Installing KDE in Solaris9
 

I've just installed Solaris 9 (x86) and have just about finished tweaking it to my liking. I'd like to install KDE and a few other apps, like XMMS and Quanta, though, and I was wondering where I should download the packages from.

The companion CD seems to include KDE 3.1.1a and at least XMMS 1.2.8, but Blastwave.org offers KDE 3.2.3, XMMS 1.2.10 and Quanta.

The computer isn't connected to the Internet, so a mere 'pkg-get install kde-gcc' won't do, I need to download the packages and install them locally. What do you suggest, going with the Software Companion CD or attempting to configure pkg-get to use local files?

Without an Internet connection, I would buy the blastwave DVD for $20
http://www.blastwave.org/dvd/index.html

I would, too, but a trip to Germany doesn't fit my itinerary. :) So I'll have to come up with something else.

The pkg-get homepage (http://www.bolthole.com/solaris/pkg-get.html) said:
...but it didn't give any further information. Does this need an actual server or will it work with a local directory?

Germany ?? blastwave is located in Ontario, Canada, and ships to the US (I'm assuming you are in the US as you didn't fill your Location field, but I'm probably wrong ...).

I haven't look about how to configure it for local copy, but pkg-get allows to download a package without installing it, so you can move the file to your machine and install it normally. Unfortunately, this is defeating the automatic dependency feature.

May be the real problem is why isn't your Solaris PC connected to the Internet !

Not in USA - the closest place they ship (unless I've misunderstood something) is Germany. I'm stuck with an old winmodem until I get a broadband connection going, so yeah, that is the problem.

Oh, and just to check I haven't missed the obvious, installing packages with pkg-add will screw up pkg-get dependencies, won't it?

Pkgadd won't screw-up dependancies.
The only issue is that it can only tell you that you some packages are missing, in such case, instead of downloading them automatically, and won't tell you more than first level dependancies, so it can be a burden to install complex applications.

In case anyone else is interested, the way to install Solaris packages (from Blastwave.org) without a network is:

• Download and install pkg-get (pkgadd -d pkg_get.pkg)
• Set PATH variable as described in the User Guide
• Download packages (the actual package and missing dependencies, see the package listing) and both catalog and descriptions files (see the mirror list for locations)
• Save packages to pkgdir/i386/5.9/ (assuming you are using Solaris 9 on an i386 system - pkgdir can be any local directory, like /tmp/pkgs, for instance)
• Use pkg-get -s file://pkgdir install package (where pkgdir and package are substituted with the the pkgdir you used before - without the /i386/5.9/ - and the package name)

Installed XMMS, Nethack and Nano (all you really need, isn't it? ;)) to test it, not as arduous as you'd think.

Thanks for your help, jlliagre.