Smart Installer

Kinda jokingly, is it safe?

I know not to update all packages at once, but that sounds too good to be true. I think ill check it out
[/b]

I'm keen to try out Linux_Learner's list, but I haven't got around to it yet. I think the key thing is to note his disclaimer about "beta" software. There is "beta software", and there is "beta software". .... Some beta is closer to alpha, ... other beta is closer to being very very solid and stable (like a version 2.x). ... And some beta is simply .... beta.

Hence my recommendation is not to immediately install beta software, unless you have read enough (and researched enough) to decide it is worth doing.

For example, consider ntfs-3g. This IS beta software (and a quick surf to the ntfs open source site for linux will confirm that). Yet it is offered on Guru's main respository, and IMHO Guru is typically pretty good at not trying to package flakey software. If one researches this further, one will learn there are querks to ntfs-3g impacting the installation, and drive mounting, all of which have workarounds. There have been no detailed observations complaining about data quality. Just the contrary. All comments have noted data quality is good (no lost data) and performance speed is also very good. Hence in my personal view, this software is very stable.

For any piece of beta software, I recommend users take the time to make that sort of stable or not stable assessment.

I agree with you completely. Its all a matter of if you feel like using software that just might not do what you want it to. Or while it is doing something it is supposed to do, it crashes. Thats what Beta is all about. I think i am going to refrain from using those repos for now. I am sure some in the list is great, but there all always a select few that can be of trouble.

I've installed smart as described in the wiki-link above, but when i update smart the first time in the gui the update process stops at 99% and i get the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):

**File "/usr/bin/smart", line 194, in ?
****main(sys.argv[1:])

**File "/usr/bin/smart", line 167, in main
****exitcode = iface.run(opts.command, opts.argv)

**File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/smart/interfaces/gtk/interactive.py", line 364, in run
****self._ctrl.reloadChannels()

**File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/smart/control.py", line 375, in reloadChannels
****self._cache.load()

**File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/smart/backends/rpm/metadata.py", line 321, in loadFileProvides
****self.parseFilesList(fndict)

**File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/smart/backends/rpm/metadata.py", line 346, in parseFilesList
****for event, elem in cElementTree.iterparse(file, ("start", "end")):

**File "<string>", line 64, in __iter__

SyntaxError: not well-formed (invalid token): line 479344, column 58

and as fairly new to linux i really don't know what to do. Help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Jonas

Here is a solution for the problem Jonas raises.

I've installed smart as described in the wiki-link above, but when i update smart the first time in the gui the update process stops at 99% and i get the following error ...
[/b]

I had the same problem until last night, when I learned two things from helpful web-users:

1. it is safe to completely empty the directory /var/lib/smart/channels, because the smart program will re-generate all the files kept there when you run it, and
2. problems with one of the files in there can explain the problem you are having.

Here's what I did next. After these steps, smart worked fine.

(i)** su
(ii)**cd /var/lib/smart/channels
(iii) ls
(iv)**rm -i *
(v)** exit

You could omit step (iii) and the option "-i" in line (iv), but they provide redundant error-proofing -- which I have learned to love through hard experience.

My web-search took a long time; later I found a terse version of the same information on a thread in these forums that starts at http://www.suseforums.net/index.php?showtopic=24589.

The gui interface on smart is nice enough, but I now prefer the shell interface. It's crude ascii on the console, but to me it seems just a little quicker.

Hope this helps, Philip

Here is a solution for the problem Jonas raises.

I had the same problem until last night, when I learned two things from helpful web-users:

1. it is safe to completely empty the directory /var/lib/smart/channels, because the smart program will re-generate all the files kept there when you run it, and
2. problems with one of the files in there can explain the problem you are having.

Here's what I did next. After these steps, smart worked fine.

(i)** su
(ii)**cd /var/lib/smart/channels
(iii) ls
(iv)**rm -i *
(v)** exit

You could omit step (iii) and the option "-i" in line (iv), but they provide redundant error-proofing -- which I have learned to love through hard experience.

My web-search took a long time; later I found a terse version of the same information on a thread in these forums that starts at http://www.suseforums.net/index.php?showtopic=24589.

The gui interface on smart is nice enough, but I now prefer the shell interface. It's crude ascii on the console, but to me it seems just a little quicker.

Hope this helps, Philip
[/b]

It sure did! Thank you very much!
I also find the non gui mode a bit snappier, but as for now i use both..

I tried to install SMART last night from the directions on the wiki.

When I try to start the gui, I get this message:

error: Interface 'gtk' not available

What exactly does this mean and how do you fix it?

I'm running 10.0

I tried to install SMART last night from the directions on the wiki.

When I try to start the gui, I get this message:

error: Interface 'gtk' not available

What exactly does this mean and how do you fix it?

I'm running 10.0
[/b]

Run this command from konsole, post the result here;

[quote]rpm -qa | grep smart[/code]

Run this command from konsole, post the result here;

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE

rpm -qa | grep smart

[/b]

[/b][/quote]
smart-0.42-14.guru.suse100

smart-0.42-14.guru.suse100
[/b]

Install smart-gui

Install smart-gui
[/b]

Tried to install:

smart install smart-gui
Loading cache...
Updating cache...************** ######################################## [100%]

Computing transaction...

Installing packages (1):
**smart-gui-0.42-14.guru.suse100@i686

76.7kB of package files are needed. 306.4kB will be used.

Confirm changes? (Y/n): y

Committing transaction...
warning: rpmts_HdrFromFdno: V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 58857177
Trying to import the key af734c5a58857177 from subkeys.pgp.net...
gpg: requesting key 58857177 from hkp server subkeys.pgp.net
gpg: key 58857177: "Pascal Bleser <pascal.bleser@skynet.be>" not changed
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:**************unchanged: 1

The above GPG key has been imported successfully.
It is required to install this package:

********smart-gui-0.42-14.guru.suse100.i686.rpm

Do you want to trust this key forever?

You must verify the below fingerprint before answering.
pub** 1024D/58857177 2002-09-27
******Key fingerprint = E02F 0C4A CE1A 27C3 D082**C8EE AF73 4C5A 5885 7177
uid******************Pascal Bleser <pascal.bleser@skynet.be>
uid******************Pascal Bleser (FOSDEM) <loki@fosdem.org>
uid******************Pascal Bleser <pascal.bleser@atosorigin.com>
uid******************Pascal Bleser (RPM signing key) <guru@unixtech.be>
sub** 1024g/102BCED4 2002-09-27


If you answer "Yes" all other packages signed with this key will be installed automatically. (y/N): y

error: smart-gui-0.42-14.guru.suse100.i686.rpm: public key not available
Saving cache...