Dear Friends,

I have just installed CentOS on my system. Previously I have never used it. I need help to learn CentOS. Thats why I have started this new Thread.

In Windows we had Add/Remove Programs option for installing and uninstalling the software. Do we have any such facilty in CentOS.

I just wanted to Remove openoffice 2.0 and install openoffice 3.0.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Anagha

I think you might have rpm package manager.
type
man rpm
in console for more help.

In CentOS you have Add/Remove Software under the menu Applications. Usually you have to be connected to internet to install a software, since Linux retrieves packages from online repositories (unless you enable the source DVD media as repository). By default you have a lot of packages available from the main CentOS repository, but you can find a lot more if you install some additional repository, especially for multimedia applications. More details and instruction here. I suggest at least the RPMForge repository.

Regarding OpenOffice you can uninstall using Add/Remove Software, but you will not find the new version to install, since CentOS has not been released an official package, yet. However, you can download the new version from the OpenOffice site. You have to download the Linux RPM version (or Linux 64 RPM if you have a 64-bit machine and operating system). To do that you will have to type some commands in a terminal (basically the yum command).

I have to wonder though, OpenOffice on CentOS won't be as upto date as if you were running Fedora for example. CentOS is built to be stable so all of its programs are likely to be slightly older.

Also, make sure you're running the latest version, CentOS 5.3 as this will have the most recent packages.

When I am clicking on Add/Remove Software i am getting following error:

Component: Software Manager
Summary: TB01121813 yumRepo.py:1120:_getRepoXML:RepoError: Cannot retrieve repository metadata (repomd.xml) for repository: base. Please verify its path and try again

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/sbin/pirut", line 453, in ?
main()
File "/usr/sbin/pirut", line 446, in main
pm = PackageManager(options.config)
File "/usr/sbin/pirut", line 60, in __init__
GraphicalYumBase.__init__(self, False, config)
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/pirut/__init__.py", line 125, in __init__
self.reset()
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/pirut/__init__.py", line 134, in reset
self.doTsSetup()
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/depsolve.py", line 86, in doTsSetup
return self._getTs()
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/depsolve.py", line 101, in _getTs
self._getTsInfo(remove_only)
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/depsolve.py", line 112, in _getTsInfo
pkgSack = self.pkgSack
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/__init__.py", line 591, in <lambda>
pkgSack = property(fget=lambda self: self._getSacks(),
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/__init__.py", line 434, in _getSacks
self.repos.populateSack(which=repos)
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/repos.py", line 251, in populateSack
sack.populate(repo, mdtype, callback, cacheonly)
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/yumRepo.py", line 159, in populate
if self._check_db_version(repo, mydbtype):
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/yumRepo.py", line 216, in _check_db_version
return repo._check_db_version(mdtype)
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/yumRepo.py", line 966, in _check_db_version
repoXML = self.repoXML
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/yumRepo.py", line 1124, in <lambda>
repoXML = property(fget=lambda self: self._getRepoXML(),
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/yumRepo.py", line 1120, in _getRepoXML
raise Errors.RepoError, msg
RepoError: Cannot retrieve repository metadata (repomd.xml) for repository: base. Please verify its path and try again

Local variables in innermost frame:
msg: Cannot retrieve repository metadata (repomd.xml) for repository: base. Please verify its path and try again
self: base
e: failure: repodata/repomd.xml from base: [Errno 256] No more mirrors to try.

can u help to solve this problem.

Thanks in advance

Please post the output of these commands:

Following are the output of the commands:

[root@localhost ~]# uname -a
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.18-8.el5 #1 SMP Thu Mar 15 19:57:35 EDT 2007 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
[root@localhost ~]# lsb_release -a
LSB Version: :core-3.1-ia32:core-3.1-noarch:graphics-3.1-ia32:graphics-3.1-noarch
Distributor ID: CentOS
Description: CentOS release 5 (Final)
Release: 5
Codename: Final
[root@localhost ~]# cat /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo
# CentOS-Base.repo
#
# This file uses a new mirrorlist system developed by Lance Davis for CentOS.
# The mirror system uses the connecting IP address of the client and the
# update status of each mirror to pick mirrors that are updated to and
# geographically close to the client. You should use this for CentOS updates
# unless you are manually picking other mirrors.
#
# If the mirrorlist= does not work for you, as a fall back you can try the
# remarked out baseurl= line instead.
#
#

[base]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Base
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=os
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/os/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5

#released updates
[updates]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Updates
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=updates
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/updates/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5

#packages used/produced in the build but not released
[addons]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Addons
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=addons
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/addons/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5

#additional packages that may be useful
[extras]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Extras
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=extras
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/extras/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5

#additional packages that extend functionality of existing packages
[centosplus]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Plus
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=centosplus
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/centosplus/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=0
gpgkey=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5

#contrib - packages by Centos Users
[contrib]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Contrib
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=contrib
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/contrib/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=0
gpgkey=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5
[root@localhost ~]#

It seems correct, anyway you can try to change /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo, switching comments in the mirrorlist and baseurl lines (just in the base repository):
Then give yum another try.

That CentOS is outdated, is there no option to upgrade?

a "yum update" should update it from 5.0 to 5.3,
at least mine did it (albeit from 5.2. to 5.3)

CentOS 5.3 comes with OpenOffice 2.3

If you want the newest OpenOffice, 3.1, I suggest you read through this link here:
http://resa.linux-hardcore.com/?p=154

I recently did exactly the same, that's where I found that page there.
Got 3.1 easily running on CentOS 5.3 now.

The Output of yum update is as follow :

yum update
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, priorities
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
* epel: ftp.jaist.ac.jp
* rpmfusion-nonfree-updates-testing: astromirror.uchicago.edu
* rpmfusion-nonfree-updates: astromirror.uchicago.edu
* rpmfusion-free-updates-testing: astromirror.uchicago.edu
* rpmforge: apt.sw.be
* rpmfusion-free-updates: astromirror.uchicago.edu
* base: ftp.oss.eznetsols.org
* updates: ftp.oss.eznetsols.org
* extras: ftp.oss.eznetsols.org
* addons: ftp.oss.eznetsols.org
http://ftp.jaist.ac.jp/pub/Linux/Fed...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 4] IOError: <urlopen error (-3, 'Temporary failure in name resolution')>
Trying other mirror.
http://ftp.kddilabs.jp/Linux/package...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 4] IOError: <urlopen error (-3, 'Temporary failure in name resolution')>
Trying other mirror.
http://ftp.rhd.ru/pub/epel/5/i386/repodata/repomd.xml: [Errno 4] IOError: <urlopen error (-3, 'Temporary failure in name resolution')>
Trying other mirror.
http://ftp.riken.jp/Linux/fedora/epe...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 4] IOError: <urlopen error (-3, 'Temporary failure in name resolution')>
Trying other mirror.
http://ftp.yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp/pub/l...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 4] IOError: <urlopen error (-3, 'Temporary failure in name resolution')>
Trying other mirror.
http://mirror.yandex.ru/epel/5/i386/...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 4] IOError: <urlopen error (-3, 'Temporary failure in name resolution')>
Trying other mirror.
Error: Cannot retrieve repository metadata (repomd.xml) for repository: epel. Please verify its path and try again

Still I am not able to use yum command.

Until you get updated to 5.3, I would shut off all the repos except for base(change enable =1 to enable=0 for the non base repo files).

can u tell me anyother method to upgrade to CentoOS 5.3?

You want to do yum upgrade not yum update.

For Centos the upgrade/update argument is moot. Centos only supports the most current point version 5.X, 4.X, etc(when 5.3 came out support was dropped for 5.2).

You could download the Centos 5.3 DVD/cd.