If I want to install a software package from a simple rpm file "the GUI way" on a CentOS 7 system, what am I supposed to do? If I open the file in the desktop, or alternatively, click on a link to a package in the browser and tell it to use the default app, gnome-software (I think) opens, but it just displays the message
Sorry, something went wrong
I mean, really? Isn't this something that should just work? It certainly did in past releases...
If I quite simply remove gnome-software, which I don't much like anyway, it looks like the handling reverts to the archive extract tool (whatever it's called these days), which is actually an improvement, but still not very helpful.
So, what's everyone else doing in these situations? Is there a "standard" alternative application? I know this was handle by gnome-packagekit for a while, but its component for installation from file seems to be gone. And, yeah, I know about rpm command line and yum and all, but shouldn't there be a "more user-friendly" way?
Thanks.
- Toralf
Toralf Lund toralf.lund@pgs.com wrote:
And, yeah, I know about rpm command line and yum and all, but shouldn't there be a "more user-friendly" way?
The command line is your friend.
Have a look at yumex. I think you'll prefer the command line, though.
Unfortunately, the GUI isn't quite set up to tell you what the error would be. When you use `$ sudo yum install whatever.rpm`, the output in the shell will often give you a clue as to what's going wrong--a missing dependency, etc.
-- Seth.
On Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 9:51 AM Yves Bellefeuille yan@storm.ca wrote:
Toralf Lund toralf.lund@pgs.com wrote:
And, yeah, I know about rpm command line and yum and all, but shouldn't there be a "more user-friendly" way?
The command line is your friend.
Have a look at yumex. I think you'll prefer the command line, though.
-- Yves Bellefeuille yan@storm.ca
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
On 22/02/2020 03:55, Seth Goldin wrote:
Unfortunately, the GUI isn't quite set up to tell you what the error would be.
Seriously? I'd say that if it's not set up that way it has no business being included in a stable release of anything, let alone an "enterprise operating system"...
When you use `$ sudo yum install whatever.rpm`, the output in the shell will often give you a clue as to what's going wrong--a missing dependency, etc.
Actually, I'm talking about cases where there isn't or shouldn't be anything going wrong at all. The rpms install just fine from the command line.
- Toralf
-- Seth.
On Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 9:51 AM Yves Bellefeuille yan@storm.ca wrote:
Toralf Lund toralf.lund@pgs.com wrote:
And, yeah, I know about rpm command line and yum and all, but shouldn't there be a "more user-friendly" way?
The command line is your friend.
Have a look at yumex. I think you'll prefer the command line, though.
-- Yves Bellefeuille yan@storm.ca
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.centos.org_mailma...
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On 2/24/20 5:50 AM, Toralf Lund wrote:
On 22/02/2020 03:55, Seth Goldin wrote:
Unfortunately, the GUI isn't quite set up to tell you what the error would be.
Seriously? I'd say that if it's not set up that way it has no business being included in a stable release of anything, let alone an "enterprise operating system"...
When you use `$ sudo yum install whatever.rpm`, the output in the shell will often give you a clue as to what's going wrong--a missing dependency, etc.
Actually, I'm talking about cases where there isn't or shouldn't be anything going wrong at all. The rpms install just fine from the command line.
- Toralf
There's a nice bit of info on creating "local" repos for rpm packs you might want to install that are not availble in standard CentOS repos.
https://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/CreateLocalRepos
This section, esp --
* Create /etc/yum.repos.d/local.repo
shows you syntax etc.
I set up a local repo for my install DVD some time ago, then set it to "enabled=0" it when I was basically finished with it. There were packs on it that didn't seem to exist in any other CentOS repo.
You really could use ANY gpg key and just disable the gpgchek I think. In any case, this is a good approach and will provide you with a "gui" interface for installing the local rpms stored in one area of your system.
Hope this helps,
Kay
-- Seth.
On Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 9:51 AM Yves Bellefeuille yan@storm.ca wrote:
Toralf Lund toralf.lund@pgs.com wrote:
And, yeah, I know about rpm command line and yum and all, but shouldn't there be a "more user-friendly" way?
The command line is your friend.
Have a look at yumex. I think you'll prefer the command line, though.
-- Yves Bellefeuille yan@storm.ca
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.centos.org_mailma...
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On 21/02/2020 15:51, Yves Bellefeuille wrote:
Toralf Lund toralf.lund@pgs.com wrote:
And, yeah, I know about rpm command line and yum and all, but shouldn't there be a "more user-friendly" way?
The command line is your friend.
In many case, but in the situations I'm talking about here is really a lot more cumbersome to use. To use the command line to install a a package from a website, I have to
1. Right-click 2. Select Save Link As 3. Enter filename/directory 4. Open a terminal 5. Remember where I put the bloody file 6. Run yum to actually install it.
Compare that to
1. Click on the link 2. Hey, there's no step 2.
The 2nd variant is something that's was working for about 15 years, but I guess that was before someone decided to make the system "user friendly"...
- Toralf
Have a look at yumex. I think you'll prefer the command line, though.
In many case, but in the situations I'm talking about here is really a lot more cumbersome to use. To use the command line to install a a package from a website, I have to
- Right-click
- Select Save Link As
- Enter filename/directory
- Open a terminal
- Remember where I put the bloody file
- Run yum to actually install it.
yum (and rpm) can install from the web
1. Right-click 2. Copy link location 3. yum install <paste link location>
Compare that to
- Click on the link
- Hey, there's no step 2.
The 2nd variant is something that's was working for about 15 years, but I guess that was before someone decided to make the system "user friendly"...
Without getting emotional about it you need to think what happens when you click on a link in a web browser, i.e. how does the browser know to install this link you've just clicked on and what does it have to do in order to install it. Personally, I think having RPMs installable with a single click is a bad idea - they are as dangerous as .exe on Windows systems. Having said that, on my Fedora system clicking on an RPM downloads it (with a warnning), then double clicking on the downloaded RPM in the browser launches "Gnome Software" to install it: no terminals involved and you never have to take your hand off the mouse.
Things may be different if you aren't using Gnome or it may be different for another browser.
P.
On 24/02/2020 15:46, Pete Biggs wrote:
In many case, but in the situations I'm talking about here is really a lot more cumbersome to use. To use the command line to install a a package from a website, I have to
- Right-click
- Select Save Link As
- Enter filename/directory
- Open a terminal
- Remember where I put the bloody file
- Run yum to actually install it.
yum (and rpm) can install from the web
- Right-click
- Copy link location
- yum install <paste link location>
Yeah, I knew that, really. Still pretty annoying, though.
Compare that to
- Click on the link
- Hey, there's no step 2.
The 2nd variant is something that's was working for about 15 years, but I guess that was before someone decided to make the system "user friendly"...
Without getting emotional about it you need to think what happens when you click on a link in a web browser, i.e. how does the browser know to install this link you've just clicked on and what does it have to do in order to install it. Personally, I think having RPMs installable with a single click is a bad idea - they are as dangerous as .exe on Windows systems.
Well, "yum install" with an URL isn't really any safer, is it?
I don't think packages should be installed without any extra interaction, of course. With the way it's worked for several years, you have to enter a password and confirm that you want to start installation, and there are possibly warnings/extra confirmation steps related to signatures, too...
Having said that, on my Fedora system clicking on an RPM downloads it (with a warnning), then double clicking on the downloaded RPM in the browser launches "Gnome Software" to install it: no terminals involved and you never have to take your hand off the mouse.
Things may be different if you aren't using Gnome or it may be different for another browser.
I have concluded that it's meant to work that way in CentOS/Red Hat Enterprise 7, too. It's just that "Gnome Software" is seriously broken. Or more likely, the version included just wasn't ready for release, then someone released it anyway...
It's hard not to get emotional about that when you know there was a perfectly usable alternative in past versions, which basically means someone went out of their way to break a system that just worked.
- Toralf
P.
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On Feb 26, 2020, at 7:48 AM, Toralf Lund toralf.lund@pgs.com wrote:
On 24/02/2020 15:46, Pete Biggs wrote:
In many case, but in the situations I'm talking about here is really a lot more cumbersome to use. To use the command line to install a a package from a website, I have to
- Right-click
- Select Save Link As
- Enter filename/directory
- Open a terminal
- Remember where I put the bloody file
- Run yum to actually install it.
yum (and rpm) can install from the web
- Right-click
- Copy link location
- yum install <paste link location>
Yeah, I knew that, really. Still pretty annoying, though.
Indeed, why don’t we have Linux automatically get and install the package (from whatever source), and never ask admin password. In other words, behave as nicely as MS Windows does. And security wise is the same garbage as MS Windows is.
Incidentally, Microsoft is the only system vendor I know who explicitly tells you that it is not safe to run their operating system without third party software: antivirus.
And even that antivirus approach is logically flawed thinking. Antivirus is trying to enumerate bad. You can not enumerate bad, you can enumerate good and prohibit everything else. The last is what sane sysadmins do.
Just my 2 cents.
Valeri
Compare that to
- Click on the link
- Hey, there's no step 2.
The 2nd variant is something that's was working for about 15 years, but I guess that was before someone decided to make the system "user friendly"...
Without getting emotional about it you need to think what happens when you click on a link in a web browser, i.e. how does the browser know to install this link you've just clicked on and what does it have to do in order to install it. Personally, I think having RPMs installable with a single click is a bad idea - they are as dangerous as .exe on Windows systems.
Well, "yum install" with an URL isn't really any safer, is it?
I don't think packages should be installed without any extra interaction, of course. With the way it's worked for several years, you have to enter a password and confirm that you want to start installation, and there are possibly warnings/extra confirmation steps related to signatures, too...
Having said that, on my Fedora system clicking on an RPM downloads it (with a warnning), then double clicking on the downloaded RPM in the browser launches "Gnome Software" to install it: no terminals involved and you never have to take your hand off the mouse.
Things may be different if you aren't using Gnome or it may be different for another browser.
I have concluded that it's meant to work that way in CentOS/Red Hat Enterprise 7, too. It's just that "Gnome Software" is seriously broken. Or more likely, the version included just wasn't ready for release, then someone released it anyway...
It's hard not to get emotional about that when you know there was a perfectly usable alternative in past versions, which basically means someone went out of their way to break a system that just worked.
- Toralf
P.
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Valeri Galtsev Sr System Administrator Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics University of Chicago Phone: 773-702-4247 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Kay Schenk -
Pete Biggs -
Seth Goldin -
Toralf Lund -
Valeri Galtsev -
Yves Bellefeuille