I am a total noob with Linux, however keen to learn.
I found out that Yast is the tool for installing application in Opensuse.
However, I cannot get Yast to install something that I downloaded as a tar-file. I have tried everything, Googled, read forums, trial/error, etc. but cannot succeed.
Could someone provide a link to a beginners guide on how to install from tar-files.
(I know it should be unpacked).
The application that I want to install is Zimbra - when unpacked there is a install.pl file. But it is not recognized by Yast or anything else I can come up with?
You’re right YaST is used for installing things.
But it can only install RPM packages.
What you’re trying to do is installing a tar-file.
What you need to understand is that .tar is just a archive file, just like zip, tar.gz etc.
So there’s no straightforward way of installing a tar file since it could contain anything.
I can’t help you installing Zimbra because I’ve got no idea what’s inside that archive.
But most times when a Application is distributed with as a tar file it must be compiled.
The archive most likely contains a file called README, INSTALL, etc…
The application that I want to install is Zimbra - when unpacked there is a install.pl file. But it is not recognized by Yast or anything else I can come up with?
It could be that you can install the application by running that script.
Start a terminal enter the directory you unpacked the archive and run:
perl ./install.pl
But before you do this I recommend you read the readme!!!
your help is appreciated.
I read the readme, and ran the command perl ./install.pl
Then some errors emerge - is it likely that I have to “su root” in order to install? The install.pl script wants to create a directory in opt/ which is outside home where my user is. And I need full rights to do that?
Well, I give up. It is far too complicated to install for a noob like me. I also found out that the installer script does not take other languages than English into consideration (the script looks for Desktop, but it is called Skrivebord in Danish). So the script fails.
So I will turn myself to Thunderbird - which has served me well on Windows.
Usually to install software you do so as root. So you would type su (then hit enter) and give it your password. You should type ls (and hit enter) to see if that file is in your current directory. (If not, then change to the directory where that file is.) Then type ./install.pl You can highlight any errors it gives in the console window, select the menu item “copy,” and then paste them into a message here on this forum - this helps people know where you’re stuck. Have you done much with the command line? Can you give me a link to the software you’re trying to install - I see there are several different things called Zimbra.
You would need to download the one of these that gives you a “.rpm” file - which is then installed with YaST. You could probably use either the Red Hat or the SUSE versions. Comments, anyone else?
OK, I downloaded one of the binary distributions of Zimbra, and they don’t appear to be .rpm format, but only use simple install.sh style scripts. I think you should read this thread: Install ZCS 6.03 on OpenSUSE 11.2 x64 - Zimbra :: Forums
because they described the process. My only question to the more-knowledgeable folks on this forum is whether to use the Red Hat binary distribution or the SLES binary distribution. If nobody answers, you should probably use the SLES one: Open Source Edition Downloads: Enterprise Messaging and Collaboration Software by Zimbra SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (they only have a 64-bit version - if you are running 32bit OpenSuSE, you might have to use the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 version)
You should also look for uninstall instructions because you might have to uninstall it…
