packages and /

[JAGwar1803]

i am having so much trouble instaling packages
first of all the self installing ones
they ask for the root password i give it
then it does the preparing system update thing
then after its done i cant find what ive installed
the only one of those i got to work was aim and yahoo messanger
then there are the ones the want me to put them it ./ but thats locked
the only place that it will let me put files into that i have found is ./home/jason
i am runing rh9
i am so lost

[Sterling]

The only thing I can think that you could do differently is actually run the install as root. I am by no means an expert in linux, as you can tell from my response, but I think there is a way to change the permissions so you can run slashdot commands. Anyway, if I was of any help, don't thank me; if I wasn't, don't tell me.

[Hellmasker]

by self installing packages i guess u mean .rpm's? unless they return some sort of error they have installed just fine. The reason u probably cant find them is the way linux stores programs. instead of a directory for each program it put all the executables in /bin or /usr/bin. both if which are automatically searched when u type in a command at a terminal.

I might have missed somethign here, are u trying to fidn them in the k/gnome menus? this is package dependant whether they put themselves on here. if they dont, run kmenuedit and put them in.

./ refers to the current directory (. being self and / being directory) if u are already in /home/jason (cd /home/jason) or anywhere else u have rights this will work fine. I woudl gues this is for when it asks u to run things like ./congure right? simplest way is just to run these as root. note: dont unzip things to the / directory. put them in /home/somewhere to avoid cluttering up your / drive which could cause u problems later.

[JAGwar1803]

what comand do i trype

[xylex_blaiste]

when you have to upgrade or install packages that didn't originally come with the distro, you can't do it throught the gui install that i suppose you are using (w/c is found in the main menu, under system settings) it's selfish. hehehe...

just use a shell - like bash - or whatever your default shell is. then run the rpm command. you can learn more about this by reading the manual for rpm. find it using Help that you see on your main menu, or at the shell by typing 'man rpm'.

[andutt]

A litte fast howto...

To install package: rpm -ivh <package name>
To uninstall package: rpm -e <packagename>
To upgrade current installed packages :rpm -Fvh <packagename>
To upgrade if exist or install if not exist: rpm -Uvh <packagename>
Which packages have i installed already??: rpm -qa

[xylex_blaiste]

use the tab key in case you find it hard to type those pretty long package names. linux/rpm packages have a knack for this - riddled with dashes, dots and alphanumeric combos...

just type in the leading letters of the package name, hit the tab key and you should get that file name done if you're lucky that these filenames don't sound the same...