Software Respositories in Linux (openSUSE & SUSE) explained

So many of the more advanced users know exactly what a Software Repository (a.k.a repo). So I hope to help explain what it actually is.

A repo is a central location from which packages can be downloaded and installed onto a computer. This could be a location avaliable to the public (ie. http://download.opensuse.org/download) or a location that is avaliable through a subscription (ie. Customer Portal for SUSE Linux Enterprise products).

You still may be scratching your head and wondering “why do I want them, where do I get them, and how can I use them”. You are using repositories if you know it or not.

openSUSE’s YaST gives a great tool to help you manage your repositories through a GUI (Graphical User Interface). To check out this tool open YaST –> Software –> Software Repositories, this will open your repository management tool.

Here you’ll see repositories already configured, but how & why? If you know it or not you are already using repositories. During your installation the update repository was setup. This repository is where you get your updates, patches and fixes for your distribution.

So why am I telling you about these repositories? Because repositories can be used to enlighten your openSUSE experience. I’ll walk you through a setup (using the zypper command line utility) of a repository so I can install bluefish (a great opensource alternative to dreamweaver). So without further ado here we go:

Open up a konsole, terminal or xterm.
Now lets add the repository using zypper by running the following command:

sudo zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Education/openSUSE_Factory/ Educaton\ Factory

(Note: I am using the Factory Repository, you should use the repository associated to your openSUSE distribution, these repositories can be found here.

After running the zypper ar above, we get the following output:

Adding repository ‘Educaton Factory’ [done]
Repository ‘Educaton Factory’ successfully added
Enabled: Yes
Autorefresh: No
URI: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Education/openSUSE_Factory/

Yup, it was as easy as that to setup a new repository (Go to the YaST GUI tool for Software Repository management now, and see that it’s in there).

(Bonus: you can run:

zypper lr

To list your configured repositories.)

Now that I have the Education repository configured I can install bluefish by running:

sudo zypper in bluefish

And i’m done. So how does this help you? It gives you the opportunity to install MANY applications that weren’t setup in the oss or non-oss repository.

To find where your application repository may be, you can search http://software.opensuse.org/search which is also the location you can do a 1-Click install.

I hope that helps you understand what a repository is and how to set it up. If you still aren’t sure, or this wasn’t clear please feel free to leave a comment as I always work to fix my postings to make them more accurate and more informational.

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