The Many Faces of Software Installation

Because most packages are either RPMs or DEBs, knowing how to install them primarily involves knowing how to deal with that particular type of package. In truth, it isn't that complicated, but there can be stumbles along the way, particularly when it comes to dependencies. Some packages will require the presence of another package before it can be installed. Sometimes it may require several packages. Going through a process of trial and error to get all your dependencies resolved can create quite the headache.

Every major Linux vendor wants to make the Linux experience as wonderful as possible, particularly when it comes to installing software packages. Consequently, almost everyone has a software installation tool that they have tweaked to make the user experience as simple as possible, a tool that deals with package dependencies easily. For instance, SuSE provides YaST2. Mandrake has Rpmdrake (or the command-line urpmi). Lindows has its Click-N-Run service. The new RedHat/Fedora distribution uses Yum. Slackware uses installpkg. Using the software installation tools provided by your vendor is almost always the easiest approach.

When you just can't get what you want through the vendor's packages, or if you can't find the appropriate package, sometimes going back to the source is your best approach. Yes, I'm talking about source code. Compiling from scratch really isn't all that difficult either, and I show you how at the end of this chapter.

Let's start by looking at a couple of vendor-specific software installation tools, beginning with SuSE and their YaST2 installer.