Operation Manual

by the name extension -devel, such as the packages alsa-devel,
gimp-devel, and libkde4-devel.
7.2.1 Verifying Package Authenticity
RPM packages have a GnuPG signature. To verify the signature of an RPM package,
use the command rpm --checksig package-1.2.3.rpm to determine whether
the package originates from Novell/SUSE or from another trustworthy facility. This is
especially recommended for update packages from the Internet.
7.2.2 Managing Packages: Install, Update,
and Uninstall
Normally, the installation of an RPM archive is quite simple: rpm -i package.rpm.
With this command the package is installed, but only if its dependencies are fullled
and if there are no conicts with other packages. With an error message, rpm requests
those packages that need to be installed to meet dependency requirements. In the
background, the RPM database ensures that no conicts arise—a specic le can only
belong to one package. By choosing different options, you can force rpm to ignore
these defaults, but this is only for experts. Otherwise, you risk compromising the integrity
of the system and possibly jeopardize the ability to update the system.
The options -U or --upgrade and -F or --freshen can be used to update a
package (for example, rpm -F package.rpm). This command removes the les
of the old version and immediately installs the new les. The difference between the
two versions is that -U installs packages that previously did not exist in the system, but
-F merely updates previously installed packages. When updating, rpm updates con-
guration les carefully using the following strategy:
•
If a conguration le was not changed by the system administrator, rpm installs
the new version of the appropriate le. No action by the system administrator is
required.
• If a conguration le was changed by the system administrator before the update,
rpm saves the changed le with the extension .rpmorig or .rpmsave (backup
le) and installs the version from the new package (but only if the originally installed
Managing Software with Command Line Tools 107