I’m on openSUSE 12.1 x64 with GNOME 3.2. I’d like to install Octave, and at the beginning I didn’t even know if there were RPM’s for openSUSE, until I did a search. The Software Search site seems to have suffered radical changes since last time I used it…
But now I’m not sure how to proceed and I wanted to know if you could help me a bit. How should I generally install software? By adding the repository and installing from Yast Software Manager, using the one-click method from Software Search site, or even downloading the RPM from here and installing it? Does the one-click method recognize x86 or x64?
Why does Software Search site marks the packages as “unstable”?
I ask all of this because it’s the first time I’d use one-click method and the second I’d use RPM installing, and since I only have one PC at the moment, I don’t want to screw up should I make a bad step…
I get a warning window that tells me what “unstable” means:
Please be aware that the following packages are from unofficial repositories. That means they are not reviewed by openSUSE and may contain unstable or experimental software.
Didn’t you get that?
The 1-click is fine to go (and yes, YaST will check for the correct version), but it is recommended to either (un)check the " keep this repository" (or how the questionn is formulated, but you will see it when you read all info you get during the process), in a way that the repo is not active after the installation. Or deactivate the repo later with YaST > Software > Repository management.
This is because such a repo can also have all sorts of other packages which nay clash with what you have. When you later delibarately want to install a then available newer versioon of Octave, activate the repo, update Octave and deactivate the repo.
> But now I’m not sure how to proceed and I wanted to know if you could
> help me a bit. How should I generally install software? By adding the
> repository and installing from Yast Software Manager,
That’s my preferred method.
> using the
> one-click method from Software Search site,
I don’t like it much.
> or even downloading the RPM
> from here and installing it?
Possible, but you have to download dependencies on your own.
> Does the one-click method recognize x86 or
> x64?
It should.
> Why does Software Search site marks the packages as “unstable”?
Good question, because it is not a “home” repo. I don’t know.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)