Table of Contents

Fedora FAQ...........................................................................................................................................2 About Fedora....................................................................................................................................3 Installing Fedora...............................................................................................................................3 Using Fedora and Installing Software..............................................................................................3 Problems and Their Solutions...........................................................................................................3 The FAQ................................................................................................................................................4 About Fedora....................................................................................................................................4 Installing Fedora...............................................................................................................................5 Using Fedora and Installing Software..............................................................................................6 Configuring Package Installation.................................................................................................6 Using the GUI to Install/Update Software...................................................................................6 Installing Software From the Command Line.............................................................................7 Installing Local RPMs.................................................................................................................7 Problems and Their Solutions.........................................................................................................11 Installing Software in GNU/Linux......................................................................................................15

Fedora FAQ
About Fedora
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. What is this Fedora thing? What is the difference between Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux? Is it unstable? Has it been released? Where can I find a list of all the programs that come with Fedora (a package list)? When is the next version of Fedora coming out? How can I help out the Fedora Project?

Installing Fedora
1. 2. 3. 4. Where do I get it? Can I install on ReiserFS or JFS? Can Fedora run on a 64-bit (AMD-64 or Intel-64) computer? Can I run Fedora on a Mac?

Using Fedora and Installing Software

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Where can I get software for Fedora? How do I install software in Fedora? (How to use yum or an RPM) Is there anything like apt for Fedora? How do I install a working Java plugin for my web browser? How can I install Flash in Firefox? How can I see PDF files inside my browser? How can I watch movies in my web browser? Can I use MSN Messenger/AIM/ICQ/Yahoo instant messaging in Fedora?

9. Can I install the standard Windows fonts on Fedora? 10.Where can I get drivers for my hardware for Fedora? 11.How do I read my NTFS (Windows NT/2000/XP/2003) drive in Fedora? 12.How do I edit the menus in the panel? 13.How do I install Wine? 14.How do I play DVDs in Fedora? 15.How do I play MP3s in Fedora?

Problems and Their Solutions

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. I get a NOKEY warning from RPM, or I get a gpg signature error when using yum! How do I enable 3D support for my ATI Radeon card in Fedora? How do I enable 3D support for my nVidia graphics card in Fedora? The installer's media check says all my CDs are bad! I have strange installation problems. I can't access my Windows network shares anymore! People tell me to use the smbmount command, but it doesn't work! 7. Y is ur f4q so dum n bad?

The FAQ
About Fedora
1. Q: What is this Fedora thing? A: First, read About Fedora. You can also read the Fedora Project FAQ, if you want. Now, I'll give you a summary: Fedora is a Linux distribution from Red Hat that doesn't cost any money, includes only opensource software, and always includes the latest versions of software. Fedora is a community-supported project. That means that you can be involved in creating Fedora, if you want. A new version of Fedora comes out every six months or so. When a new version comes out, the previous version becomes unsupported about a year later. This means re-installing your OS every 6 - 8 months (currently upgrades between Fedora versions don't go so well). The advantage of using Fedora is that you're always on the cutting edge of Linux development, more so than any other major distro, while still having a stable operating system. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is based on Fedora, so if you want to learn a little about RHEL for free, use Fedora. RHEL6 was based on Fedora 13. 2. Q: What is the difference between Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux? A: Red Hat Enterprise Linux is officially supported by Red Hat for 7 years. It's a better choice if you're running important machines in production, and you don't want to upgrade your OS all the time. It also has many nice features that are useful if you are running more than a few servers. Also, you can (sometimes) actually call Red Hat and get support for , which you will never be able to do for Fedora. Fedora is distributed for free, and RHEL costs money.

Fedora is much more cutting-edge than RHEL is, and Fedora has a larger community of users willing to help out and give free support (like this web page). Red Hat also has a cool page that answers this question. 3. Q: Is it unstable? A: No! 4. Q: Has it been released? A: What if every software developer could gain the knowledge of long experience without having to go through the pain of repeated failure? Read my book, Code Simplicity, and find out. Yes! Fedora 14 was released on November 2, 2010. To see when new releases are coming out, see the release schedule. 5. Q: Where can I find a list of all the programs that come with Fedora (a package list)? A: There's a list of the main Fedora packages over at the Distrowatch Fedora Page. You can see a list of all the Fedora 14 packages in the Fedora Package Database. 6. Q: When is the next version of Fedora coming out? A: A new version of Fedora is released every 6 - 8 months. Specific dates are usually in the Release Schedule.
(Thanks to Tom Van Vleck for suggesting this question.)

7. Q: How can I help out the Fedora Project? A: The Fedora Project needs a lot of people to help in a lot of areas! Can you write documentation? Can you code? Do you know anything about bugs? Can you translate? Would you like to learn about any of these? Are you artistic? Do you just want to help out in any way you can? The Fedora Project has a great page that describes how you can help. Check it out!

Installing Fedora
1. Q: Where do I get it? A: The Fedora Download Page. There are many versions: The "Live Media" is a LiveCD--you can just put the CD into your computer and start the OS without installing it. You can also use the LiveCD to install a very basic version of Fedora, if you want. The "Install Media" contains all the Fedora packages, and you can install from that without having an Internet connection. Then there's the choice between i686 and x86_64. Here's how to figure out which one you need: i686 - If you have a Pentium or Celeron (meaning any Pentium or Celeron, including a Pentium 4, Pentium M, etc.) or the original Core Duo or Core Solo (not a Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Solo). x86_64 - If you have a Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Solo, Core i7, i5, i3, Opteron, Athlon 64, Turion 64, Sempron, or anything newer than these. (This also includes most new "Intel Mac" machines.) Almost every new computer sold in the last few years is an x86_64 machine. For more details on how to get Fedora, including how to buy a CD (if you can't download one), see the Distribution page on the Fedora Project site.

2. Q: Can I install on ReiserFS or JFS? A: Yes, you can install Fedora on ReiserFS or JFS. ReiserFS and JFS are not officially supported by the Fedora Project. (That means that you can use them, but you won't find a lot of official help from the Fedora Project if things go wrong.) At the installer prompt, type this for ReiserFS: linux selinux=0 reiserfs or this for JFS: linux selinux=0 jfs NOTE: You cannot use SELinux on ReiserFS or JFS. (If you don't know what SELinux is, you can ignore this warning.)
(Thanks to whiprush [quoting Jesse Keating] for this. Thanks to Kai Thomsen for catching an important typo.

3. Q: Can Fedora run on a 64-bit (AMD-64 or Intel-64) computer? A: Yes, it can! A 64-bit version of Fedora is currently available to download. It works very well. See the question about getting Fedora. You can also run the normal 32-bit version of Fedora on your 64-bit computer, although that's rarely required nowadays. 4. Q: Can I run Fedora on a Mac? A: Yes, you can! If you have a Core Duo Intel Mac, you want the i686 version of Fedora. If you have a Core 2 Duo or later Intel Mac, you want the x86_64 version of Fedora. (See the question about getting Fedora.) Note that some things may not yet work perfectly on Intel Macs. mactel-linux.org is a good site for information about running Fedora (or any Linux) on a Mactel machine. If you have a G3, G4, or G5 Mac, there is no longer an installation disc available for your machine for Fedora 13.

Using Fedora and Installing Software

1. Q: Where can I get software for Fedora? A: The best way to get software is to use the normal software installation tools that come with Fedora, which will download and install things automatically for you. Otherwise, to search for software packages, you can use rpm.pbone.net. 2. Q: How do I install software in Fedora? (How to use yum or an RPM) A: Fedora has thousands of pieces of software that can be downloaded and automatically installed from the Internet. What if every software developer could gain the knowledge of long experience without having to go through the pain of repeated failure? Read my book, Code Simplicity, and find out. Configuring Package Installation Many of the packages I mention in the FAQ are only available from rpmfusion. To configure

your system so that you can install packages from rpmfusion, follow these instructions: 1. Open a Terminal. 2. Become root: su 3. Run the following command: yum --nogpgcheck install http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-releasestable.noarch.rpm Using the GUI to Install/Update Software If you have graphical access to your desktop, you can use the graphical tools to install software. Go to the System menu, choose "Administration", and then click on "Add/Remove Software". Fedora will automatically let you know when updates are available for your software. Installing Software From the Command Line Often people want to use install or update software using the command line. For this you use a program called "yum". First become root, and then you can use the following commands: 4. To see a list of available software: yum list available 5. To install some software, you type: yum install packagename 6. To update some software, you type: yum update packagename If you leave out "packagename" yum will update all your software. 7. To see what updates are available, you can do: yum check-update 8. To search for a package, you can do: yum search word For more info about yum, see the yum project page. (Thanks to Ron Kuris for this tip.) Installing Local RPMs To install an RPM file that you downloaded outside of yum, open up a terminal, and as root do: rpm -Uvh filename.rpm If you have Internet access, you can also install local files by doing: yum --nogpgcheck install filename.rpm Which is handy because it will automatically download and install any dependencies that that

RPM has. 3. Q: Is there anything like apt for Fedora? A: APT is a program for Debian and Ubuntu Linux that installs not only the software you specify, but also all of that software's dependencies. It makes installing software much easier. There is a piece of software like this for Fedora, that comes in the standard Fedora installation. It's called yum. It can automatically download and install a program and all of its dependencies, with just one command. I even provide a special configuration that I use for yum on my computer, in the question where I explain how to use yum. 4. Q: How do I install a working Java plugin for my web browser? A: Fedora includes an open-source version of Java 6, and nearly every Java applet will run if you simply install the Java plugin that comes with Fedora: 1. Open a Terminal. 2. Become root: su 3. Install the plugin: yum install java-1.6.0-openjdk-plugin 5. Q: How can I install Flash in Firefox? A: 1. Open a Terminal. 2. Become root: su 3. Install the Adobe repository for yum: yum --nogpgcheck install http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-releasei386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm 4. Type: yum install --exclude=AdobeReader* flash-plugin nspluginwrapper.{i686,x86_64} pulseaudio-libs.i686 alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i686 libcurl.i686 5. Configure Firefox to see the plugin, by typing: mozilla-plugin-config -i -g -v 6. If you have Firefox open, quit and open it again. 6. Q: How can I see PDF files inside my browser? A: Just install mozplugger and xpdf: 1. Open a Terminal. 2. Become root: su 3. Install mozplugger: yum install mozplugger xpdf This also enables Firefox to open lots of other types of files, like movies, audio, Word documents, etc. 7. Q: How can I watch movies in my web browser?

A: Just install the Totem Plugin: 1. Make sure that you're using my yum configuration from the installing software question. 2. Open a Terminal. 3. Become root: su 4. Install the plug-in: yum install totem-mozplugin gstreamer-plugins-ugly gstreamer-plugins-bad 5. Close all the windows of your web browser and then open it again. Now, you can see movies on web sites! Note that if you have also installed mozplugger from the PDF question, you might get a pop-up movie player instead of having the movie embedded in the page. 8. Q: Can I use MSN Messenger/AIM/ICQ/Yahoo instant messaging in Fedora? A: Yes! By default, Fedora comes with a simple instant messaging program called Empathy, which supports MSN Messenger, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, and Google Talk, and many other protocols, all at the same time. To start Empathy, click on the Applications menu, go to "Internet," and choose "Empathy IM Client." If you don't like Empathy, you can use Pidgin, another Instant Messenger program for Linux. To install Pidgin: 1. Open a Terminal. 2. Become root: su 3. Install Pidgin: yum install pidgin Pidgin will then be available in the Applications menu, under "Internet", as "Pidgin Instant Messenger". 9. Q: Can I install the standard Windows fonts on Fedora? A: Yes, there's also a very easy way to install all of the common Windows fonts on Linux. You don't usually have to do this on Fedora (because it comes with fonts called the "Liberation" fonts that are the same exact size as the Windows fonts), but if you want to do it, here's how: 1. Install the chkfontpath package from ATrpms. (Click on either the i686 or x86_64 package, depending on whether you have a 32-bit or 64-bit machine.) 2. Open a Terminal. 3. Become root: su 4. Install some packages you'll need for the following steps: yum install rpm-build cabextract ttmkfdir wget 5. Download the MS Core Fonts Smart Package File: wget http://corefonts.sourceforge.net/msttcorefonts-2.0-1.spec 6. Build the Core Fonts package:

rpmbuild -ba msttcorefonts-2.0-1.spec 7. Install the Core Fonts package: yum install --nogpgcheck /root/rpmbuild/RPMS/noarch/msttcorefonts-2.0-1.noarch.rpm
(Thanks to David A. Wheeler and others for convincing me to add the MS Core Fonts instructions. Thanks to byro for pointing out the URL to the 2.0 package!)

10.Q: Where can I get drivers for my hardware for Fedora? A: Most drivers come with Fedora. However, if your driver doesn't come with Fedora, you can see what drivers are available for automatic download: 1. Make sure that you're using my yum configuration from the installing software question. 2. Open a Terminal. 3. Become root: su 4. Run the following command: yum list akmod-\* \*-drv\* kmod-\* dkms-\* If you don't find what you need this way, try Googling for: Fedora NameOfHardware or: Linux NameOfHardware Where NameOfHardware is the normal name of your hardware. If it has more than one name, keep trying different ones until you get a result. 11.Q: How do I read my NTFS (Windows NT/2000/XP/2003) drive in Fedora? A: Well, now, that's an easy one! You just have to install the ntfs-3g program! 1. Open a Terminal. 2. Become root: su 3. Type: yum install ntfs-3g Now you can read and write to your NTFS drives! For information on how to use your NTFS drive, you can read the NTFS FAQ. (You don't need to worry about /proc/filesystems like it says there, though.) 12.Q: How do I edit the menus in the panel? A: First you have to install the menu editor: 1. Open a Terminal. 2. Become root: su 3. Install the menu editor: yum install alacarte Now you can go to the System menu, then "Preferences", and click on "Main Menu" to edit the menu.

For KDE users, there is a program called kmenuedit that you can run to edit the menu. 13.Q: How do I install Wine? A: Wine is a way of running some Windows programs on Linux. It's available using yum: 1. Open a Terminal. 2. Become root: su 3. Install wine: yum install wine 14.Q: How do I play DVDs in Fedora? A: Easy! You just have to install some additional packages for Totem, the Movie Player: 1. Make sure that you're using my yum configuration from the installing software question. 2. Open a Terminal. 3. Become root: su 4. Install the software that Totem needs in order to play DVDs correctly: yum install libdvdread libdvdcss libdvdnav gstreamer-plugins-ugly gstreamer-pluginsbad And now you can play DVDs! You can find Totem in the "Applications" menu, under "Sound and Video." It's just called "Movie Player." Sometimes it will say that it can't play a DVD, but it will usually work if you close Totem, then insert the DVD into your drive, then wait for a popup to ask you what you want to do, and then click "Open." 15.Q: How do I play MP3s in Fedora? A: To play MP3s in Fedora, you have to install a different package depending on which Fedora MP3 player you want to use. If you're not sure which one to pick, Rhythmbox is the standard. It's in the "Applications" menu, under "Sound & Video" -- it's called "Rhythmbox Music Player." It looks kind of like iTunes when you run it. What if every software developer could gain the knowledge of long experience without having to go through the pain of repeated failure? Read my book, Code Simplicity, and find out. Here's how to install the correct MP3 plugin: 1. Make sure that you're using my yum configuration from the installing software question. 2. Open a Terminal. 3. Become root: su 4. Now, install the correct plugin depending on which MP3 player you want to use: For Rhythmbox or Totem: yum install gstreamer-plugins-ugly For Audacious (which is like XMMS or Winamp): yum install audacious-plugins-freeworld-mp3 Now you should be able to play MP3s in your favorite Fedora MP3 player!

NOTE: For home users in any country (even the USA), there is no legal problem with MP3 players, so you are not doing anything illegal by enabling MP3 support in Fedora. However, if you are in the USA and you want to encode MP3s or use them in a commercial setting, you may be required to pay patent royalties.

Problems and Their Solutions

1. Q: I get a NOKEY warning from RPM, or I get a gpg signature error when using yum! A: The NOKEY warning is not really a problem. It won't prevent you from doing anything. (The yum error, though, will usually prevent you from installing software.) If you'd like to resolve it, do the following command to get the correct key for the site you're downloading from: You must be root to do any of this. Red Hat and Fedora: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY* rpm.livna.org: rpm --import http://rpm.livna.org/RPM-LIVNA-GPG-KEY FreshRPMs: rpm --import http://freshrpms.net/RPM-GPG-KEY-freshrpms DAG: rpm --import http://dag.wieers.com/packages/RPM-GPG-KEY.dag.txt ATrpms: rpm --import http://atrpms.net/RPM-GPG-KEY.atrpms NewRPMs: rpm --import http://newrpms.sunsite.dk/gpg-pubkey-newrpms.txt Dries (RPMForge): rpm --import http://apt.sw.be/dries/RPM-GPG-KEY.dries.txt JPackage: rpm --import http://www.jpackage.org/jpackage.asc kde-redhat: rpm --import http://kde-redhat.sourceforge.net/gpg-pubkey-ff6382fa-3e1ab2ca PlanetCCRMA: rpm --import http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/RPM-GPG-KEY.planetccrma.txt NOTE: If you install my yum configuration, most of these keys are installed for you automatically.
(Thanks to Kai Thomsen for the original location of the ATrpms key, and thanks to Tom Householder for the new

location! Thanks to Pim Rupert for the location of the Dries key. Thanks to Anduin Withers for a good idea about how to reorganize this question. Thanks to Dieter Komendera for the new location of the FreshRPMs key.)

2. Q: How do I enable 3D support for my ATI Radeon card in Fedora? A: RPM Fusion provides ATI driver RPMs that are designed especially for Fedora. NOTE: If you have nVidia drivers installed, you must un-install them before installing these ATI drivers. Here's how to install them: Make sure that you're using my yum configuration from the installing software question. Open a Terminal. Become root: su Install the driver: yum install kmod-catalyst Shut down X: init 3 Log in as root. Enable the driver: catalyst-config-display enable Rebuild your kernel configuration (otherwise it may try to load a conflicting driver during boot) and add some new kernel arguments to work around conflicts between the Catalyst driver and Fedora: new-kernel-pkg --kernel-args=nomodeset --mkinitrd --dracut --update $(rpm -q --queryformat="%{version}-%{release}.%{arch}\n" kernel | tail -n 1) Reboot your machine: reboot If you have any trouble with the RPM Fusion RPMs, please report a bug to the RPM Fusion Bugzilla. 3. Q: How do I enable 3D support for my nVidia graphics card in Fedora? A: There are now nVidia driver RPMs provided by rpmfusion.org that are designed especially for Fedora. Here's how to install them: What if every software developer could gain the knowledge of long experience without having to go through the pain of repeated failure? Read my book, Code Simplicity, and find out. Make sure that you're using my yum configuration from the installing software question. Open a Terminal. Become root: su Install the driver: yum install kmod-nvidia

 Rebuild your kernel configuration (otherwise it may try to load a conflicting driver during boot): new-kernel-pkg --mkinitrd --dracut --update $(rpm -q --queryformat="%{version}-% {release}.%{arch}\n" kernel | tail -n 1) Reboot your machine: reboot And now you should have working 3D with your nVidia card! Note that if you have an older card, you may need to install kmod-nvidia-173xx or kmodnvidia-96xx. There is a list on the nVidia site that says which cards are supported by which driver. If you need support for the nVidia drivers, check out the nV News "NVIDIA Linux Forum".
(Thanks to Exile in Paradise for this tip.)

4. Q: The installer's media check says all my CDs are bad! A: There is a bug in the kernel which causes the media check to say some CDs are bad when they are not, on some systems. To do a successful media check, do the following: At the installer prompt, type: linux mediacheck ide=nodma Run the media check on your CDs/DVD. Reboot, and run the installer normally. Note that sometimes mediacheck will report that only some CDs are bad, but this will still fix that problem. (Thanks to Tony Nelson for reminding me of that!) 5. Q: I have strange installation problems. A: If your installation doesn't work, or you have problems during or after installation, first read the latest Release Notes. Also, the Fedora Project provides a detailed installation guide if you'd like any other help while installing. In particular, you might want to try using the special boot options listed in the Install Guide. Of those, the most-frequently useful are: noapic, acpi=off, and xdriver=vesa. If any of those commands fixes your problem, please file a bug in Red Hat's Bugzilla. 6. Q: I can't access my Windows network shares anymore! People tell me to use the smbmount command, but it doesn't work! A: Modern versions of Linux use a type of Windows file sharing called "The Common Internet File System" (CIFS). Instead of using "smbmount", try: mount -t cifs //1.2.3.4/share /mnt/somedirectory For more information about this, in a terminal you can do: man mount.cifs Note that CIFS can't resolve Windows computer names, so you're better off using their IP addresses. 7. Q: Y is ur f4q so dum n bad? A: Not only am I impressed with your intelligence, but also with your sterling education! Verily,

I am blinded by your wit and charm. (But as a side note, if you actually want to contribute something useful, there's a whole page about that!)

Installing Software in GNU/Linux

Introduction
For the benefit of people new to Linux, I have written a generic explanation of howto install software in Linux. Note that some software may have specific installation procedures, this HOWTO is not a substitute for reading the official installation documentation :) This HOWTO covers the following topics: Command-line process: Compiling and Installing software from source Installing RPM's using the Redhat Package Manager Installing using Debian's apt-get Installing mandrake things Installing with fedora / yum Installing slackware packages Installing software using Gentoo EMerge Installing binary files (.BIN/.SH) Installing .package Files (AutoPackage)

Graphical (GUI) process:

 Using Synaptic (Fedora, Ubuntu) Using YaST2 (SuSE, openSuSE)

If you have just installed GNU/Linux and would like to know how to install software on your new OS, I would recommend you read the section specifically for your GNU/Linux Distribution. Note: for new users, it is generally easiest/best to install any software using the default package tool that is included with your particular distribution. Do not worry if you don't understand or remember everything written here straight away, book mark this page and use it as a reference page later on. 07-06-2006 techieMoe

Compiling and Installing software from source

NOTE - Installing from source code is the most difficult method for obtaining software on Linux and in most cases is not necessary. Most popular software can be found and installed quite easily using your distribution's package manager (see sections on "apt-get" and "yum"). Installing from source is recommended only for experienced Linux users and/or those who aren't afraid to break something for the purpose of learning. Some software is distributed in "Source form". This means you download a file containing all the source code for the application you want to install, unpack it, and compile it on your system. Compiling is the process of turning the source code into an executable binary. The common myth and newbie assumption is that this is very hard todo, or it is only for programmers. Wrong. It is a fairly straight forward process, and you will find that a lot of software you install will need to be built from source. Typically applications you must compile from source will come as a ".tar.gz", ".tar.bz2", or ".zip" file. You'll probably want to operate from inside your home directory. If your user is (for example) username, your home directory will be /home/username/. For the rest of this section we will assume you have downloaded your zip file to /home/username/src. If you do not have a src directory, you can create it with the following "mkdir" (make directory) command: Code: mkdir /home/username/src/

So, we have our source package in /home/username/src/. Change to the /home/username/src/ directory with the "cd" (change directory) command like so: Code: cd /home/username/src/ Use the "ls" (list directory contents) command, to see the file is present: Code: ls

We now need to unzip the zipped file, this is done differently depending on the file extension. for files ending in .tar.gz, use: Code: tar -zxvf <filename> (replacing <filename> with the name of the file). for files ending in .tar.bz2, use: Code: tar -jxvf <filename> for files ending in .zip, use: Code: unzip <filename> You should now have a new directory, containing all of the source files. To confirm it exists, and to get its name, use the "ls" command again. Code: ls

we now need to go into the new directory, so use the cd command: Code: cd <directory>

This is where things will differ. Some packages will have an INSTALL or README file which will contain installation instructions. use "ls" to see if the software has an install or readme file. If it does have one, you can use the "more" command to read it, like so: Code: more INSTALL Generally, the final 3 stages are as follows: - Configure the installation - Compile the software - Install the binaries The pre-installation configuration is done by executing ./configure: Code: ./configure This will perform some requirements testing on your system, and create a "Makefile" which will explain to the "make" utility how the software should be compiled. If you receive any error messages during this stage, you may wish to search the forums to see if they have been found and resolved by someone else already, if not, feel free to post a question on the forums - Please include all of the output including any error messages, and some details about your system - what distro you are using, what are you trying to install etc etc The next stage is to compile the software, this is done using "make". When you run "make" it will read the instructions in the Makefile and build the application binaries. Code: make

The final stage is to install these binaries, ie, copy them to a more permanent location. Typically only the "root" user can do this, so you will need to swich to the root user with the "su" command: Code:

su Once you are root, install the binaries using the "make" command, followed by "install", like so: Code: make install That is it! Check the user documentation of the software you installed for details of how to run the application. Remember that if you have any problems, please post in the most relevant section of the forums. - When posting, remember to include as much info as possible, including all output and error messages. 07-06-2006 techieMoe

Installing RPM's using the Redhat Package Manager

Redhat RPM's offer a flexable and easy method to install new software. Software installed from an RPM package differs from compiling from source in a few ways, but the most important one of all is the software is already compiled for you. Essentially all you are doing is extracting the pre-built binaries and copying them to their pre-selected destination. RPM's are files that have a ".rpm" extenstion. The good point about RPM's is installation of new software, and maintaining the software currently installed is much easier than doing so for individual packages compiled from source. The downside to RPM's is that you dont have as much choice about where software is installed on your system, how it is compiled, and how it is configured. Using the RPM system is fairly straight forward. To install a package, you can use the following command: Code: rpm -i <filename.rpm> When using rpm, you must be logged in as the root user. The "-i" flag in the above command means "install". Un installing a package is just as easy: Code: rpm -e <package>

The "-e" switch used here means "erase" (un install). Note that <package> is different from <filename> used when installing. For example, if you are installing an application called "mysoftware", you may use a command like "rpm -i mysoftware-1.0.2-i386.rpm" to install "mysoftware", when removing we dont follow the filename for installation, but rather the name of the software itself. For further uses of RPM, please use "rpm --help" and "man rpm". Also see this page, which has some fairly useful information. If you need to find & download the RPM file for a piece of software, I recommend using RPM Find and RPM Pbone Search Note that not all applications are available as RPM's, in these cases you will need to compile the software from source. (see above). 07-06-2006 techieMoe

Installing software with Apt-get

APT (Advance Packaging Tool) is a wonderful package management system. It consists of different tools, which names usually begins with "apt-" : apt-get, apt-cache, apt-cdrom, etc. Unlike RPM, which equivalent in a Debian system would probably be DPKG, apt-get handles dependencies resolution and takes care of downloading the software for you (much like YUM in a Red Hat system). Though apt-get is generally used to install binary packages, it also can build and install source packages (like Gentoo's emerge). One can further more ease the process of installing software by using Synaptic (Graphical Interface), which is considered more featured APT frontend. aptitude is a terminal-based apt frontend with a number of useful features, including: a mutt-like syntax for matching packages in a flexible manner, dselect-like persistence of user actions, the ability to retrieve and display the Debian changelog of most packages, and a command-line mode similar to that of apt-get. One should use aptitude to install metapackages because aptitude keeps log of all packages that are part of meta-package. Its easy to remove/un-install meta-package in one go with aptitude. One must have root privileges to execute apt-get or aptitude commands. Execute 'su' in Debian and prefix 'sudo' in Ubuntu to gain root privileges. apt-get depends on Debian packages repositories (where are stored both sources and binary packages) that can be configured in the file /etc/apt/sources.list. A typical Debian stable sources.list would look something like this : Code: #Local Mirror

deb ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib nonfree deb-src ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free #Security Updates deb ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian-security/ stable/updates main contrib non-free deb-src ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian-security/ stable/updates main contrib non-free APT includes a tool called apt-setup, which can be summoned from the command line, to help you configure a proper /etc/apt/sources.list file, optimized for your needs and geographic location. One can also configure APT to follow the testing or the unstable distribution of Debian. Once the user has a sources.list adapted to his/her needs, the local list of packages needs to be updated : Code: apt-get update Only then can the repositories be browsed with apt-cache. To search a package from its text description : Code: apt-cache search <something> Replace <something> with an application name or word. For example, Code: apt-cache search irc client will display a list of several irc clients. To know more about a package and its description (dependencies, functionnalities, maintainer's identity, etc.) : Code: apt-cache show <package_name> In this case you have to replace <package_name> with the exact package name.

Installating a binary package is done in one single step : Code: apt-get install <package_name> Another neat feature of apt-get : it allows to build and install a source package. Minimally, two steps are needed in order to do that. First install the package dependencies : Code: apt-get build-dep <package_name> Secondly tell apt-get to build and install the package itself : Code: apt-get source -b <package_name> For example, installing the email client "pine" can be done like that : Code: apt-get build-dep pine apt-get source -b pine Uninstalling a package is done like this : Code: apt-get remove <package_name> Or if you wish to remove the package along with all of its configuration files (essentially doing a clean uninstall): Code: apt-get remove --purge <package_name> A word of caution : apt-get handles dependencies in a very strict manner. If you try to uninstall a piece of software that other pieces of software depends on, apt-get will also want to uninstall them (not before warning you about the situation). Further reading : Debian Reference, Chapter 6 - Debian package management For the impatient : Debian Quick Reference, Chapter 3 - Debian package management

 07-06-2006 techieMoe

Installing software on Mandrake with urpm

urpm is a nifty was to install software on any 7.x or greater Mandrake system. Some of the advantages of Mandrake's urpm utilities are: * It automatically solves package dependencies issues by installing or uninstalling dependent packages. * It installs packages and dependencies directly from the internet. * It allows globbing of package names * It will automatically update your system. * It will install all those "not allowed to distribute" programs that you really want to have (DVD support, MP3 enoders, etc...) How do I install urpm? urpm should be installed by default on any modern Mandrake distobution. If it's not, you can install it using the Mandrake Control Center (MCC). urpm Commands urpmi The most commonly used command is urpmi. This command allows you to install packages from your configured sources (see below). urpmi will try to install all package dependencies. It will also take partitial names and give you a list of available packages. For exmaple, if you wanted to install one of the kdemoreartwork styles, but didn't know the exact name, you simple type Code: [root@cayanne ~/]#urpmi kdemoreartwork and it should return a list of packages not already installed on your system. This also means it will install the most up to date package for your system, you don't have to know which version you're looking for. As an exmaple, you may wish to add DVD Play back support to your computer. This can be done by installing any video player, such as Xine or MPlayer, along with the package libdvdcss. Rather then having to type in urpmi libdvdcss-1.2.11.i386.rpm, you can simply type in Code: [root@cayanne ~/]#urpmi libdvdcss urpme The urpme command deletes, or erases, currently installed packages and all packages depandant on that it.

urpmq The urpmq command searches for, or queries, for packages that you list. urpmf The urpmf command does an advanced search for a filename in all known packages. For example if we are trying to compile a program and the configure script is complaining about not finding ncurses.h, we can do a urpmf ncurses.h to find that it is part of the libncurses5-develpackage. Code: [root@cayanne ~/]#urpmf ncurses.h libncurses5-devel:/usr/include/ncurses.h libncurses5-devel:/usr/include/ncurses/ncurses.h php-devel:/usr/src/php-devel/extensions/ncurses/php_ncurses.h urpmi.addmedia urpmi.addmedia does exactly that, makes an rpm reposatory available for urpm to utalize. Typically, you have your installation cd's available as a default media, these are called main. In addition, you also have three other media - updates,contrib and PLF. Updates is the updates, and contrib is user contributed rpm's and PLF is all those not available for distribution for so-called legel reasons rpm's. The sysntax for urpmi.addmedia is urpmi.addmedia [media-name] [ftp-address with] ../base/hdlist.cz Note that the hdlist.cz is required. For example, to add medium 'contrib', we use the following command Code: [root@cayanne ~/]#urpmi.addmedia contrib ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/Linux/distributions/mandrake/updates/8 .2/RPMS with ../base/hdlist.cz added medium contrib retrieving description file of "contrib"... ...retrieving done retrieving source hdlist (or synthesis) of "contrib"... ...retrieving done examining whole urpmi database urpmi.removemedia This command removes specified media. Need I say more? urpmi.update The urpmi.update command goes through all of your media sources and updates your installed packages if necessary.

How do I set up urpm? urpm can be set up using MCC, but I've personally found the instructions at the web-site Easy Urpmi to be a little easier. Either way, you can use the site along with MCC or the console to add media. Simple follow the step-by-step instructions, and enter the command it prints out in the grey box into any terminal window, as root of course. You can even copy and paste the command, there's no need to type it all in. Now that you're up and running with urpmi, try to install a few packages! Have fun! Where can I get more info? Some site in Texas 07-06-2006 techieMoe

Installing with fedora / yum

Most of the same commands used with Debian's apt-get are used with yum, such as yum install yum remove yum update For a more detailed set of instructions, look here: http://www.fedorafaq.org/#installsoftware 07-06-2006 techieMoe

Installing slackware packages

Slackware packages are usually .tgz files containing pre-built binaries. To install software in slackware you will need to find and download the .tgz package manually beforehand. If you are looking for a slackware package for a piece of software and have not found it yet, search Linux Packages for it. Ok, once we have our package, lets install it. To install slackware packages, ensure you are the root user using the command: Code: su Now run the following command to install the package: Code:

installpkg <packagename.tgz> Uninstalling a package is also quite simple: Code: removepkg <packagename> Also worth noting about slackware packages, is a utility called pkgtool which will allow you to install, remove and list packages on your system. To use pkgtool, run: Code: pkgtool and follow onscreen prompts. Anyone who likes the debian apt-get system but is currently using Slackware may be interested to hear about a utility called slapt-get, the Slackware answer to apt-get. Slapt-get is avaible from Here. There is also a nifty Gnome/GTK front end for slapt-get in development, you can preview it at the same url. Lastly, if you are having trouble locating a slackware package, but have been able to find a equivilent RPM, you can "convert" that RPM to a slackware package which you can use with the installpkg and removepkg commands. To convert your RPM to .tgz, use the command: Code: rpm2tgz <packagename>.rpm 07-06-2006 techieMoe

Installing software using Gentoo Emerge

Gentoo Emerge Documentation Paludis, another package manager that uses Emerge

Installing Binary Files and Scripts (.BIN/.SH)

Binary files (.BIN) and shell scripts (.SH) are another popular format for distributing applications, particularly in the commercial, closed-source world. A good example of this are the Quake 3 and Doom 3 games from id Software. Basically all these files are is a list of commands that are run inside a terminal to copy, move, and create files in your file system. You can run these files like so:

For BIN files: 1. Make sure the file is set to "executable" by running this command: Code: chmod +x NameOfYourFile.bin 2. Run the file like this: Code: ./NameOfYourFile.bin NOTE: If the installer requires access to directories outside of your /home/ directory, you may need to log in as root before you can execute these commands successfully. That can be accomplished with the su command, followed by your root (Administrator) password. Ubuntu users will use sudo and their regular user password instead. For .SH files: 1. Make sure the file is executable by following Step 1 above. 2. Run the file either with the same command as the previous Step 2, or like this: Code: sh NameOfYourFile.sh 12-17-2008 techieMoe

Installing .package Files

In recent years some folks have decided that the existing systems for package management (RPM and DEB) are lacking in certain ways and these people have seen fit to create other systems for installing software. One such system is AutoPackage. The file extension for AutoPackage files is .package, and they are essentially executable shell scripts that build the desired software on your local machine regardless of its package management system. AutoPackage files can resolve dependencies similar to RPM and DEB. To install an AutoPackage file, download it to your desktop and right-click on the file. Then select "Properties" and choose the Permissions tab. You will see a different screen depending on your distribution of Linux, but you should see something that says "Executable" or "Execute." Check that permission. Close the dialog and double-click on the .package file. A dialog may pop up asking you if you want to Run or Display the file. Click Run. The install will begin and any further instructions will display in a terminal window.

Optionally, you can perform this procedure from a terminal window. Simply launch the file using a script interpreter such as SH: Code: sh nameOfYourPackage.package For more information on this procedure, see the AutoPackage FAQ here: FAQ :: autopackage 12-17-2008 techieMoe Appendix

Further reading
Offical Debian Apt-Get HOWTO Slackware Package guide Official RPM HOWTO Maximum RPM (power users guide to RPM) Guide to Gentoo Emerge

Copyright, Re-Printing, and comments

This document is copyright Jason Lambert, 2004. The mandrake section is contributed by jeremy1701 and is copyright jeremy1701 2004. The Debian apt-get section was originally written by Jason Lambert and revised by antidrugue in 2006. The .BIN/.SH, .package, and Synaptic/YaST2 sections were contributed by techieMoe. You may not re-produce or reprint this document in part or in full without prior written permission. If you would like to request permission to re-print any part of this document, please send Jason Lambert a private message on the forums. The mandrake section may not be reprinted without written permission of jeremy1701

All trademarks remain the property of their owners etc. If you have a comment about this howto, please Email Jason Lambert. Please do NOT email or send a private message asking for technical assistance. If you need help please post on the forums! :D -- EOF -- :D Note: This message was broken into smaller, more manageable chunks and reposted by techieMoe.

Using Synaptic and YaST2

Some newer distributions have graphical tools to help streamline and automate the process of installing/removing/updating software. One popular program for this is Synaptic, which can be used on Debian-based and Redhat-based distributions like Ubuntu and Fedora. The Ubuntu Community Documentation has a nice tutorial on Synaptic here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticHowto The basic information can be used on Fedora as well, although the two distributions use a different package system. Synaptic works the same on either. Novell's SuSE and openSuSE distributions have a unique tool called YaST2, which is similar to Synaptic but offers significantly more configuration options, as well as the ability to do things other than just manage software, such as change your system configuration and desktop preferences. YaST - openSUSE These options are probably the easiest for new users of Linux since they more closely mimic the "Add/Remove Programs" menu in Microsoft Windows. The major advantage that these offer over Windows, however, is that 99% of the software found on these tools is completely free of charge.