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3.Enter your e-mail address in the Email Address text box. 4.If you haven t set up your CNR account yet, then click No, I Need ToCreate A New Account. Otherwise, click Yes, I Have An AccountPassword and enter that password in the text box. I m going to cover created accounts, because it s just an issue of fillingout forms to set up for CNR. 5.Click Go! to proceed. Remember, I m assuming that you ve set up your account at this point. After you click Go, you suddenly start seeing notices that you haveupdates available. When these messages appear, notice that a new iconappears to the right of your panel. It s a green circle with a blue arrowpointing up. You can click this icon to load the update for that piece ofsoftware immediately rather than proceeding through the rest of thesesteps. I m going to focus on updating the whole system at the momentbecause you may have more than one update available. 6.Click the My Products tab. The My Products section appears (see Figure 12-6). 7.Click Available Updates to see what software updates are available. You may not have many at all, or you may have a lot. 8.Select the update(s) you want to apply. Figure 12-6: The MyProductstab ofLinspire 4.5CNR Client. 241Chapter 12: Adding Software to Linux18_

Sometimes this process can be slow, freeze up, or be downright ornery. If anyof this happens to you, cancel out of the update and restart it (though firstgive it a few minutes to see whether the program unfreezes on its own). Updating LinspireHere s where you get to meet Linspire s Click And Run Warehouse (CNR)! It spretty cool stuff, especially for folks new to Linux. To update your systemusing CNR: 1.Double-click the CNR icon on the bottom left of your desktop, orsingle-click the icon on the left of your panel. These two icons look identical they re running men on a green back- ground. When you activate this icon, the CNR-Client dialog box appears(see Figure 12-5). 2.If you re using a free version of Linspire, click Get Membership andthen Start Free Trial to sign up. If you re using a version you pur- chased, choose Settings.Login/Logout. I m going to stick with the purchased instructions, because they re goingto apply to free users as well once you ve got your trial membershipinformation. The My.Linspire Login screen appears. Figure 12-5: The LinspireCNR Client. 240Part III:Getting Up to Speed with Linux

12.Click Select All Packages. If you want, you can individually pick the items you want to update. Ifyou want to know why an update is available, click the item in the listand look in the bottom section to find out what that item is for; thenclick View Advisory to see why the update is available. 13.When you re ready to proceed, click Forward. The system makes sure that all dependencies are met, and then theRetrieving Packages dialog box appears. Two progress bars, one for indi- vidual packages and one for the total set of downloads, show you howmuch longer you have to go. When the downloads are finished, theForward button becomes available. 14.Click Forward when the download is done. The Installing Packages dialog box appears. The system now installs allthe updates it just grabbed and then offers you the Forward buttonwhen you re done. 15.Click Forward when the installation is complete. The All Finished dialog box appears. 16.Click the Finished button, and you re done. Figure 12-4: The updateagent sChannelsdialog box. 239Chapter 12: Adding Software to Linux18_

I am going to skip the Retrieval/Installation tab because I recommendthat you keep all the defaults anyway. If you want to find out more aboutwhat s available in this tab, point a Web browser to www.redhat.com/ docs/manuals/RHNetwork/ref-guide/3.4and click section 2.4.1, Using the Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool. 6.Click the Package Exceptions tab to move to this section of the dialogbox (see Figure 12-3). 7.Click kernel and then click Remove. You re now able to automatically update your operating system as wellas your software. 8.Click OK to proceed. A Question dialog box opens. It asks you about creating a GPG (www. gnupg.org) security key. 9.Click Yes. You re now able to have your updater verify that the updates sent to youare from Red Hat and not from some nasty place! Now the Welcome ToRed Hat Update Agent dialog box appears. 10.Click Forward to proceed. The Channels dialog box, shown in Figure 12-4, appears. 11.Click Forward to proceed. A progress window appears, showing you a slider bar as the updaterchecks to see what s available. Once the available updates are recorded, the Available Package Updates dialog box appears. Figure 12-3: ThePackageExceptionstab of theRed HatNetworkCon- figurationdialog box. 238Part III:Getting Up to Speed with Linux

This action opens either the Red Hat Network Configuration dialog box, shown in Figure 12-2, or the Red Hat Update Agent, depending onwhether you ve already configured this tool either way, you may firstbe asked to enter your root (administrative password). If you get theConfiguration dialog box, then proceed to Step 2. If you get the UpdateAgent, skip to Step 10.2.If your ISP or employer requires you to use a Web proxy, then clickthe Enable HTTP Proxy check box to put a check in it; otherwise, skipto Step 6.3.Enter the address for your proxy in the associated text box. 4.If the proxy requires authentication, click the Use Authentication box. If not, skip to Step 6.5.Enter your proxy login and password in the Username and Passwordtext boxes. Figure 12-2: The Generaltab of Red HatNetworkConfigura- tion dialogbox. Figure 12-1: The Red HatNetworkAlertNotificationTool dialogbox, AvailableUpdates tab. 237Chapter 12: Adding Software to Linux18_

Utilities.Archiving Tool to open the Ark program (which is avail- able with most of the distributions listed here as well). SuSE:In the context menu, select Compress.Compress As. SeeTable 12-1 to help you determine which format you want to use. Xandros:In the context menu, choose Add to ZIP Archive if you resharing with Windows users, or Create TGZ Archive to make a tar- ball, as discussed in Table 12-1.5.If you want to rename the file or change where it should go in yourfilesystem, do so now. Leave the .tar.gzor .gzpart alone. Just change the first part. Forexample, if you re archiving the Files folder, then the suggested namemight be Files.tar.gz. If you wanted to use Files100305.tar.gzforthe actual name, you would just add the date into the existing name. 6.Click OK. The archive is created. Updating Your SoftwareIn the last couple of years, updating your operating system and software inLinux has become easier and easier. Each Linux distribution has its own wayof handling updates, so I cover how to do update each one in its own section. The cool thing is that you re actually updating your operating system and itssoftware all at once. Be sure to be connected to the Internet before you try toupdate! I don t cover how to update Knoppix, however, because if you re usingKnoppix, you didn t install anything to update! If you re interested ininstalling and updating Knoppix, see Chapter 21. Updating FedoraIf you look to the right of your upper Fedora panel, you see a big red circlewith a white exclamation point inside or a blue circle with a checkmark. Thisis your updater, and once you configure it, the red circle warns you thatyou ve got updates available that you haven t applied yet. Click this icon, and the Red Hat Network (RHN) Alert Notification Tool dialog box appears(see Figure 12-1). You can see the updates available in the main (AvailableUpdates) tab, where you can decide whether you want to launch the updater. To update your system from the RHN Alert Notification Tool: 1.Click Launch up2date. 236Part III:Getting Up to Speed with Linux

Compressing and Packaging Files to ShareLife isn t all about take, take, take (or at least I should hope not!) Sometimesyou ve just gotta give. Creating care packages to share with other folksinvolves learning how to tell Nautilus (GNOME users) or Konqueror (KDEusers) that you want to do so. However, because the overall process is sosimilar, I don t break these steps down into separate sections. To package up and compress files for sending off to other people, navigate tothe location where you ve stored the file(s) see Chapter 10 for how tomove about and then: 1.Determine whether you want to compress or package a single file, agroup of files, or a whole folder. If the files and folders that you want to bundle together are flung all overthe place in your folders, you may want to create a new folder and copythe items you want to bundle together into it. Chapter 10 shows youhow to do so. 2.Select the item(s) you want to package. Chapter 10 explains how to do so. If you want to select a whole folder, navigate into its parent folder and just select the folder s icon instead ofentering it. 3.Right-click over the item(s) (or if you re using Nautilus, you can alsochoose the Edit menu). The context menu appears if you right-clicked or, in Nautilus, the Editmenu opens. 4.Create your archive. How you create your archive depends on what distribution you re using: Fedora:In the context or Edit menu, choose Create Archive. Inboth cases, the Create Archive dialog box appears, suggesting atarball (see Table 12-1) version of the file. If this is what you want, leave it alone, or change the file extensions (as discussed in thetable) to match what you want. Then click Create, and you re fin- ished with these steps. Knoppix and Mandrake:In the context menu, select Actions andthen the appropriate Create option as guided by Table 12-1: Creategzipped tar Archive means to make a .tar.gz or .tgz file; Createbzipped tar Archive means to make a .tar.bz2 or .tbz2 file; andCreate zip Archive means to make a .zip file. Linspire:You cannot use the file browser in Linspire 4.5 to createan archive. Instead, you ll have to go to the main menu.Programs. 235Chapter 12: Adding Software to Linux18_

WinZip can open tarballs with no problem on a Windows computer. Fortunately, all you need to know is how to double-click a file in order toaccess the many types listed in Table 12-1. Once you double-click the file, your File Manager shows you what s inside. While Table 12-1 mentions operating systems, it doesn t contain hard andfast rules. People tend to use whatever kind of programs they re comfortablewith no matter what operating system they re on. Table 12-1Potential Formats for Downloaded FilesExtensionMeaningProgram(s) Involved.bzOlder form of .bz2.bzip, bunzip.bz2Extensive Linux and Unix compressed file.bzip2, bunzip2.debNot a file to open; see the Installing New aptSoftware section, later in this chapter. .gzTypical compressed file for Linux and Unix.gzip, gunzip.isoA CD-ROM or DVD-ROM image, which is a See Chapter 18. single file that contains a CD or DVD s entire contents. You have to tell your CD or DVD burner software that this file is an image so that it knows not to just place a copy of this file onto the media. .rpmNot a file to open; see the Installing rpmNew Software section, later in this chapter. .tarA bunch of files bundled together.tar.tar.bz2A tarball, which in this case is a .tar file inside tar, bzip2, a .bz2 file.bunzip2.tar.gzA traditional tarball, which is a .tar file tar, gunzip, gzipinside a .gz file. .tgzA traditional tarball, which is a .tar file tar, gunzip, gzipinside a .gz file. .ZOld-style Unix compressed file.compress, uncompress.zipWindows ZIP file.zip, unzipWinZip (www.winzip.com) can handle .gz, .tgz, and .tar.gz files (along withthe .bz2 versions) for Windows users. 234Part III:Getting Up to Speed with Linux

Chapter 12Adding Software to LinuxIn This Chapter Recognizing tarballs, RPMs, and compressed files Creating tarballs and archives Compressing files Opening tarballs, archives, and compressed files Installing and removing RPMsI will make you shorter by the head. Queen Elizabeth IWhen you start using a new operating system, one of the most frustratingthings is trying to figure out all the goofy file extensions. The Windowsworld has .exeand .zip. The Macintosh world has .binand .hqx. Whatabout the Linux world? It certainly has its fair share of bizarre extensions, but, really, they make a great deal of sense after you know the programs thatmake them. In this chapter, you find out all about .tar, .gz, .tar.gz, .tgz, .bz2, and .rpm. Anyone up for a game of Scrabble with alphabet soup? After you ve got the letter jumble all figured out, you ll be happy to find thatLinux offers a number of cool tools for working with these crazy files, updat- ing your system, adding new software, and more. Opening Downloaded FilesThe Linux and Unix worlds are full of strange terms and acronyms. For exam- ple, if someone comes up to you out of the blue and starts talking about tar- balls, you probably get a mental image of sticky, smelly balls of tar, mayberolled in feathers. Yet a tarball is something you run into regularly in the Linuxworld, especially when you re looking for software or you need to save your- self some space. A tarballis a bunch of files (and possibly directories) pack- aged together in a tarfile and then compressed by using the gziputility.

Don t run out of room! One of the most insidious problems that all computer users run into from timeto time is a lack of disk space. The scope of this problem really depends on anumber of things. The primary issue is that, if your rootpartition becomes 99or 100 percent full, you need to use emergency rescue techniques (refer toChapter 5) to boot the machine and clean it out. That s no fun, is it? In the beginning, you re probably not in danger of filling the drives, unlessyou barely had enough room to install Linux in the first place. However, overtime, you may forget about watching the drives for remaining space. Evenexperienced administrators run into this problem, so certainly you re for- given if you do it too! Really do try to make doing the following a habit: 1.Open a command prompt window (see Chapter 14). 2.Type df -h. That s it! As you can see earlier in the section If your machine fails toreboot, though you ignored it at the time, the columns include Size:How big the partition is. Used:How much of the partition has been used already. Avail:How much is left. Use%:So we don t have to do mental math, a % of how much of the par- tition has been used up. When you start reaching 90 percent, it s time to start doing some housecleaning! 232Part III:Getting Up to Speed with Linux