I’m not new to Linux in general, but currently I am a little frustrated with SUSE.
From Ubuntu I am used to installing all kinds of software packages (literally EVERYTHING) from the repositories. However, having changed the distribution recently, I noticed that apparently SUSE doesn’t have this nice feature.
I have already added a bunch of additional repositories to the software manager, but still even some very basic programs are not available. I am talking about things like subversion client svn, nedit, etc…
I am getting shirty by always googling for single rpm’s to download. And anyway installing via the package manager is preferable, since then the software is updated with the regular system update.
Anyway, I’d really appreciate some help here. Am I missing any really comprehensive repository? What is the philosophy behind not including many repositories as standard?
I’m afraid you didn’t give enough information to help you.
Which version of openSUSE are you using?
Could you post the output of this command:
zypper lr -d
About svn it should be in the default repositories under the name subversion.
Also I recommend you don’t install single rpms from the internet.
If an application isn’t provided in any repo try installing it from source or make sure the rpm is made for the openSUSE version you’re running.
NOTEs:
-spin the dial to your version
-many results? use your noggin to pick the right option for you
-every source with ‘factory’ in the name is for the NEXT version and
may kill your system
-also careful to watch for ‘playground’ and ‘unstable’
-alternative, try: http://packages.opensuse-community.org/
NOTE: one of the easiest ways known to kill your openSUSE system is
to add and enable a whole bunch of repos…there ARE things out there
which will interact and step on other packages and . . .
lots of info to catch up on (which is to say, this is not apt-get-land)…
–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11
puetti wrote:
> I’m not new to Linux in general, but currently I am a little frustrated
> with SUSE.
>
> From Ubuntu I am used to installing all kinds of software packages
> (literally EVERYTHING) from the repositories. However, having changed
> the distribution recently, I noticed that apparently SUSE doesn’t have
> this nice feature.
>
> I have already added a bunch of additional repositories to the software
> manager, but still even some very basic programs are not available. I am
> talking about things like subversion client svn, nedit, etc…
>
> I am getting shirty by always googling for single rpm’s to download.
> And anyway installing via the package manager is preferable, since then
> the software is updated with the regular system update.
>
> Anyway, I’d really appreciate some help here. Am I missing any really
> comprehensive repository? What is the philosophy behind not including
> many repositories as standard?
You don’t say what version you’re using.
svn is in the subversion package from the standard repository, so not
finding it sounds like finger trouble.
If you’re looking for a file, then in YaST you need to search for ‘RPM
“Provides”’.
As you have discovered, openSUSE is not Ubuntu. I recommend you do NOT add many repositories like you noted you have. IMHO that just leads to instability, such that new users invariably run into problems.
There are two superb search engines for openSUSE below, where you can search on all sorts of applications. Note the search engines search different repositories:
The repositories I recommend for openSUSE are only the following 4 :
OSS - The main official openSUSE repository, open source software only.
Non-OSS - Non free (as in freedom) software official repository, containing apps such as Flashplayer, Java, Opera, IPW-firmware, etc.
Update - Repository for official security and bugfix updates to both OSS and Update.
Packman - the largest 3rd party respository - packaged by packman packagers and typically (not always) has superior packaging to other non-official repositories and also packman packagers are contactable via their mailing list
Its very fast and easy with zypper to add repositories and remove them, which is what I recommend. Keep your active repositories limited to those 4 and only those 4, and add (and immediately remove) others on an as required basis. Else unless you are a very solid average or advanced user, with extra repositories beyond what I recommend you could experience stability problems.
And I reduced the number of active repositories to the four that oldcpu mentioned. You are probably right concerning system (in)stability and maintenance with many repos.
