Gnome-RPM offers a wide selection of choices
for installing and uninstalling packages, documentation and other
features. You can customize Gnome-RPM using
the dialog, which you can access
from =>
on the menu. To make selections in
the dialog, select the boxes
next to the options.
Under the Behaviour tab, you'll find a number of
options for configuring the way Gnome-RPM
installs, uninstalls and upgrades packages. The
Behaviour tab is divided into five sections:
Install Options, Upgrade
Options, Other Options,
Database Options and Architecture
Options. Note that by default these boxes are not selected
(see Figure 18-4).
Under Install Options, you have the following
choices:
No dependency checks — When selected,
this will install or upgrade a package without checking for other
files that the program may depend on in order to work. Unless you
know what you're doing, we strongly suggest that you not use this
option as some packages may depend on other packages in order to
function correctly.
No reordering — This option is useful if
RPM is unable to change the installation
order of some packages to satisfy dependencies.
Don't run scripts — Pre- and post-install
scripts are sequences of commands that are sometimes included in
packages to assist with installation. Selecting this option is
similar to the --noscripts option when installing
packages from the shell prompt.
Under Upgrade Options, you can select the
following:
Allow replacement of packages — Replaces a
package with a new copy of the same package. Similar to the
--replacepkgs option from the shell prompt. This
option can be useful if an installed package has become damaged or
requires repair to function correctly.
Allow replacement of files — Allows the
replacement of files which are owned by another package. The shell
prompt equivalent for this RPM option is
--replacefiles. This option can be useful when
two packages include files that are named the same but contain
different contents.
Allow upgrade to old version — Like the
shell prompt RPM command equivalent
--oldpackage, this option allows you to "upgrade"
to an earlier package. It can be useful if the latest version of a
package doesn't function correctly on your system.
Keep packages made obsolete — Prevents
packages listed in an Obsoletes header from being removed.
In Other Options, you can select:
Don't install documentation — Like
--excludedocs, this option can save on disk space
by excluding documentation such as man pages or other information
related to the package.
Install all files — Installs all files in
the package.
The choices available in Database Options and
Architecture Options allow you to decide, among
other things, whether you want to perform a "test" installation (which
will check for file conflicts without actually performing an install),
or whether you want to exclude packages for other operating systems or
system architectures.
In the Package Listing tab, you'll find a choice of
displays for your packages: either View as icons,
which will be graphically-based, or View as list,
which is not graphical but can provide more information about the
packages.
In Install Window,, you can specify the path where
Gnome-RPM can find new RPMs on your
system. Refer to Figure 18-5 for an example of
this dialog. If you're using your Red Hat Linux CD-ROM, this path will probably
be
If you download new RPMs from the
Internet or want to install RPMs via a NFS-mounted CD-ROM this path will
be different for you.
To change this path, type the full path to the RPMs you'd like to work
with. Choosing the Apply or
OK buttons will save this path, making it the
default path for future sessions. You can also determine the default
path by selecting the Browse… button, and
visually navigating through the RPMPath window.
After changing the install path and closing the dialog box, you can use
the Install button to view the packages available
in the new location.
(If the path for your RPMs doesn't match the default path in your
preferences, you'll be presented with a window for browsing through your
filesystem, which will allow you to select the correct path for your new RPMs.)
Under Package Colours, you'll find color coding for
packages. The default setting for older packages is gray; for current
packages, the color is green; for newer packages than those installed,
the color is blue. These color values can be customized to suit your
needs.
The RPM Directories field contains a list of
default locations where Gnome-RPM will search
for packages.
In the Network tab, you have the ability to specify
proxies for use with HTTP and FTP transfers, as well as user and
password names (see Figure 18-6). Note,
however, that the password will not be stored securely.
In the Cache expire field, you can set the length
of time before data from the rpmfind database
is considered to be out of date.
In Rpmfind and Distributions,
you'll find settings and options which correspond to the Web
find feature.
The Rpmfind system was devised by Daniel
Veillard, and allows the user to search the Internet for packages by
name, summary, architecture and more (see Figure 18-7). The user is then given the option of
downloading and installing the most appropriate packages for their
system. To learn more about Rpmfind, go to
http://rpmfind.net/.
The Metadata server sets the server to be used for
searches. The Download dir: entry allows you to
specify where you want the files to be placed.
You can also specify the vendor, distribution name and whether to find
sources and/or the latest files.
In Distribution Settings, you can set the options
for choosing the most appropriate package out of the selections
Rpmfind returns, as well as which mirror you
would like to use. The higher the rating you indicate for your selection
(as shown in Figure 18-8), the higher the
priority it will receive; a lower rating (such as "-1") will specify
that packages not be recommended.
