Howto: Smart Package Manager

Title: Smart Package Manager
Description: How to get, install and use smart.

http://wiki.suselinuxsupport.de/wikka.php?...tPackageManager

Post any comments / questions / etc. in here.

to get a full help page from smart you can use this little script:

#!/bin/bash
if [ -e smart-cmd.txt ]; then
rm -f smart-cmd.txt
fi

smart --help >> smart-cmd.txt
echo "----------------" >> smart-cmd.txt
echo "----------------" >> smart-cmd.txt

for i in update install reinstall upgrade remove check fix download \
search query info stats \
channel priority mirror flag; do
smart $i --help >> smart-cmd.txt
echo "----------------" >> smart-cmd.txt
echo "----------------" >> smart-cmd.txt
done

and process the result with txt2man: http://mvertes.free.fr/ to get a man-page for smart.

Smart Package Manger Review

Smart package manager works very well on my PCs. I have it installed on a SuSE-9.3 and also on a SuSE-10.0 distribution.

I find Smart compliments YaST quite nicely. I have had no problems running the two (Smart and YaST) on the same PC, as long as I don't execute them both at the same time (this could corrupt the rpm database).

I typically run smart from the smart gui. One can do this by opening a konsole (bash shell) and then giving oneself root permissions by typing "su" (and enter root password). Then type "smart --gui" (thats a space and two dashes after "smart"). The first time the gui runs it will set up the channels. One simply acknowedges this setup. Then wait about 1/2 minute for smart to update its cache. After that a structure of all installed (and available) rpms is displayed. One can then do a search for a specific application/package, and install it as needed. I particularly like the way smart will handle dependencies, identify any upgrades/downgrades needed, and then after one agrees (if one agrees) it will also update the dependencies.

I downloaded the Smart rpms from Guru [as of this post, it is at version 0.40-9]
http://linux01.gwdg.de/~pbleser/rpm-naviga...t=/System/smart

Some of the earlier Guru compilations of Smart had problems. I recommend v.0.40-9 as being stable.

The Smart FAQ is here:
http://labix.org/smart/faq

The Smart SuSE wiki is here:
http://www.susewiki.org/index.php?title=Smart

The Smart web page is here:
http://labix.org/smart

Edit: 3-June-06 - fixed the two links that I had reversed.

Smart Package Manger Review

Smart package manager works very well on my PCs. I have it installed on a SuSE-9.3 and also on a SuSE-10.0 distribution.

I find Smart compliments YaST quite nicely. I have had no problems running the two (Smart and YaST) on the same PC, as long as I don't execute them both at the same time (this could corrupt the rpm database).

I typically run smart from the smart gui. One can do this by opening a konsole (bash shell) and then giving oneself root permissions by typing "su" (and enter root password). Then type "smart --gui" (thats a space and two dashes after "smart"). The first time the gui runs it will set up the channels. One simply acknowedges this setup. Then wait about 1/2 minute for smart to update its cache. After that a structure of all installed (and available) rpms is displayed. One can then do a search for a specific application/package, and install it as needed. I particularly like the way smart will handle dependencies, identify any upgrades/downgrades needed, and then after one agrees (if one agrees) it will also update the dependencies.

I downloaded the Smart rpms from Guru [as of this post, it is at version 0.40-9]
http://linux01.gwdg.de/~pbleser/rpm-naviga...t=/System/smart

Some of the earlier Guru compilations of Smart had problems. I recommend v.0.40-9 as being stable.

The Smart FAQ is here:
http://www.susewiki.org/index.php?title=Smart

The Smart SuSE wiki is here:
http://labix.org/smart/faq

The Smart web page is here:
http://labix.org/smart
[/b]

Hi

first of all thank you for your nice article. I installed Smart on my SuSE10 and I had no problem. The thing is that I don't know some good repository links to add into my Smart. I tried your sample link ( http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/suse/apt/SuSE/10.0-i386 ) but then I only could download Security stuff, as it's what the component argument suggests. I'm looking for multimedia resources, and yes, I changed the component argument to "multimedia" as well, but it said that apt-rpm doesn't support multimedia. Please share your repository links with me if possible.

I also have one more question, if I have a directory of RPMs on my local hard drive, then I can easily add it into Smart, what if I have a remote (like http://) directory full of RPMs? You know that all servers don't provide apt-rpm repositories, I might know some addresses rigged with RPM, but not in apt-rpm format. I tried to add'em as directory, but it said it doesn't accept http:// (which is reasonable I believe!)

Cheers,
bijan

Smart Package Manger Review

Smart package manager works very well on my PCs. I have it installed on a SuSE-9.3 and also on a SuSE-10.0 distribution.

I find Smart compliments YaST quite nicely. I have had no problems running the two (Smart and YaST) on the same PC, as long as I don't execute them both at the same time (this could corrupt the rpm database).

I typically run smart from the smart gui. One can do this by opening a konsole (bash shell) and then giving oneself root permissions by typing "su" (and enter root password). Then type "smart --gui" (thats a space and two dashes after "smart"). The first time the gui runs it will set up the channels. One simply acknowedges this setup. Then wait about 1/2 minute for smart to update its cache. After that a structure of all installed (and available) rpms is displayed. One can then do a search for a specific application/package, and install it as needed. I particularly like the way smart will handle dependencies, identify any upgrades/downgrades needed, and then after one agrees (if one agrees) it will also update the dependencies.

I downloaded the Smart rpms from Guru [as of this post, it is at version 0.40-9]
http://linux01.gwdg.de/~pbleser/rpm-naviga...t=/System/smart

Some of the earlier Guru compilations of Smart had problems. I recommend v.0.40-9 as being stable.

The Smart FAQ is here:
http://labix.org/smart/faq

The Smart SuSE wiki is here:
http://www.susewiki.org/index.php?title=Smart

The Smart web page is here:
http://labix.org/smart
[/b]

A little late, but suggested in Linux Forums. Thanks!

KW

I am delighted with Smart, which I installed on 3 different
machines in 2 days. Here's a short account of my experience,
focussed on differences from the [topic=21265]informative review by oldcpu[/topic]
earlier in this thread.

Smart beats YaST on SuSE 10.1 because

1. it's faster,
2. it tells you what it is doing when you do have to wait (which still happens), and
3. the latest version has lots of installation sources built-in.

I installed the latest version of Smart in two steps. First, I used
YaST to find and install an older version on the SuSE 10.1
distribution CD's. I selected both the basic package and the GUI
support. Once Smart was installed, I ran it as root ("smart --gui")
and added the "channel" for Guru Pascal Bleser's collection of packages,
namely,<div align="left">http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/suser-guru/rpm/10.1/
</div>(That's a "YaST source".)

Just adding a channel doesn't automatically read all the
packages it offers into the database. To do that one must select
"Update Channels" from the File menu and watch the
information flow in from the net. Selecting the most recent
version for installation (also the GUI package) and clicking the
blue gear-wheel to actually do the work got me the version I'm
using today:
<div align="left">0.41-25.guru.suse101@i686</div>
As soon as it was installed successfully, it was time to quit the
Smart program and start it up again. Saying "smart --gui" a
second time initiated the upgraded version of the program.
When this one starts for the first time, it offers many current
installation sources that one can accept just by clicking the
mouse. Fantastic! After this it's mostly simple and intuitive.

I found another YaST source with some useful packages for
scientific computation under SuSE 10.x:<div align="left">ftp://chuck.ucs.indiana.edu/pub/arra...S/inst-source/
</div>(I deduced that from seeing this site come up repeatedly when I
looked for scilab and related material using http://rpm.pbone.net.)

I hope these notes help somebody ...
especially the tip about choosing File -> Update Channels from time to time.

I am delighted with Smart, which I installed on 3 different
machines in 2 days. Here's a short account of my experience,
focussed on differences from the [topic=21265]informative review by oldcpu[/topic]
earlier in this thread.

Smart beats YaST on SuSE 10.1 because

1. it's faster,
2. it tells you what it is doing when you do have to wait (which still happens), and
3. the latest version has lots of installation sources built-in.

I installed the latest version of Smart in two steps. First, I used
YaST to find and install an older version on the SuSE 10.1
distribution CD's. I selected both the basic package and the GUI
support. Once Smart was installed, I ran it as root ("smart --gui")
and added the "channel" for Guru Pascal Bleser's collection of packages,
namely,<div align="left">http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/suser-guru/rpm/10.1/

(That's a "YaST source".)

Just adding a channel doesn't automatically read all the
packages it offers into the database. To do that one must select
"Update Channels" from the File menu and watch the
information flow in from the net. Selecting the most recent
version for installation (also the GUI package) and clicking the
blue gear-wheel to actually do the work got me the version I'm
using today:
<div align="left">0.41-25.guru.suse101@i686</div>
As soon as it was installed successfully, it was time to quit the
Smart program and start it up again. Saying "smart --gui" a
second time initiated the upgraded version of the program.
When this one starts for the first time, it offers many current
installation sources that one can accept just by clicking the
mouse. Fantastic! After this it's mostly simple and intuitive.

I found another YaST source with some useful packages for
scientific computation under SuSE 10.x:<div align="left">ftp://chuck.ucs.indiana.edu/pub/arra...S/inst-source/
</div>(I deduced that from seeing this site come up repeatedly when I
looked for scilab and related material using http://rpm.pbone.net.)

I hope these notes help somebody ...
especially the tip about choosing File -> Update Channels from time to time.
[/b][/quote]
I agree..SMART is the way to go with 10.1. I do miss yast2 however.

Yast2 was a comprehensive method of pc managment which I miss in 10.1, however they might fix it next week!

One thing I am not liking in SMART, is what you had in Synaptic, whrere you click upgradable and it shows which updates are available. In SMART so far I found only one method, is by clicking update button which shows the list, but nothing can be done within the list, such as not to update certain packages.

Another one again that Synaptic has, is where it shows which new packages have been added in different repositories.

Or am I missing something!

One thing I love about SMART is the mirror servers it adds automatically - one doesn't work, it will fetch from another.

I'd say that SMART, in terms of UI, is still behind to what Synaptic has.
A combination if Synaptic UI + more + SMART feature will be a true killer Package Manager.

Hi.

Where is there a manual, that tells about the smart gui ?.

I need it as I'm not sure what the colors means out for a package.