what exactly are Repositories?

[enhu]

Repositories can you explain this to me and compare this to windows like libraries = dll and etc.

[stakanov]

How-to:
take your 10 fingers. Write "repositories" into the google search window. Take your hand and use the mouse. Click on Wikipedia result:
This will give you
"Repository commonly refers to a location for storage, often for safety or preservation".
And a link relevant for software repositories:
Software repository - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

You may well be lost and new to this, but IMHO you should search a bit for already straightforward information on google and wikipedia before posting these kind of questions.

Edit: well I also forgot to mention: this is the soapbox part. So this would be a place where you put strong opinions (etc - you just "READ" before you post the description of the forum before you choose it). So if you post in the WRONG forum you will get no answer. If you post UNNECESSARY questions in the WRONG forum......well this will be probably even less productive.

[TaraIkeda]

For the layman a repository is a library, and the packages are like books.

[microchip8]

A dumpster for software

[caf4926]

Originally Posted by enhu

Repositories can you explain this to me and compare this to windows like libraries = dll and etc.

Software repository - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My advice for a novice: Only add a minimum

Over and above what is installed by default you should probably only need Packman (VLC only to add the package: libdvdcss. Then remove.)
Possibly you may need a ati or nvidia repo

[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by enhu

Repositories can you explain this to me and compare this to windows like libraries = dll and etc.

IMHO this is an EXCELLENT question, and deserves a detailed answer.

I do not think there is an MS-Windows equivalent to Linux repositories.

My view is Linux repositories (which in essence are file servers on the internet containing packaged applications for a Linux distribution) were created to help work around a limitation associated with the opensource free software nature of Linux.

Because software used in Linux is to a large extent free (not free as in free beer, but free per the software foundation definiton of free) it means that developer does not have to write the entire application themself. Rather they can use parts of other free applications that have already been coded.

Hence a given application (call it app-a) may not run by itelf. Rather app-a may need a dozen other applications installed first, BEFORE the software will run. app-a may need an executeable from app-b, and libraries from app-c, app-d, and app-e. Plus app-a may need specific version of applications from app-d and app-e. In turn app-e may need app-f, app-g, and app-h. app-d may need app-i, app-k, and app-l. ... etc .... These are called dependencies.

So you can see if you simply try to install app-a, without the other applications, either app-a won't install, or if it does install, it won't work.

So to address that problem, app-a thru app-l were all put on one file server, called a repository, which was placed on the internet.

In turn software package managers were created, where these software package managers will look after the installation of app-a for one. All one is to do is click on app-a, and the software package manager will check its repositories, and appropriately install app-a thru app-l.

It might be worth your while to read up on some basic openSUSE concepts where this and many other things are explained: Concepts - openSUSE

enhu wrote:
> Repositories can you explain this to me and compare this to windows like
> libraries = dll and etc.

think of a repository as a software warehouse or storage place..
that you can go to and download all the software you need, for no cost..

except for those very few times that that M$ gives you software at NO
COST there is no Windows[tm] equal..

openSUSE repositories are located on university, government and
donated servers all over the earth (see full list here:
http://mirrors.opensuse.org/list/all.html) each GIVING you all the
software you need..

as caf4926 already wrote, do NOT just start adding enabled
repos...most new users need only *four*...(i've been using Linux for
almost 10 years and i get about 99% of my software from only *three*
repos...but, i like a stable, dependable, reliable system.)

--
platinum

[Akoellh]

Originally Posted by microchip8

A dumpster for software

Hm, to stretch that comparison a little further, it would be a dumpster with a very detailed catalogue who dumped which trash at what time and place.

A little like a dumpster for radioactive waste when you think about it.

:-)

[microchip8]

Originally Posted by Akoellh

Hm, to stretch that comparison a little further, it would be a dumpster with a very detailed catalogue who dumped which trash at what time and place.

A little like a dumpster for radioactive waste when you think about it.

:-)

Yep, fairly correct analogy, except our dumpster is not disposable trash (in the negative overall sense, there are packages which get disposed (eg old ones for new ones) but they are not "trash" in the sense of what belongs in a dumpster) but actually useful pool of software storage

[Confuseling]

Originally Posted by oldcpu

...
My view is Linux repositories (which in essence are file servers on the internet containing packaged applications for a Linux distribution) were created to help work around a limitation associated with the opensource free software nature of Linux.
...

I think it helps to realise that they're not specific servers (or the contents of those servers either), but an abstraction above that.

Let's take the google search database as an example. It doesn't exist on any specific computer - in fact, I don't doubt that you simply couldn't build a specific computer it would fit on. It's a network of information, that using very clever jiggery and pokery (those are technical terms) appears as far as the user is concerned as a single thing that you connect to.

Now that's an extreme example - and copies of the SUSE repositories do exist on specific servers. In fact, if you wanted to, there'd be nothing stopping you making your own mirror of SUSE (in other words, making your own version of the repositories) for use for your own network.

When you connect to a repository through the mirror system you are intelligently connected to a server according to how fast it can send the information to you - usually this boils down mostly to geographic location (and I've no idea how the SUSE mirror system picks one for you).

So the repository itself is an information abstraction, a set of packages, which is 'mirrored' on all kinds of computers around the world, and which 'sync' with a master server (or servers) where the new packages are uploaded.

[this post subject to extensive correction by people who have a much better idea what they're talking about... ]