The Software Media Manager

This part of RpmDrake is dedicated to the configuration of the package media repositories. As you can see in Figure 21.5 there are two media configured: “Installation CD” and “Contrib CD”. Thanks to this tool you can actually add more software media: a CD from a magazine containing RPMs, a Web repository, etc. The check boxes in the left column allow you to temporarily disable a medium: when unchecked, the associated packages won't appear in the “Install Software” interface.

Figure 21.5. The “Software Media Manager

The Software Media Manager

You have several available choices here.

Remove

This allows you to remove media which you don't use anymore, e.g. as there is a new version of Mandrake Linux and you bought the new box. Simply select the media to be removed in the list and click this button.

Edit

Here you may change the URL or the relative path to the synthesis/hdlist (if you don't know what we are talking about it will be wise to leave the window via Cancel instead of Save changes).

Add...

This button provides access to a new dialog, in which you may define a new software package medium. In Figure 21.6 you can see the dialog when adding a Security updates medium.

Figure 21.6. RpmDrake –– adding a Media

RpmDrake –– adding a Media
Update...

You will be shown a list of all defined data media. You can choose the ones you want to update. Just start the process by clicking on Update.

Manage keys...

 –– It's important that new software packages you install are authenticated. To do so, each package can be electronically signed with a “key”, and you can allow/disallow keys on a per-medium basis. On Figure 21.7, you can see that Mandrake Linux key is allowed for medium “Installation CD”. Click on Add a key... to allow another key for that medium (beware, do that with care, as with every security-related questions), and Remove key to remove a key.

Figure 21.7. RpmDrake –– managing keys

RpmDrake –– managing keys
Proxy...

 –– If you are sitting behind a firewall and you still want to use RpmDrake to manage your system, you can do so, if you have a proxy server which leads to the Internet (at least in an area where you can find a package server). Normally it should be enough to fill in the Proxy hostname to get it working (Figure 21.8). If you need a user / password combination to get through the proxy, you can also specify them here. Just confirm your changes by clicking on OK and you are done.

Figure 21.8. RpmDrake –– configuring a proxy

RpmDrake –– configuring a proxy
Parallel...

If you are running a large network of computers, you may want to install a package on all the computers in parallel; this button will open a dialog window allowing the configuration of the “Parallel” mode. As it's rather complicated and useful to a limited range of people, this short introduction will not give more details about it.

As you have seen on our short trip through RpmDrake, it is easy to manage your own system, to add new applications or to remove something if you need more space on disk. Now welcome to the world of system administrators.