Installing Software on Linux

Linux

One of the most difficult things to get used to in the Linux world is installing new software packages. In the world of Windows, every program comes with  a Setup.exe program that asks you some very easy questions and takes care of the job for you. While Linux software can be almost that easy to install, you will  sometimes find software that seems to fight every step of the way. I can’t cover all the problems you might run into, but I’ll try to give you the basics and a few pointers to help get you over the rough spots.

Software tends to come in “packages”. In the Windows world a package is a Setup.exe or a program.zip file. On a Mac a package is a program.dmg or a program.sit file.In the Linux world, there are several kinds of packages, and each distribution has its own preferred package format.
The standard Linux package format (according to the Linux Standard Base) is RPM and DEB (Debian) software package.. RPM is a packaging system originally developed by Red Hat and widely used in the Linux community. Distributions using it include Fedora, Mandriva, Red Hat and SUSE.

Note : Remember, you will need to become SuperUser to install software.

1. APT ( Debian, Ubuntu) ::

There is a broad array of tools for working with DEB packages, but the one you will commonly use is apt-get, is the easiest of Linux package management tools. apt-get is so easy because it not only keeps track of what packages are installed, but also what other packages are available. It will even download them from the Internet for you (if properly configured).

> To install software ;

apt-get install ${packagename}

> To remove software is just as easy.

apt-get remove ${packagename}

> To update the APT database:

apt-get update

> A common idiom is to update your package database, and then upgrade all the packages that have patches or security updates to install. The following command will do this all at once.

apt-get update; apt-get upgrade

2.  yum :(Fedora, Red Hat) ::

Like apt-get, yum can download and install packages from a configured repository.

> To install software ;

yum install ${packagename}

>To remove software is just as easy;

yum remove ${packagename}

> yum does not keep a local copy of your package database by default, so normally there is no need to update it. To install all available security patches and bug fixes, use this command:

You can also explicitly update a single package with:

yum update ${packagename}

;; I hope this is very use full to all.