Installing RPMs on Suse 9.1
 

I just replaced Mandrake 10 with Suse 9.1 because the iso image became availible. The downside to having one iso image is that my system has very little rpms installed. So, when I tried to install kdevelop 3.3.0's rpm, I got like 10 dependancies needed. So, when I went out and got them they needed dependancies too. So, I have like hundreds of rpms I need to install to get kdevelop installed. Is there an alternative to downloading every single rpm one at a time? I was wondering if there was a installer or something that just goes and installs every rpm availible so I wouldn't have to go through this mess. Well, thanks for any help.

YAST ought to do that for you. It's the official SuSE installer. If you configure it to connect to one of the many SuSE ftp sites it should get everything you need including all the dependencies.

See, that's the thing, I can't find where to configure it so it will go out and get what I need. I went into YAST software settings and I couldn't find it. When I try to install an RPM that needs dependencies that I don't have it just shows warnings saying I need them, and it gives me the option of not installing the RPM or ignoring the errors, there is nothing that says "Go and get them."

On the first screen of YAST there should be an "online update" icon (You'll see a globe in front of a box - can't give you the exact name 'cos I'm running a spanish setup) Yast will try and look for updates, but as this is the first time you do this it won't know where to lokk and'll ask you for the location of the FTP server. You could try ftp.suse.com and tell it to look in the directory /pub/suse/i386/9.1/ or google around for another ftp site.

When you try to install rpm's that are on your hd, yast checks dependencies, adn warns of missing files or conflicts. The reason it doesn't get them for you is you're not doing an online install.

How do you do an online install? I'm not sure what your getting at, I found online update and have choosen an ftp mirror near me.

Once that's configures, you should connect to internet, and in YAST choose the "Install/Uninstall Software" icon. Then in the search window write the name of the program you're looking for. (doesn't have to be a coplete name and if you mark the 'descrition' box you can even look in the programs description to find the app you're looking for. From there on it pretty much speaks for itself.

Have you tried apt? Try here. http://linux01.gwdg.de/apt4rpm
If you follow instructions, it is fairly easy to install. Be careful to follow their guidelines for some repositories, they are unstable and I screwed up SUSE 9, when I tried to install one.
It handles all dependancies and can be used with Synaptic, a GUI for apt.

Yiou can even install apt through YAST....
There is an easier way to get Yast running to find your rpms.
Just start YAst, then go to change installation source, there you can add multiple installation sources (i.e multiple folders in your hard Drive or FTP, HTTP NSF sources) .
If you download rpm frequently and need to get more things working like multimedia, you may want to add a Folder where you can store any new rpms, then you may want to also add an FTP source just like linmix suggested. When you are done, just run add'remove programs with Yast and it should read the rpms you downloaad, the installation CD and the FTP source all at the same time.

Just install whatever you need. Yast will actually let you choose the version you want if you have multiple copies for a given RPM.

I hope this makes sense, otherwise just let me know if you need additional help.