To make your...


To make your way around the graphical YaST interface, you need only to click the mouse and use the Tab key to move between fields. For the text-based YaST interface, you can use the Tab and arrow keys to move among the selections and the Enter key to select the currently highlighted item.


RPM Package Management


Like Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora, SUSE packages its software using the RPM package management file format and related tools. RPM contains a lot of features for adding, removing, and managing software in SUSE. Although software packages in the Red Hat and SUSE distributions are different, the tools you use for managing packages in those two distributions are the same.


You use the rpm utility to work with RPM software packages. Here's a list of some of its features: Installing local or remote packages - You can use the rpm command to add a software package to SUSE, and rpm doesn't care if the package is in the local directory, CD, or remote computer (provided you have network access to that computer). A remote package can be available on a Web server (http://) or FTP server (ftp://). Here's an example of using an rpm command to install a software package from an FTP server:
# rpm -iv ftp://ftp.linuxtoys·net/pub/suse/10.2/abc.i586.rpm


In this example, the -i option says to install the package, and the -v option says to give verbose output as the package is installed. The fictitious package (abc.i586.rpm) is installed from an FTP repository. If there are dependency or access issues, rpm informs you and fails. Otherwise, the package is installed. (The -U option is often used instead of the -i option to install RPMs because -U succeeds even if the package is already installed. The -U says to upgrade the package.)


Querying the RPM database -- One of the best features of the RPM facility is that you can find out a lot of information about the software packages that are installed. The query option (-q) lets you list package names, descriptions, and contents in various ways. Here are a few examples:
# rpm -qa xmms
# rpm -ql xmms | less
# rpm -qi xmms | less