This part of Rpmdrake is dedicated to the
configuration of the package media repositories. As you can see in
Figure 7.5, “The
Software Media Manager” there are some media configured:
“Installation CD”, “Contrib CD”, etc.
With this tool you can add other 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 will not appear in
the “Install Software” interface.
You have several choices here.
Allows you to remove a medium which you no longer use, e.g. there is a new version of Mandrakelinux and you bought the new box. Simply select the medium to be removed in the list and click this button.
Here you may change the URL or the relative path to the synthesis/hdlist (if you do not know what we are talking about it will be wise to leave this window via instead of ).
This button provides access to a new dialog, in which you may define a new software package medium. In Figure 7.6, “Rpmdrake –– adding a Media” you can see the dialog when adding a Security updates medium.
You will be shown a list of already defined data media. You can choose the ones you want to update. Just start the process by clicking on .
It is important that any new 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 7.7, “Rpmdrake –– managing keys”, you can see that Mandrakelinux key is allowed for medium “Installation CD”. Click on to allow another key for that medium (beware, do this with care, as with all security-related questions), and to remove a key.
If you are sitting behind a firewall and you still need 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 7.8, “Rpmdrake –– configuring a proxy”). If you need a user / password combination to get through the proxy, you can also specify these here. Just confirm your changes by clicking on and you are done.
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 is rather complicated and only useful to a limited group 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. Welcome to the world of system administration.