Sometimes, you may need or wish to update a few packages installed during the installation process. There is a tool for this: MandrakeUpdate, which has an icon on your desktop. Please note that you must be root to use this tool!
The main window looks like this:
You may update your packages from various locations, a little bit like RpmDrake described above.Use the pull-down menu labelled File, in which you'll find a Preferences item: click on it. You then get this window:
We won't describe here all the available options: we'll just concentrate on the source from which we'll update packages, so click on the Source item in the list on the left.
You can have two kind of sources: from a local directory on your computer, or through the Internet. For the local directory, it's simple: enter the full pathname, or click on the ... button to browse your directory tree.
A network source is a bit more complicated. The pull-down menu gives you access to various Internet sites holding updated packages: so you need to be connected to the Internet.
You may need to use the button Update list of mirrors: this will try to build a list of the Internet sites available, so you can select the one nearest to your location.
When you've selected your source, click the OK button.
Now back to the main window. The pull-down list on the top-right, for now labelled Security only, lets you choose what kind of packages you want to retrieve. By default, you will do updates related to security (i.e., to avoid crackers intrusions). This type of updates are very important!
You can also choose Development updates: these packages, as the name suggests, are the latest developers' productions. So they may not be well tested and not very stable: use them with caution, and be sure to know what you're doing!
When you've chosen which type you intend to update, click on the Update list button: after a few seconds (or more, if you're using a network source with a slow connection), the package list in the middle is filled with available packages.
Now you can select what packages you want to update, in the same way you do for installing or uninstalling: just click on the little square box near the package name. Note the status bar, always displaying how many packages are selected and their total size.
When you're done, click on the Do update button, and just wait for everything to finish.