Configuration

Configuration

10.4 Configuration

GnoRPM offers a wide selection of choices for installing and uninstalling packages, documentation and other features. You can customize GnoRPM through the Preferences dialog, which you can access from Operations -> Preferences on the menu. To make selections in the Preferences dialog, select the check boxes next to the options.

Under the Behavior tab, you'll find a number of options for configuring the way GnoRPM installs, uninstalls and upgrades packages. The Behavior tab is split into five sections: Install, Upgrade, Other, Database and Architecture. Note that by default these boxes not checked.

Under Install Options, you have the following choices:

No dependency checks - When selected, this will install or upgrade a package without checking for other types of files on which the program may be dependent in order to work. However, unless you know what you're doing we strongly suggest you not use this option as some packages may depend on other packages for files, libraries or programs to function correctly.
No reordering - This option is useful if RPM is unable to change the installation order of some packages to satisfy dependencies.
Don't run scripts - Pre- and post-install scripts are sequences of commands that are sometimes included in packages to assist with installation. This check box is similar to the --noscripts option when installing from the shell prompt.

Under Upgrade Options, you can select the following:

Allow replacement of packages - Replaces a package with a new copy of itself. Similar to the --replacepkgs option from the shell prompt. This option can be useful if an already-installed package has become damaged or may require other repair to function correctly.
Allow replacement of files - Allows the replacement of files which are owned by another package. The shell prompt equivalent for this RPM option is --replacefiles. This option can sometimes be useful when there are two packages with the same file name but different contents.
Allow upgrade to old version - Like the shell prompt RPM option equivalent --oldpackage, this option allows you to ``upgrade'' to an earlier package. It can sometimes be useful if the latest version of a package doesn't function correctly for your system.
Keep packages made obsolete - Prevents packages listed in an Obsoletes header from being removed.

In Other Options, you can select:

Don't install documentation - Like --excludedocs, this option can save on disk space by excluding documentation such as man pages or other information related to the package.
Install all files - Installs all files in the package.

The choices available in Database Options and Architecture Options allow you to decide, among other things, whether you want to perform a ``test'' installation (which will check for file conflicts without actually performing an install), or whether you want to exclude packages for other operating systems or system architectures.

In the Interface tab, you'll find a choice of displays for your packages: either as icons, which will be graphically-based, or as a list, which is not graphical but can provide more information about the packages.

Beneath these choices, you can specify the path through which GnoRPM can find new RPMs on your system. When you're using your Red Hat Linux CD-ROM, this will probably be

/mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS

which is set as the default path for GnoRPM. If you download new RPMs from the Internet or want to install RPMs via a NFS mounted CD-ROM this path will be different for you.

Figure 127: Interface Window

To change this path, type the full path to the RPMs you'd like to work with. Choosing the Apply or OK buttons will save this path, making it the default for future sessions.

After changing this path and closing the dialog box, you can use the Install button to view the packages available in the new location.

Optionally, if the path for your RPMs doesn't match the default path in your preferences, you'll be presented with a browser window, which will allow you to select the correct path for your new RPMs.

In addition to using the file dialog to add files to your install list, you can ``drag'' files from the GNOME Midnight Commander File Manager to add them to the list.

In the Rpmfind tab, you'll find settings and options which correspond to the Web find feature. The Metadata server sets the server to be used for searches. The Download dir: entry allows you to specify where you want the files to be stored. The Local Hostname: entry allows you to set your hostname (so that Rpmfind can guess the closest mirror).

Additionally, you can specify the vendor, distribution name and whether to find sources and/or the latest files.

Figure 128: Distribution Settings in Preferences

In the Distribution Settings tab, you can set the options for choosing the most appropriate package out of the selections Rpmfind returns, as well as which mirror you would like to use. The higher the rating you indicate for your selection (as shown in Figure 128) the higher the priority it will receive; the lower rating, such as -1, will specify that packages not be recommended.