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Alternatives to YUM: smart

by renich — last modified Jan 30, 2008 01:53 AM

This is a guide to on using smart instead of yum.

Initial Notes

This HowTo does not suggest, in any way, that smart is bug free or that it works perfectly. It just points out an alternative for yum. This does not imply that Fedora favours the use of smart over yum. AFAIK, yum is the prefered package manager in the fedora distributions.

Fedora Distributions where Applicable

  • Fedora 7+

Requirements

Since this procedure involves administrative tasks (installing packages, updating packages, etc), you require root access. Besides that, the only things you require is internet access and to install the smart package manager on your fedora distribution.

  1. root access
  2. smart package manager

Doing the Work

Next, we have to install smart, configure it and then, if applicable, configure livna, or any other repository you are using.

Smart installation

This section covers the smart installation and, the alternative GUI package, smart-gui. There is an, optional, smart-update package, which allows standard users to update the system, which, for security and stability reasons, is not recommended by me.

  1. First of all, install smart:
    2. su -c 'yum install smart' *
  2. Alternatively, install the smart-gui:
    3. su -c 'yum install smart-gui' *
* Please provide the root password each time you use the su -c command

Smart configuration

Now, we're going to configure smart to work with the fedora repositories. Also, if you're using livna and, therefore, any other repository, you will be able to add it with the procedure described in the following lines. We will, currently, configure smart to enable the core, updates and, optionally, livna repositories. All other repositories you want to enable will download more file lists and, therefore, take longer to update. Enable further repositories at your own expense.

  1. Run the first-time smart update to configure smart with the default repositores:
    2. su -c 'smart update' *
  2. Answer yes or y to Fedora 8 - x86_64 and Fedora 8 - x86_64 - Updates **.
  3. Optionally, add the livna repository with the following command. Please, substitute x86_64 for your arch (i386, ppc, etc) and 8 for your distribution number (7 or 8):
    4. su -c "smart channel --add 'livna core' \\
    type='rpm-md' \\
    name='Fedora 8 Livna - Core' \\
    baseurl='http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/8/x86_64/'" **
* Please provide the root password each time you use the su -c command ** In Fedora 7, you will see: Fedora 7 - x86_64 and Fedora 7 - x86_64 - Updates respectively. Also, if you use arch i386 or ppc, the arch definition: x86_64 will be modified to i386 or ppc accordingly.

Adding mirrors to smart

We're going to add some mirrors to smart since, at the time of the writing of this HowTo, it configures only the main fedora server as the only source.

  1. Visit: http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/ and check /etc/yum.repos.d/livna.repo for a list of available mirrors.
  2. Create a text file with the three base repository URLs and add the mirrors to each bellow them and indented by 1 tab: 
    http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/releases/8/Everything/x86_64/os/
    	http://fedora.ifc.unam.mx/releases/8/Everything/x86_64/os
    	http://mirror.usu.edu/mirrors/fedora/linux/releases/8/Everything/x86_64/os
    	ftp://ftp.software.umn.edu/linux/fedora/releases/8/Everything/x86_64/os
    	http://limestone.uoregon.edu/ftp/fedora/linux/releases/8/Everything/x86_64/os
    	http://mirror.cogentco.com/pub/linux/fedora/linux/releases/8/Everything/x86_64/os
    	
    http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/updates/8/x86_64/
    	http://fedora.ifc.unam.mx/updates/8/x86_64
    	http://mirror.cc.vt.edu/pub/fedora/linux/updates/8/x86_64
    	ftp://mirror.cs.princeton.edu/pub/mirrors/fedora/linux/updates/8/x86_64
    	http://mirror.cogentco.com/pub/linux/fedora/linux/updates/8/x86_64
    	http://mirrors.cat.pdx.edu/fedora/linux/updates/8/x86_64

    http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/8/x86_64/
    	http://livna.cat.pdx.edu/fedora/8/x86_64/
    	http://wftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/livna/fedora/8/x86_64/
    	http://ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/rpm.livna.org/fedora/8/x86_64/
    	http://mirror.atrpms.net/livna/fedora/8/x86_64/
    	ftp://mirrors.tummy.com/pub/rpm.livna.org/fedora/8/x86_64/

  3. Add the mirror list to livna:
    4. su -c 'smart mirror --add /path/to/fedora_mirror_list' *

Smart upgrade

Now, we will do a full upgrade using smart. Please, review the help files provided by smart to inform yourself about it's broad functionality.

  1. Update the whole distribution:
    2. su -c 'smart upgrade' *
  2. Answer y if you agree with the updates proposed.

Troubleshooting

How to test

This is the way to check if you added the channels correctly. You should see definitions for the livna repository, if added, and/or any other repository you configured. Also, you should see the list of mirrors enabled for each repository.
  1. To show the list of repositories configured, issue the following command:
    2. su -c 'smart channel --show'
  2. To show the list of mirrors for each repository configured, issue the following command:
    3. su -c 'smart mirror --show'

Common problems and fixes

Nothing here yet. Hope to add something later.

More Information

This HowTo is valid for Fedora 7 installations and above. However, it might work on other Fedora releases, but I haven't tested them, though. If you're a newbie or you don't feel experienced enough to handle this HowTo in other releases than the ones specified here, please, don't try it. And, if you do, please, use the http://fedoraforum.org/ to post your doubts.

Disclaimer

We test this stuff on our own machines, really we do. But you may run into problems, if you do, come to #fedora on irc.freenode.net

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