User Guide - Managing Software

Using PackageKit
Fedora 10 uses a program called PackageKit to graphically assist the user with installing and removing software. Any application from the Fedora repositories, including the ones described in this user guide, can be installed with the following method.

Installing Software
Here is how to install software using Add/Remove Software in the Gnome Desktop Environment.

Click System > Administration > Add/Remove Software. This will open the Add/Remove Software application. In the [Search Box] with the binoculars icon, type the name of the application you wish to install. If you are unsure of the specific application you need to install, you can also type keywords in this box, just like you would for an internet search engine.

Next, click the [Find] button. The message "Querying" appears in the lower left corner.

Zero or more listings will appear that match your search query. Tick the box next to the description of the application or applications you wish to install. The message "Downloading repository information" appears in the lower left corner. The window area below the list of packages contains additional information about the selected software. Select any additional packages to install or remove at this time by changing tick boxes next to the package name.

Finally, click the [Apply] button. This starts the installation process and concurrently installs or removes any additional packages where you modified the tick box. Follow any prompts to install additional packages.

Unless an error is displayed, the application is now installed on your computer.

Removing Software
To remove software using PackageKit, you should follow the standard installation procedure, but untick boxes beside the programs you wish to uninstall instead of ticking boxes to install new programs.

Click System > Administration > Add/Remove Software. This will open the Add/Remove Software application. In the [Search Box] with the binoculars icon, type the name of the application you wish to remove. If you are unsure of the specific application you need to remove, you can also type keywords in this box, just like you would for an internet search engine.

Next, click the [Find] button. The message "Querying" appears in the lower left corner.

Zero or more listings will appear that match your search query. Untick the box next to the description of the application or applications you wish to remove.

The message "Downloading repository information" appears in the lower left corner. The window area below the list of packages contains additional information about the selected software. Select any additional packages to install or remove at this time by changing tick boxes next to the package name.

Finally, click the [Apply] button. This starts the removal process and concurrently installs or removes any additional packages where you modified the tick box. Follow any prompts to remove additional packages, such as dependencies that only your newly uninstalled program relied upon.

Unless an error is displayed, the application is now removed from your computer.

Using the Command Line Interface
Another way to install or remove an application is to use the command line and yum, the Yellowdog Update Manager. This can be a much faster process than the PackageKit method, but requires the user to use the command line. If this feels uncomfortable, the PackageKit method may be a more familiar way to manage software.

Installing Software
Click Applications > System Tools> Terminal to open the command line.

Type:

su -c 'yum install application' Where application is the name of the program you wish to install.

If you are unsure of the exact name of your desired installation, you can search your installed repositories for a keyword:

su -c 'yum search keyword' Where keyword is the word you wish to search for among the names and descriptions of programs in the available repositories.

After using the yum install command, you will be prompted for the computer's root password. Type in the root password and press 'Enter'. You will not see the password as you type. The terminal will start giving information about the application, and end with. Oftentimes, the installation of an application will require that other programs, called dependencies, are installed as well. These are programs or utilities upon which your selected application relies.

If you wish to continue installation after seeing the dependencies and their disk space requirements (which may be unexpectedly considerable), type: y

The terminal downloads the necessary files and completes the installation of your application.

Removing Software
Click Applications > System Tools> Terminal to open the command line.

Type:

su -c 'yum remove application' Where application is the name of the program you wish to install.

If you are unsure of the exact name of your desired installation, you can search your installed repositories for a keyword:

su -c 'yum search keyword' Where keyword is the word you wish to search for among the names and descriptions of programs in the available repositories.

After using the yum remove command, you will be prompted for the computer's root password. Type in the root password and press 'Enter'. You will not see the password as you type. The terminal will start giving information about the application, and end with. If dependencies that were installed with the application are unneeded by other applications, you may be prompted to remove these as well.

If you wish to continue the software removal, type: y

The terminal deletes the necessary files and completes the removal of your application.

Advanced Yum
Use the  utility to modify the software on your system in four ways:


 * To install new software from package repositories,
 * To install new software from an individual package file,
 * To update existing software on your system, and
 * To remove unwanted software from your system.

To use, specify a function and one or more packages or package groups. Each section below gives some examples.

For each operation,  downloads the latest package information from the configured repositories. If your system uses a slow network connection yum may require several seconds to download the repository indexes and the header files for each package.

The  utility searches these data files to determine the best set of actions to produce the required result, and displays the transaction for you to approve. The transaction may include the installation, update, or removal of additional packages, in order to resolve software dependencies.

This is an example of the transaction for installing :

============================================================================= Package                Arch       Version          Repository        Size

=
================================================================ Installing: tsclient               i386       0.132-6          base              247 k Installing for dependencies: rdesktop               i386       1.4.0-2          base              107 k

Transaction Summary

=
================================================================ Install     2 Package(s) Update      0 Package(s) Remove      0 Package(s) Total download size: 355 k Is this ok [y/N] :

Example 1. Format of  Transaction Reports

Review the list of changes, and then press [y]  to accept and begin the process. If you press [N]  or [Enter] ,  does not download or change any packages, and will exit.

The  utility also imports the repository public key if it is not already installed on the rpm keyring. For more information on keys and keyrings, you may wish to read the Fedora Security Guide.

This is an example of the public key import:

warning: rpmts_HdrFromFdno: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 4f2a6fd2 public key not available for tsclient-0.132-6.i386.rpm Retrieving GPG key from file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora Importing GPG key 0x4F2A6FD2 "Fedora Project " Is this ok [y/N] :

Example 2. Format of  Public Key Import

Check the public key, and then press [y]  to import the key and authorize the key for use. If you press [N]  or [Enter] ,  stops without installing any packages. Ensure that you trust any key's owner before accepting it.

To ensure that downloaded packages are genuine,  verifies the digital signature of each package against the public key of the provider. Once all of the packages required for the transaction are successfully downloaded and verified,  applies them to your system.

Installing New Software with yum
To install a generic package, enter the command:

Enter the password for the root account when prompted.

To install a package group, enter the command:

Enter the password for the root account when prompted. Examples of package groups include  and.

Updating Software with yum
To update the generic package  to the latest version, type:

Enter the password for the root account when prompted.

To update all of the packages in the package group, enter the command:

Enter the password for the root account when prompted.

Removing Software with yum
To remove software,  examines your system for both the specified software, and any software which claims it as a dependency. The transaction to remove the software deletes both the software and the dependencies.

To remove the generic package  from your system, use the command:

Enter the password for the root account when prompted.

To remove all of the packages in the package group, enter the command:

Enter the password for the root account when prompted.