I have been using Synaptic to maintain Fedora 5. Synaptic is in my view the best RPM maintenance package. Please don't tell me it not supported for Fedora after all in Unix everthing is supported, by us.

Sadly when I upgraded to Fedora 6 the repository list started flaking out and changing all the 5s in the directories didn't help find a repository.

Has someone out there got an Apt/Synaptic configuration for Fedora 6 that mostly works.

I won't say it isn't supported but it is certainly not the preferred/default method for Fedora.

Yum works after you do the install. In fact the first thing I do after install is "yum update" to make sure I've updated the latest packages over what I have on the CDs.

Question would be why are you using Fedora if you prefer apt and similar utilities given that they're the preferred/default for Debian, Ubuntu and other Debian derived distros?

The thing about Unix is that there is no proprietry or fixed utility that you have to use. If an idea is good then users should use it. This is why someone took Apt from Debian and ported it to other Linuxes like Fedora. Someone else believes the product is needed elsewhere.

My personal choice of Linux flavours is Fedora. Mostly I accept the design choices of the distributors but in some instances I find the system needs tweeking.

What I like about Synaptic/Apt above Yum is the ease of
RPM management. The philosophy that says "be completely up to date" is not, in my view, all together wise. I like to upgrade some things leaving some items until I hear that upgrade x is has eliminated bugs or has some new great feature.

With Synaptic the layout table shows at a glance what products are available and what functionality they perform. It also shows in one column what version of a product is installed at present and what upgrade is available.

At the click of a button you can upgrade or remove a product. For me Synaptic is much more convenient to use than Yum.

You can add and remove repositories in the gui and see which repositories are not responding.

I think, one enhancement for Synaptic would be to take it one step further and document in the GUI non RPM software that has been compiled from source and installed. For source code installs it is easy overwrite parts of an RPM install.

All that aside can someone help me out with the repository list.

Well, each to his own.

I would however correct one thing you've said twice now:

Linux is a clone of UNIX but is NOT "UNIX" which you've called it twice now.

Most UNIX variants DO have an expected method of install (e.g. swinstall for HP-UX). Also the big three (AIX, Solaris, HP-UX) run mainly on proprietary RISC chipsets so you typically either have to find a bundle created for your UNIX by someone else or you need to compile it to make it work as most packages are built for x86.

It's true enough that folks like me that have been using UNIX for years don't have much problem with Linux and we tend to think of Linux as just another variant it is important you keep in mind the distinction. Many people in this forum have never worked on "UNIX" though many have.

I have tried synaptic for FC (I did not care for it). The version of synaptic in the yum repos runs off the standard yum repos.

Most of the features you have listed are available in smart. I find it much more stable (on FC) than synaptic. There is also yumex (not my favorite) but is also much more stable (on FC) than synaptic.