Package management and softwares on RHEL 5.2

phenixx · 07-17-2009, 01:37 PM

Hi.. I am a newbie to Redhat.
I was (and still) using Debian.
Recently, I had to install RHEL 5.2 for my project work.

Since i'm used to Debian, i find certain things in redhat, difficult to get along with..

The first thing is package management.
I find it hard to look for packages and install them.

When i use "Add/Remove Software" from Applications menu, i do not find required packages. Can anyone suggest me the proper repositories to be included? And how to include them (like /etc/apt/sources.list in Debian) ?
When i try to use "rpm" on command line, to install ".rpm" files, it lists some dependencies, which i dont know, where to get them from.

When i type "yum install <package_name>", it says,

Code:

Loading "security" plugin
Loading "rhnplugin" plugin
This system is not registered with RHN.
RHN support will be disabled.
Setting up Install Process
Parsing package install arguments
No package pidgin available.
Nothing to do

I skipped the registration step, while installing RHEL 5.2, since i do not have the installation number. (I used a DVD from my friend to install it)

Next thing is softwares.
I couldn't find even rhythmbox (or any mp3 player, avi player) preinstalled!!
Nor could i find instant messengers, like pidgin

After some struggle, i installed RealPlayer and its fine.
At present, i need to install openoffice and pidgin. Any help regarding this too, is welcome

unSpawn · 07-17-2009, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phenixx

I skipped the registration step, while installing RHEL 5.2, since i do not have the installation number. (I used a DVD from my friend to install it)

I suggest you install Centos 5.2 (5.3 being current) if you want a RHEL-compliant system. You'll find it's basically the same just without branding or support. Most repos like RPMForge/DAG have their own repo-name.rpm you can install to acces them. You'll find Yum works out of the box, rhythmbox is available, pidgin, openoffice too and a host of other applications (RPMForge nearing 10K).

lazlow · 07-17-2009, 02:26 PM

What unSpawn did not mention is that in order to access RH's repos you HAVE to register. RHEL (and most RH based distros) will not have ANY proprietary parts in their BASE repo (liability issues). Along with RPMForge there is ATrpms and Epel, while rpmfusion(livna) is great for Fedora it is basically empty for RHEL/Centos.

For GUI based package management yumex(yum extender) is very popular. However I personally prefer smart package manager(listed as smart in repos).

phenixx · 07-18-2009, 01:46 PM

Thanks for the replies..

Quote:

Originally Posted by unSpawn

rhythmbox is available, pidgin, openoffice too and a host of other applications (RPMForge nearing 10K).

Added RPMForge repo.
When i tried to install rhythmbox,

Code:

Missing Dependency: libgstreamer-0.8.so.1 is needed by package rhythmbox
Missing Dependency: libFLAC.so.4 is needed by package rhythmbox
Missing Dependency: libgstgconf-0.8.so.0 is needed by package rhythmbox
Missing Dependency: libgstcontrol-0.8.so.1 is needed by package rhythmbox

Where should i look for these dependencies ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazlow

Along with RPMForge there is ATrpms and Epel...
For GUI based package management yumex(yum extender) is very popular. However I personally prefer smart package manager(listed as smart in repos).

Will try them..

lazlow · 07-18-2009, 02:38 PM

You CANNOT just run third party repos you need a base repo too. The third party repos will not provide rpms that are already in the base repo. In this example the gstreamer rpm is in the base repo. So you either need to pay for a RHEL subscription or switch to Centos.

phenixx · 07-18-2009, 03:05 PM

Thank you lazlow for the clarification..

exkor5000 · 07-18-2009, 04:46 PM

You can compile these dependencies separately from source I don't see any problem here... eg:

Code:

./configure; make; make install

That will be the best installation method (Gentoo is based on such approach), however it will take you more time and it is less organized then package management such as RPM, DEB, TGZ...etc. Moreover, it is somewhat a contradiction to systems such as RedHat where the main drive is for tools abstracting the lower mechanics. However, it is a possible if you want to go that way, and that's what I do with RHEL except that I make RPMs to make life easier.