Learning Red Hat Linux, Second Edition

Gnome RPM

Gnome RPM (or GnoRPM) is an X-based, graphical interface to the Red Hat Linux RPM facility. You can use GnoRPM to:

• Query and verify installed packages

• Find and install new packages or upgrade existing packages

• Uninstall packages

GnoRPM is somewhat temperamental, tending sometimes to crash or produce odd results. But it works properly often enough to be useful, especially if you find the rpm command confusing.

Installing GnoRPM

If you installed the GNOME desktop during system installation, the installation procedure automatically installed GnoRPM by default. If you installed X but chose the KDE desktop rather than GNOME, you can manually install GnoRPM by inserting Disc 1 of Red Hat Linux in your system’s CD-ROM drive and issuing the following commands:

su -
mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom -o ro
rpm --replacepkgs -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/gnorpm-*.rpm
umount /mnt/cdrom
exit

Launching GnoRPM

You can launch GnoRPM from a terminal window by issuing the command:

               gnorpm &

Or, depending on your desktop configuration, you may by able to launch GnoRPM from the GNOME or KDE menu. To do so, select Main Menu → Programs → System → GnoRPM.

Shortly after you launch GnoRPM, its main window appears, as shown in Figure 8-3.

Figure 8-3. GnoRPM

The left half of the window contains a tree that represents the installed package hierarchy, organized by category. If you click on a subtree, ...