data to Another Program grep #Finds Lines Containing A Certain Text String mozilla #Name of Package
Forcing Packages
Sometimes you will want to override what RPM is trying to keep you from doing. This is normally a bad idea, because most of the time, RPM knows best. In case you ever have to do this, you can force and install or remove of packages using these flags:
-nodeps #Ignore Depends Warnings, And Install/Remove Package Anyway.
#This could lead to a broken, unstable system.
-force #Allow Package to do Naughty Stuff like Overwriting Files
#from other packages.
Good luck. If you have suggestions, comments, or anything else, send them to Andrew B. Arthur,aarthur@imaclinux.net.
