Installing RPM Software
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In This Chapter
Where To Get Commonly Used RPMs
How to Easily Access CD RPMs With Automount
Downloading RPMS To Your Linux Box
Getting RPMs Using Web Based FTP
Getting RPMs Using Command Line Anonymous FTP
© Peter Harrison, www.linuxhomenetworking.com
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A lot of Linux system software is available using RPM packages for default Linux installs, and source RPMs for non standard installations. As the procedure for installing source RPMs involves compiling source code, they more easily installed across a wide variety of Linux flavors, thereby making life easier for the software developer who wrote the package.
Where To Get Commonly Used RPMs
Here are three commonly used sources for RPMs:
RPMs On Your Installation CDs
This is usually easier than having to download files from a remote website. See the section about using Automount to easily access your CDROM drive to obtain RPM files.
RPMs Downloaded From Redhat
Advanced searches for all versions of RedHat can be done using this web link:
http://www.redhat.com/apps/download/advanced_search.html
RedHat also has a highly used FTP site, ftp.redhat.com, start your search in the /pub/redhat/linux/ directory and move down the directory tree. If you’re new to FTP, don’t worry, FTP downloading it’ll be explained later.
RPMs Downloaded From Speakeasy
RedHat only has their approved software on their site. A good general purpose source is RPMfind. Always remember to select the RPM that matches your version of Linux
How to Easily Access CD RPMs With Automount
Using the Linux installation CDs is usually easier, though you run the risk of some of the packages being obsolete due to newer releases on the RedHat website.
It is usually simplest to configure your system to Automount your CDROM. This makes the files on it immediately accessible whenever you access it without having to use the "mount" command. This will make your Linux system act more like Windows.
· Autofs is the package that supports Automount is installed by default with newer versions of RedHat Linux. You can check this using the following commands.
[root@bigboy tmp]# rpm -qa | grep autofs
autofs-3.1.7-33
[root@bigboy tmp]#
· You can then ensure that it runs when the system boots using the chkconfig command.
[root@bigboy tmp]# chkconfig --level 345 autofs on
[root@bigboy tmp]#
· There are two automount configuration files in /etc, one called auto.master and the other called auto.misc. My auto.master looks like this:
/misc /etc/auto.misc
--timeout 60
The default version of this file normally has this line commented out so you’ll have to remove the "#" at the beginning of the line for the configuration to take effect when autofs is restarted. The first entry is not the mount point. It's where the set of autofs mount points will be. The second entry is a reference to the default map file /etc/auto.misc and the third option says that the mounted filesystems will automatically unmount themselves 60 seconds after use.
· Edit your auto.misc file to include the CDROM. It should have an entry like this.
cdrom -fstype=iso9660,ro,nosuid,nodev :/dev/cdrom
You'll find other entries such as "floppy" and "zip" commented out with a "#". If you need them, just delete the "#". The first column (the "key") is the mount point under directory /misc, so in this case you'll be doing auto mounting when you access /misc/cdrom.
Note: some versions of linux may refer to the CDROM drive in auto.misc as just cd and not cdrom as in the example above. In this case, you may have to find yourself referring to your automounting CDROM as /misc/cd instead.
· Restart autofs.
[root@bigboy tmp]# /etc/init.d/autofs restart
Stopping automount:[ OK ]
Starting automount:[ OK ]
[root@bigboy tmp]#
· Insert the CDROM and take a look at the contents. Nothing will appear in /misc at first as the automounting isn’t triggered until you actually access the CDROM drive.
[root@rahtid root]# ll /misc
total 0
[root@rahtid root]#
We access the drive, and everything appears.
[root@bigboy tmp]# ll /misc/cdrom
total 113
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 2048 Sep 15 1999 BonusChapter
dr-xr-xr-x 8 root root 2048 Sep 15 1999 stage
dr-xr-xr-x 3 root root 2048 Sep 15 1999 Translations
[root@bigboy tmp]#
· When finished, eject the CDROM
[root@bigboy tmp]# eject cdrom
Downloading RPMS To Your Linux Box
For casual searching and installing, I recommend using the http links above. If you are doing industrial strength stuff, then use a real FTP client such as (WSFTP or CuteFTP for GUI) or the command line.
Getting RPMs Using Web Based FTP
Let’s say you are running RedHat 8.0 and need to download an RPM for the DHCP server.
RedHat
· Use your web browser to go to the RedHat link above
· Type in dhcp in the search box
· Click the search button
· Scroll down for the RPM you need for the DHCP server
· Click on the appropriate "download" link
· Click on the FTP link
· Save the file to Linux box's hard drive
Speakeasy
· Go to the Speakeasy link
· Type in dhcp in the search box
· Click the search button
· Scroll down for the RPM that matches your version of RedHat
· The right hand column has the links with the actual names of the rpm files
· Click the link
· Save the file to Linux box's hard drive
It is best to download RPMs to a directory named "RPM", so you can find them later.
Getting RPMs Using Command Line Anonymous FTP
The Web based method above transparently uses anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Anonymous FTP allows you to log in and download files from a FTP server using the username “anonymous” and a password that matches your email address. This way anyone can access the data.
· Let's try to FTP the SSH package from ftp.redhat.com
[root@bigboy tmp]# ftp ftp.redhat.com
Trying 66.77.185.38...
Connected to ftp.redhat.com (66.77.185.38).
220 Red Hat FTP server ready. All transfers are logged.
Name (ftp.redhat.com:root): anonymous
331 Please specify the password.
Password:
230 Login successful. Have fun.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> ls
227 Entering Passive Mode (66,77,185,38,50,122)
150 Here comes the directory listing.
drwxr-xr-x 5 0 0 4096 Jun 09 04:20 pub
226 Directory send OK.
ftp>
· Let's see the available help commands
ftp> help
Commands may be abbreviated. Commands are:
|
! $ account append ascii bell binary bye case cd cdup chmod close cr delete |
debug dir disconnect exit form get glob hash help idle image lcd ls macdef Mdelete |
mdir mget mkdir mls mode modtime mput newer nmap nlist ntrans open prompt passive proxy |
sendport put pwd quit quote recv reget rstatus rhelp rename reset restart rmdir runique send |
site size status struct system sunique tenex tick trace type user umask verbose ? |
ftp>
· The commands you'll most likely use are:
FTP Commands
|
Command |
Description |
|
binary |
Copy files in binary mode |
|
cd |
Change directory on the FTP server |
|
dir |
List the names of the files in the current remote directory |
|
exit |
Bye bye |
|
get |
Get a file from the FTP server |
|
lcd |
Change the directory on the local machine |
|
ls |
Same as dir |
|
mget |
Same as get, but you can use wildcards like "*" |
|
mput |
Same as put, but you can use wildcards like "*" |
|
Make the file transfer passive mode |
|
|
put |
Put a file from the local machine onto the FTP server |
|
pwd |
Give the directory name on the local machine |
· By using the search feature on the website ahead of time, I know that the RedHat 8.0RPMs are located in the pub/redhat/linux/8.0/en/os/i386/RedHat/RPMS directory.
ftp> cd pub/redhat/linux/8.0/en/os/i386/RedHat/RPMS
250 Directory successfully changed.
ftp> ls open*
227 Entering Passive Mode (66,77,185,38,45,180)
150 Here comes the directory listing.
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 11191 Sep 03 21:32 open-1.4-16.i386.rpm
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 2006950 Sep 03 21:32 openh323-1.9.3-4.i386.rpm
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 256971 Sep 03 21:32
openh323-devel-1.9.3-4.i386.rpm
...
...
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 217326 Sep 03 21:33 openssh-3.4p1-2.i386.rpm
...
...
226 Directory send OK.
ftp>
· Get the file we need and place it in the local directory /usr/rpm. Also print "#" hash signs on the screen during the download.
ftp> hash
Hash mark printing on (1024 bytes/hash mark).
ftp> lcd /usr/rpm
Local directory now /usr/rpm
ftp>
ftp> get openssh-3.4p1-2.i386.rpm
local: openssh-3.4p1-2.i386.rpm remote: openssh-3.4p1-2.i386.rpm
227 Entering Passive Mode (66,77,185,38,57,102)
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for openssh-3.4p1-2.i386.rpm (217326
bytes).
#####################################################################
#####################################################################
####################################################################
226 File send OK.
217326 bytes received in 87.7 secs (2.4 Kbytes/sec)
ftp>
· Bye bye
ftp> exit
221 Goodbye.
[root@bigboy tmp]#
How To Install The RPMs
Using Downloaded Files
· Download the source RPMs which usually have a file extension ending with (.rpm) into a temporary directory such as /tmp
· As user root, issue the following command:
[root@bigboy tmp]# rpm -Uvh filename.rpm
Using CDROMs
· Insert the CDROM and check the files in /misc/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS
[root@bigboy tmp]# cd /misc/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS
[root@bigboy RPMS]# ls filename*
filename.rpm
[root@bigboy RPMS]# rpm -Uvh filename.rpm
· When finished, eject the CDROM
[root@bigboy RPMS]# cd /tmp
[root@bigboy tmp]# eject cdrom
[root@bigboy tmp]#
How to Install Source RPMs
Sometimes the packages you want to install need to be compiled in order to match your kernel version. This requires you to use source RPM files.
· Download the source RPMs or locate them on your CD collection. They usually have a file extension ending with (.src.rpm)
· Run the following commands as root:
Newer Linux Versions
Compiling and installing source RPMs with newer RedHat Linux versions can be done simply with the rpmbuild command
[root@bigboy tmp]# rpmbuild --rebuild filename.src.rpm
o Here is an example in which we install the tacacs plus package.
[root@bigboy rpm]# rpmbuild --rebuild tac_plus-4.0.3-2.src.rpm
Installing tac_plus-4.0.3-2.src.rpm
Executing(%prep): /bin/sh -e /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.61594
+ umask 022
+ cd /usr/src/redhat/BUILD
+ cd /usr/src/redhat/BUILD
+ rm -rf tac_plus-4.0.3
+ /usr/bin/gzip -dc /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES/tac_plus-4.0.3.tgz
+ tar -xvvf -
drwxr-xr-x nsen/25 0 1999-08-04 00:33:15 tac_plus-4.0.3/
-rw-r----- root/root 9029 1999-04-02 22:03:45 tac_plus-4.0.3/CHANGES
...
...
...
...
...
...
Checking for unpackaged file(s): /usr/lib/rpm/check-files /var/tmp/tacacsd
Wrote: /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/tac_plus-4.0.3-2.i386.rpm
Executing(%clean): /bin/sh -e /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.60207
+ umask 022
+ cd /usr/src/redhat/BUILD
+ cd tac_plus-4.0.3
+ rm -rf /var/tmp/tacacsd
+ exit 0
Executing(--clean): /bin/sh -e /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.60207
+ umask 022
+ cd /usr/src/redhat/BUILD
+ rm -rf tac_plus-4.0.3
+ exit 0
[root@bigboy rpm]#
o Here we see that the regular RPM file, not the source RPM, has been installed correctly.
[root@bigboy rpm]# rpm -qa | grep tac_plus
tac_plus-4.0.3-2
[root@bigboy rpm]#
Older Linux Versions
The process is more complicated with older RedHat Linux versions as can be seen below.
o The source files are first exported into the directory /usr/src/redhat/SPECS with the rpm command.
o You then have to run the rpm command again to compile the source files into a regular RPM file which will be placed in either the /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i386/ or the /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/ directories.
o You then have to install the new RPM file from this directory.
[root@bigboy tmp]# rpm -Uvh filename.src.rpm
[root@bigboy SPECS]# cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS
[root@bigboy SPECS]# rpm –ba filename
[root@bigboy tmp]# cd /usr/src/redhat/RPM/i386
[root@bigboy i386]# rpm -Uvh filename.rpm
How To List Installed RPMs
· The rpm –qa command will list all the packages installed on your system
[root@bigboy tmp]# rpm –qa
perl-Storable-1.0.14-15
smpeg-gtv-0.4.4-9
e2fsprogs-1.27-9
libstdc++-3.2-7
audiofile-0.2.3-3
…
…
…
[root@bigboy tmp]#
· You can also pipe the output of this command through the grep command if you are interested in only a specific package. In this example we are looking for all packages containing the string “ssh” in the name, regardless of case (“-i” meaning ignore case)
[root@bigboy tmp]# rpm -qa | grep -i ssh
openssh-server-3.4p1-2
openssh-clients-3.4p1-2
openssh-askpass-gnome-3.4p1-2
openssh-3.4p1-2
openssh-askpass-3.4p1-2
[root@bigboy tmp]#
How Uninstall RPMs
· The rpm –e command will erase an installed package. The package name given must match that listed in the rpm –qa command as the version of the package is important.
[root@bigboy tmp]# rpm –e package-name
RedHat Up2date
RedHat has a program called up2date which will update your Linux installation with the latest revisions of the RPMs from the RedHat website via a HTTPS/SSL connection running in the background. Here’s what to do:
· After installing the operating system issue the up2date command. It will prompt you to change the initial settings. Just quit by typing “q” and up2date will give you the command to run to get the encryption keys from RedHat.
[root@bigboy tmp]# up2date
0. debug No
1. isatty Yes
2. depslist []
…
…
…
Enter number of item to edit <return to exit, q to quit without saving>:
Your GPG keyring does not contain the Red Hat, Inc. public key.
Without it, you will be unable to verify that packages Update Agent downloads are securely signed by Red Hat.
Your Update Agent options specify that you want to use GPG.
To install the key, run the following as root:
rpm --import /usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG-KEY
[root@bigboy tmp]#
· Issue the rpm command to get the keys
[root@bigboy tmp]# rpm --import /usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG-KEY
[root@bigboy tmp]#
· Issue the up2date command again and it will prompt you through a number of registration screens which will ask for information such as:
o The login name & password of your choice
o Your, name, address and email address
o A profile name for your server
· It will then present you with a list of all the packages installed on your server and ask you whether you want to register this software information with RedHat
· The up2date updater will then register your system and exit back to the command prompt.
· Now you have to actually update the software using up2date. This is done with the up2date –u command. This is what it looks like:
[root@bigboy tmp]# up2date -u
Fetching package list for channel: redhat-linux-i386-8.0...
########################################
Fetching Obsoletes list for channel: redhat-linux-i386-8.0...
########################################
Fetching rpm headers...
#######################################
Testing package set / solving RPM inter-dependencies...
########################################
cups-libs-1.1.17-0.2.i386.r ########################## Done.
…
…
…
Preparing ########################################### [100%]
Installing...
1:cups-libs ########################################### [100%]
2:cvs ########################################### [100%]
3:cyrus-sasl ########################################### [100%]
…
…
…
The following Packages were marked to be skipped by your configuration:
Name Version Rel Reason
---------------------------------------------------------------------
kernel 2.4.18 24.8.0Pkg name/pattern
[root@bigboy tmp]#
Some Necessary Facts About up2date
o You can update your contact information afterwards using the link http://www.redhat.com/network
o RedHat will regularly send you emails with the packages you need to update. You can selectively update the package mentioned in each email using the command:
[root@bigboy tmp]# up2date package-name
o Only one profile per login name is free. All additional profiles under the login name have an annual fee.
o up2date uses HTTPS/SSL to do its updating. If you have a firewall protecting your system, you will need TCP port 443 access to the internet
o Updating packages could cause programs written by you to stop functioning especially if they rely on the older version’s features or syntax.
o Some RPMs won’t install unless other RPMs have been installed previously. up2date automatically figures out these package inter-dependencies and will install all the required foundation packages as well.
o You can write a small script to periodically update your system. The “–u” switch will update all packages and the “-p” will register any additional packages you have installed without using up2date. Here is a sample script that you can run weekly using cron
#!/bin/sh
#
# Updates system every week
#
up2date -p
up2date -u