LinuxQuestions.org - Package Dependencies: ORBit & libORBit howto install

It would be easier if you just set up your Software Sources Manager so that you and Mandrake could use the urpmi command or RPMDrake (which is a GUI front-end for URPMI) to install software and download and install all dependencies automatically.

Here's how:

Go to Easy URPMI, and follow the instructions there to add external repositories to your Software Sources Manager. If you're on dial-up, make sure to check the "Use compressed index, much smaller than normal, with less informations" checkbox.

The instruction "Type this in a terminal as root" is performed as follows:

1) Open a terminal.

2) Type su and hit enter.

3) Type the root password at the Password: prompt and hit Enter. The password will not be echoed to the screen, even with stars, so type carefully.

4) If the password was correctly typed, the prompt should change from a "$" which indicates user access, to a "#" which indicates root access. All commands typed into this terminal window from this point on will be performed as if root had requested them. If this does not work (and you have correctly entered the root password), the problem is that the user is not a member of the wheel group; go to the Mandrake User Management tool in the Mandrake Control Center and add the user to that group, then try steps 2 and 3 again.

5) Select and copy one line of output from the Easy URPMI page (from urpmi.addmedia to hdlist.cz or synthesis.hdlist.cz depending on whether you checked the "use compressed index box) and paste that line into the root terminal using CTRL+Shift+V. You should see the repository being added before you are returned to the prompt. Repeat for all repositiores listed in the Easy URPMI Step 3 output.

You should now be able to open RPMDrake (Mandrake Control Center=>Software Management=>RPMDrake (Install Software) and see a great deal of software available for download and installation. You will see even more if you change the filter at the top of the dialog from "Mandrake Choices" (the default) to "All Software by...." (I usually use "by group", but you can choose from several options).

To install any program, check its checkbox, and the program and all dependencies will be downloaded (or pulled off the CDs, which will be requested by Mandrake complete with ejection of your CD tray) and installed. Be warned that large programs with many dependencies will obviously take a long time for you to download if you're on dialup, so keep an eye on the details before clicking the "install" button.

You may also get alarming-looking messages telling you that there was "no public GPG key found", and asking if you want to install anyway; if you are installing from Mandrake mirrors, you can safely install, and get the GPG keys later to stop this message even coming up.

GPG signatures are encryptions on the RPMs to ensure that the file has not been tampered with. The packager signs the final RPM with a private key and with a public key, then makes the public key available to the public (you and me). RPMDrake compares the key on the RPM with the key on your GPG keyring (the little keyring in your system tray when you run the Mandrake Control Center), and gives this error message if the two do not conform (in this case, because you don't have the key on your keyring at all, so RPMDrake has nothing to compare the RPM's key with).

Mandrake's public GPG keys can be found in the /base/ folder of the Mandrake mirror that EasyURPMI gave you as output for Step 3; if you put the url (without the "with synthesis.hdlist.cz" part) into a browser, and go up a level in the FTP site that will be displayed, you will see the /base/ folder. Go into that folder and you will see 3 "pubkey" files; select them and right-click to download them to a safe location. The public key for the PLF repository is right in the folder given in the Easy URPMI output, so you will see it if you type that address into a browser. Download that, too.

Once you have downloaded the keys, open a terminal, su to root (as above) and then use the cd command to browse to the folder that you saved the files to. Then do an ls to display the names of the files in that folder for easy reference for the next step.

Type gpg --import <keyfile_one_name> <keyfile_two_name> <keyfile_three_name> <keyfile_four_name> (that's why we displayed the file list; you should be able to type in the names correctly since you can just look on the terminal screen to see what they are), and hit Enter.

The keys should be added to your keyring, and you should get no more key-related errors when installing software (unless there's really something wrong with the key).

This should save you from "dependency hell", which is chasing individual RPMs over half the world to try to resolve dependencies in the program you're actually trying to install.

Hope this helps.