Adding applications to your system can occur several different ways.  We will cover the three most common methods which include 1) RPM applications from the RedHat 9 CDROM's, 2) RPM applications from sources other than the RedHat 9 CDROM's, and 3) compressed tarball files having filenames of the form (application_name.tar.gz).  As newbies, let's start with installing applications from the CDROM's.

Installing Applications from the Red Hat CDROM's

1. Place CDROM #1 in the drive
2. A window opens requesting your input.  Select 'YES' to execute /mnt/cdrom/autorun.  Autorun is a program on the CDROM to automatically start the installation utility.
3. If you happened to not select to execute the autorun program, you'll need to follow the path Main Menu (Red Hat) --> System Settings --> Add/Remove Applications.
4. You'll be prompted for the superuser account password.  Upon providing it correctly, access to the utility is granted.
5. The RPM Headers will be checked and then a list of application groups will be displayed.  From this point on, you can select packages by the titles provided or you can expand each of these areas by clicking on the link labeled Details.  When the details are opened you can select additional packages that are not included on the default list.
6. Once you've selected all desirable packages, click on the Update button.  Viola!  The system will be updated and all dependencies will be automatically satisfied.

There will be occasions when applications will come from other than the Red Hat CDROM's.  I'm speaking of applications that are available in rpm packages which can be installed without any dependency problems.  The examples you'll be installing will be the documentation packages available for the Red Hat website.  For your convenience these documentation packages are provided to you on a CDROM.

• The first step is to identify the source of your rpm.  Download the rpm package into your filesystem or mount the media in your system containing the rpm package.
• This type of rpm package installation or updating requires us to use the rpm command.  Refer to pages 171 - 179 in your textbook for details on the use of this command.  A common form of this command I use is "rpm -ivh *.rpm".  Replace the * with the package name.
• If there are no dependencies or difficulties the command will execute fine.  We will conduct exercises where several types of errors or dependencies will occur.

• Querying packages with rpm is conducted by using the querying option.  "rpm -q rpm_package_name.rpm"
• Removing packages with rpm is conducted with the erase option.  "rpm -e rpm_package_name.rpm"
• Upgrading packages with rpm is conducted with the Updating option.  "rpm -U rpm_package_name.rpm"
• There are other options available.  The interested students can find some of these options explained on pages 171 - 179 in your textbook.