1. Managing Software

2. Downloading Software
Most ubiquitous file transfer method is FTP
• supported by almost all platforms
• many ftp client and server programs available for Linux
• supports anonymous file transfers
• authenticates in clear text
HTTP is supplanting FTP in many cases
• provides for a more user-friendly interface
• very widespread support

3. FTP
Standard FTP clients have text-based interfaces
FTP servers typically listen on TCP port 21 and send data to clients on TCP port 20
To connect simply specify name or IP address of the server
• If at the shell prompt:
$ ftp ftp.freesoftware.com
• If already at the ftp> prompt ...
ftp> open ftp.freesoftware.com
The server will then prompt for username and password
• When doing an anonymous login, the username ftp can often be used instead

5. lftp
An excellent replacement for the standard ftp client
Supports a wealth of useful features including
• progress meters
• filename completion
• command history
• background processing
• auto-resume downloads
• bookmarking
• host redialing
• working with firewalls and proxies
• downloading entire directory trees
Examples:
lftp ftp.example.com:/pub/> get bigfile &
lftp> at 3AM Dec 9, get /pub/fun/happy_bday_bryan.zip &

6. Installing Software
Software can be distributed in a variety of ways
Binary files
• packages such as .rpm and .deb
Packages provide dependency and file tracking
• archives such as .tar, .zip, etc.
• individual executable files
Source code
• packages such as .src.rpm and (.dsc/.tar.gz)

7. Installing Binary Packages - RPM
Install a package with
• rpm [options] packagename-version-release.arch.rpm
-i install new package
-U upgrade package or install new package
-F freshen package (upgrade only)
--force do it anyway! (not recommended)
--nodeps ignore dependencies (not recommended)
Most common use for installing packages:
# rpm -Uvh package_name.rpm
Uninstall package with
# rpm -e package_name

8. Querying and Verifying with RPM
rpm -q has powerful query capabilities, allowing you to query:
• files - to see information about the package that supplied the file
• uninstalled package files - to see their contents
• system's RPM database - to see information on installed packages
rpm -V can be used to verify the integrity of files provided by packages
rpmquery is equivalent to rpm -q in RPM v4.x
rpmverify is equivalent to rpm -V in RPM v4.x
In RPM v3 and older, only rpm -q and rpm -V can be used

9. Compiling/Installing from Source
In general, to compile from source code:
• extract the source from archive (decompressing, if necessary)
• read installation documentation
• select compile time options and run the configure script
• run make to compile
• su - to root
• run make install (usually, as root) to install software

10. Installing Source RPM Packages
Source RPMs contain the source code of the application, with information about how to install the software
Source RPMs can be compiled and installed directly, or can be used to produce binary RPM
$ rpmbuild --recompile package_name-version-release.src.rpm
$ rpmbuild --rebuild package_name-version-release.src.rpm
# rpm -U package_name-version-release.src.rpm