Robert Locke wrote: > >> >> From: Chuck_Sterling <csterlin@xxxxxxxxxx> >> Date: 2004/07/02 Fri PM 07:25:27 EDT >> To: fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx >> Subject: List of rpms to install mplayer on FC2 (2.6.6-1.435.2.1) >> > <snip> >> >> Since I did not know what order of installation was needed, I just >> used a baby script to install whatever would, then run it again and >> again until all the dependencies were finally met. Took about four >> passes, plus one more when finally I downloaded libpostproc. >> >> example of script... >> # for FILE in `ls -1 *.rpm` >> > do >> > echo $FILE >> > rpm -i $FILE >> > done >> . . . >> # >> >> </FWIW> >> Chuck Sterling >> > > Chuck, > > Couple of thoughts to make it easier for you next time.... > > 1) Try to get used to yum or apt-get. I am using yum at the moment, > and once I modified my yum.conf file to include some other repo's One question I have is where to find "other repos". Are those in the list of mirrors at "fedora.redhat.com" the ones I need, or someplace else? And how does one determine which ones are needed (since there are quite a few listed there) and the exact syntax for adding the info? I think I see the pattern in my "stock" yum.conf, but if there are any tricks for adding particular repositories... > , all > I had to do was a "yum install xine". Admittedly, my repo did not > have a couple of additional rpm's listed as dependencies, so I needed > to additionally do a "yum install libdvdcss". I think I had mentioned that I tried "yum install xine", but if not I mention it now. I had not (and still have not) modified yum.conf, and the process ended in error (not finding xine, I think, but I've seen so many error messages lately they tend to run together in what's left of my mind). > > 2) But even if you would rather go through manual dependency > h-e-double-hockey-sticks, simply download all the rpm's you think you > need into one directory, from one repository site. Then do a "rpm > -Uvh *.rpm" from that directory. The "shell expansion" will initially > have the rpm's in alphabetical order, but the "preflight check" of rpm > will re-order them automagically based on the dependencies..... Seems > easier than your script. Also by using the -v switch you will see the > order that they are installed in. I should have read up on rpm a bit and not missed that capability. The little script was "adequate" but just barely. <OT RAMBLE> As I type this, I'm trying to get a handle on, for want of a better term, the "politics" of Linux. Not the legal questions re: M$ and SCO et al, but where Linux in general, commercial Linux distributions (RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, etc.), and Fedora Core fit into the IT world. I am of the opinion that Linux is in a battle for its life with M$, and that M$ has a head start (stating the obvious). With that in mind, it seems to me that the chief aim of developers of Linux distros (beyond creating a robust and reliable operating system) should be to compete in the marketplace. M$ is, after all, less a software company these days than a money machine (one of the reasons I do not have to actually name M$; the abbreviation is usually sufficient). Let me say that while I tinker with Linux and administer a small US Govt network with a mix of Win32, Solaris, and Linux systems, I am by no stretch of definition a developer; by most measures in this forum, I am a user of Linux that can occasionally write something useful if trivial in sh or perl. In order to get Linux of any stripe into a network like mine it must be, in a word, supportable. One must qualify that: "supportable as used". It is arguable that M$ and Solaris are both supportable, albeit with considerable difficulty at times, and that their being thus supportable is due in no small part to their consistency, bugs and all. I mean by that, that once we find a solution to a problem, we generally don't have to find it again until the next time we upgrade to a new OS version and maybe not then. But I digress, and this paragraph can continue ad nauseum if I let it. One point I would like to make is that the sort of troubles we are dealing with in the installation of mplayer almost never show up (in my limited experience) when dealing with similar, seemingly trivial, installations of software on Windows systems. I understand will that many developers of hardward do not bother with development for Linux platforms. Case in point: a LeadTek TV card and a Neo-something video capture card. Both include trivial installation procedures for various M$ versions, and both work. Neither include any mention of Linux, because there isn't any money in it. Yet. But why (Rhetorical question; we in IT do not answer "why" questions.) do we not have similar triviality in software developed with Linux in mind? These days, functions like those provided by mplayer are trivial to the world-at-large, and in my professional opinion it is in the best interests of the Linux marketing community (should such a community happen to exist) to get this sort of thing just bolted onto the block so that it "just runs" when you turn the key to start (minor apology for the automotive analogy). Here's the rub. Newsflash: The Linux marketing community does NOT work in concert; they compete with each other. The various Linux distribution companies work diligently to differentiate themselves from each other, in an attempt to gain an edge over competitors very similar to themselves. No apology here: This is like the hyenas waiting for the lion to leave the kill with a full stomach so they can fight over the leavings. The net result is that the lion remains king. While recognizing that there is are communities that does not give a tinker's damn about marketing and wants software to be free, I submit that this is self-destructive, perhaps (said with sadness) intentionally self-destructive. Linux, to survive, must survive in the marketplace. It cannot do so fighting among itselves (fractured syntax intentional). There must, simple must, be a single Linux community that will compete head-to-head with its only competitor, M$, or... the lion remains king. Ah, enough of this. I gotta go get a haircut. We can integrate the Linux community tomorrow... or Monday... Opinions, omissions, misspellings: all are mine. </OT RAMBLE> > > HTH in the future, I'm sure it will. Thanks again, Chuck
