LinuxQuestions.org - [Mandrake] Post-installation and configuration thread

found this while looking for apt-get replacement
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Courtesy of Zeb @ rage3d
see original thread Here
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Hello !
I have created this mini-howto not to explain how to install the Mandrake distribution (there is enough documentation about it), but the things to do just after the installation, in order to setup the software installer, to watch for DVDs, to encode DVDs, etc... very quickly with the urpmi management system.
I thought it may interest people here. It is intended for newbies, and uses specifically Mandrake softwares, like urpmi in the console or rpmdrake, its GUI
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URPMI/RPMDRAKE : THE FIRST THING TO CONFIGURE !

The Mandrake distribution contains about 2000 softwares, as rpm packages, on CD or on FTP servers, like the "contrib" rpms (additional official packages that are located on the distribution mirrors), or like the PLF depository, that contains packages necessary for reading DVDs. Thus it is not necessary to compile again softwares that are already available as binary rpms.

urpmi is the rpm installer and manager on Mandrake. urpmi takes care of dependencies between rpms, using a pool (or pools) of rpms. This very powerful tool is able to download, update and install rpms just by knowing their name. It can also update automatically the entire system.

The first thing to do after installing a Mandrake distribution is to configure the urpmi sources : they are the servers (FTP or HTTP) and sometimes any CD that you have burnt rpm files to. The sources are thus very flexible : they can be local, removable or distant sources.

urpmi is a console command. However, a GUI, called Rpmdrake, is available here : Mandrake control center -> Program manager. Examples showing how to use Rpmdrake can be found here : http://www.trylinuxsd.com. However, using console commands is easy and fast.

1) Configuring the sources

Go to the web page (with any browser): http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon

First, choose your distribution. 9.1 is the latest stable version, "cooker" is the developement version. Do not use cooker packages on a 9.1 distribution.

The three necessary sources you need are :

Source contrib
Source PLF
Source updates

Note : the "contrib" mirror is only necessary if you use the 3 CD downloadable (GPL) distribution. You do NOT need it if you have a Powerpack.
Choose for each one the closest mirror, and click on Send. Then you just need to copy/paste the urpmi.addmedia lines that have been generated on the bottom of the page.

Exemple with USA mirrors :

Code:

 urpmi.addmedia contrib ftp://ftp.stealth.net/pub/mirrors/ft.../contrib/RPMS/ with ../../i586/Mandrake/base/hdlist2.cz

urpmi.addmedia plf ftp://plf.chem.yorku.ca/pub/plf/9.0 with hdlist.cz

urpmi.addmedia --update updates ftp://ftp.stealth.net/pub/mirrors/ft...ates/9.0/RPMS/ with ../base/hdlist.cz

(each urpmi.addmedia command is ONE whole line).

2) Installing/Removing softwares

Install

urpmi name_of_software

name_of_software : is the name of the rpm but WITHOUT any version number nor i586.rpm extensions.
e.g. : urpmi flightgear installs the « contrib » rpm flightgear-0.8.0-1mdk.i586.rpm

Frequently, urpmi asks for installing several rpms, although you just ask for installing only one. This is normal AND great ! urpmi solves dependances : these are rpms that are needed for the correct function of another rpm (like libraries). Then it downloads and installs every rpm that is necessary for the correct setup.

Note : sometimes, urpmi may complain before installing a package, displaying that the package does not contain a valid signature (e.g. for PLF rpms). You may install anyway without harm. Or better would be to import the GPG key used to sign the packages. For PLF packages, the GPG key can be imported by typing in console that command :

Code:

links -source http://plf.zarb.org/plf.asc | gpg --import

3) Updating the sources

Regularly, you need to update the source depositories. The rpm packages that are in distant FTP servers may change, be added, removed or updated. urpmi needs to be informed of these changes, because it just saves the list of available rpms. Once a week, or in particular, if you obtain errors when you want to install a package (it means it has been replaced by an updated package with a different version number) update the base with that command :

Code:

urpmi.update --all

Note : this is not a system update, but just an update of the urpm base list. The system update is explained below

4) System update

The official system update source is a source (almost) like the others. It has the name updates or update_source.
After having updated the urpm base list (see 3), you can type in console :

Code:

urpmi --auto-select

The system then chooses automatically the rpm packages to update if a new version is available. This concerns every packages from every source. The only exception is the update of the kernel, that is updated with the "urpmi kernel" command. Updating the kernel is explained here : http://www.mandrakesecure.net/en/kernelupdate.php

5) Rpmdrake : urpmi without using the console

Rpmdrake is a graphical frontend for urpmi. What you can with Rpmdrake is exactly equivalent to urpmi commands you may use in a console : configuring the sources, updating them, updating the system (MandrakeUpdate), installing, removing softwares. The advantage of the GUI is its friendly interface to search for rpms with keywords. "flightsimulator" will return flightgear.
http://www.trylinuxsd.com shows graphically how to use the Rpmdrake interface.

Examples

- playing encrypted DVD and support for navigation menu in Xine

Note : Xine has been updated in the official updates or in PLF, do a 'urpmi xine-ui libxine1' (after adding the updates sources as explained in 1) before installing these rpms. It is necessary to do it otherwise, xine crashes at start.

Code:

urpmi libdvdcss2

urpmi xine-dvdnav

- Plugins support in Xine

Code:

urpmi xine-plugins

- installing the multimedia player MPlayer

Code:

urpmi mplayer

- installing the keramik theme for KDE

Code:

urpmi kdemoreartwork-keramik

- installing stuff to encode DVD to the mpeg4 format (DivX)

Code:

urpmi transcode ogmtools

That's as simple as it is ! Everything which is needed is downloaded and installed.

After installation, the software appears in the menu K (or Gnome, or other Desktop) Exceptionally you need to type "update-menus" in a console before finding them in the menu.

6) Finding a software

To find a rpm using the name oir partial name of a software :

Code:

urpmq name_of_software

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Courtesy of Zeb @ rage3d
see original thread Here