Sources are package repositories where you can find packages to install on your Mandrake Linux. It can be a local directory on your hard drive, a CD-ROM, or even a remote directory somewhere on a network – the Internet, for example. There is always a specially defined source: the one from which you installed your system. Now we will explore sources management.
Imagine you find a wonderful CD-ROM with
plenty of packages, or a directory on the web. This is
clearly a new source of packages and you would like to use
it with RpmDrake. Then you must define a new source
by clicking on the
Define sources button.
In the new pop-up window, click on New to define a new source. You then see the following dialog:
In every case, you must give your source a name: this name will be used to identify the source later.
You can define several different source types, such as:
Removable. This is a generic name for sources like CD-ROM, ZIP, and so on. You must tell RpmDrake the appropriate device (i.e.: which drive) and its mount point.
Local. If your computer directories contain packages, you can "register" them here. Just give the full, absolute path to the directory.
FTP or HTTP. These types are for remote package repositories. In both cases, you must give the full remote directory URL, beginning with ftp:// or http:// according to the type. Also, give the hdlist file path, which contains a compact description of what is available in regards with the previously given path. A typical example would be ../base/hdlist.cz. This means you can only use "Mandrake-compliant" remote repositories, where a hdlist is present. If unsure, ask the remote site's administrator. The only difference is that you must provide a user name and a password for FTP sources.
Security Updates. This describes remote repositories (like FTP and HTTP) where you can find package updates in regards with security issues. You should use a trusted mirror for that: the Update the list of mirrors button gives you a list of trusted mirrors. Try to use those closest to your geographical location. Note that you may have to give a user name and a password, if the mirror uses the FTP protocol.
Cooker. These packages are for those who want to closely follow the evolution of the software: they are the very latest releases. So, be sure you know what you are doing! These packages are mostly of development type, therefore prone to unstablility and may damage your system, especially when talking about kernel updates, file systems, etc. Migrating Debian users should compare cooker to the testing distribution.
From time to time, the packages contained in a source may change, especially if they are not on a CD-ROM: some RPM files may be deleted or added. To keep the internal database synchronized with the actual state of your various sources, it is necessary to update them (the sources).
You can achieve this operation very easily by clicking on
the Reload
lists button. But note that it can take a rather
long time: as each package is being checked to see if it
needs to be updated, and the dependencies are recalculated
to reflect the changes.
Now suppose the content of a source has changed. Usually, it means some packages were added or changed: a package is changed when the "old" release is buggy or insecure, or simply because there is a new and better release available. It is possible that some old packages were installed on your system, due to a lack of available, updated packages.
So, after updating the source, you have the opportunity to update some packages installed on your system and to take advantage of various new releases: you can see them in the Installable list: they appear in a different color. Simply select and install them, and there's no need to say we strongly suggest you do this...