1. List out your enabled yum repositories.

   $ yum repolist

   You would get something like this:

   [raja@atreides ~]$ yum repolist
   Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, presto, refresh-packagekit
   repo id                   repo name                              status
   adobe-linux-i386          Adobe Systems Incorporated             enabled:     17
   chromium                  Chromium Test Packages                 enabled:      7
   fedora                    Fedora 11 - i386                       enabled: 13,289
   rpmfusion-free            RPM Fusion for Fedora 11 - Free        enabled:    377
   rpmfusion-free-updates    RPM Fusion for Fedora 11 - Free - Upda enabled:    210
   rpmfusion-nonfree         RPM Fusion for Fedora 11 - Nonfree     enabled:    110
   rpmfusion-nonfree-updates RPM Fusion for Fedora 11 - Nonfree - U enabled:    115
   updates                   Fedora 11 - i386 - Updates             enabled:  3,451
   repolist: 17,576

2. The names on the left are the repo ids. To disable a particular one, for example rpmfusion-nonfree-updates while doing updates, run your yum like this:-

   # yum upgrade --disablerepo=rpmfusion-free-updates

3. This will help you upgrade the rest of the packages in the mean time.

So, you’ve heard about the versatile port scanning tool called nmap and want to install it in Fedora Linux. The only problem is, you don’t know if it has been pre-packaged and is available as an rpm binary. No worries, all you need to do is search for using yum.

Use the yum search command.

yum search nmap

Based on its output, you know there are packages available, and all you need to do is yum install nmap

[raja@atreides ~]$ yum search nmap
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, presto, refresh-packagekit
================================ Matched: nmap =================================
nmap.i586 : Network exploration tool and security scanner
nmap-frontend.i586 : the GTK+ frontend for nmap
onesixtyone.i586 : An efficient SNMP scanner
perl-Nmap-Parser.noarch : Parse nmap scan data with perl
psad.i586 : Port Scan Attack Detector (psad) watches for suspect traffic

Or, you might know that its called nmap, and want to search through you yum repositories to find if any of the available rpms have a file called nmap. To do that, use the yum provides */ command. e.g.

yum provides */nmap

[raja@atreides ~]$ yum provides */nmap
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, presto, refresh-packagekit
2:nmap-4.76-4.fc11.i586 : Network exploration tool and security scanner
Repo        : fedora
Matched from:
Filename    : /usr/share/nmap
Filename    : /usr/bin/nmap

From this, you know that the nmap-4.76-4.fc11.i586 rpm contains these files, and by installing it, you get nmap.

Being a command line junkie, I prefer using the terminal for my downloading needs. Let me introduce you to Aria2. As from the website.

aria2 is a multi-protocol & multi-source, cross platform download utility. The supported protocols are HTTP(S), FTP, BitTorrent (DHT, PEX, MSE/PE), and Metalink.

Using Fedora, my favourite distro of choice, you first have to install it via yum.

yum install aria2

Next, you’ll need to have your cookies saved. Refer to the previous post for more details.

Now comes the fun part, actually downloading the files.

Here’s a file which I uploaded, a movie trailer for a recent movie:-

http://rapidshare.com/files/207110649/terminatorsalvation-tlr1_h1080p.mov

To download with aria2, type in the following command:-

aria2c -s 5 -j 1 -c --load-cookies=/home/raja/cookies.txt http://rapidshare.com/files/207110649/terminatorsalvation-tlr1_h1080p.mov

The switches for this explained:-

• -s 5 Split the download into 5 connections
• -j 1 How many files to download at once.
• -c Continue any paused / cancelled downloads
• –load-cookies /path/to/cookie The rapidshare cookie file that was created earlier. This has to be an absolute path
• And finally the actual URL of the file

If you have a list of files to download, you can enter them in to a text file, and pass them to aria2 for batch downloading via the -i list_file_name option. e.g.

aria2c -s 5 -j 1 -c --load-cookies=/home/raja/cookies.txt -i lists.txt

Happy batch downloading!!!

[root@atreides ~]# rpm -ivh VirtualBox-2.2.4_47978_fedora11-1.i586.rpm
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:VirtualBox             ########################################### [100%]
 
Creating group 'vboxusers'. VM users must be member of that group!
 
No precompiled module for this kernel found -- trying to build one. Messages
emitted during module compilation will be logged to /var/log/vbox-install.log.
 
Compilation of the kernel module FAILED! VirtualBox will not start until this
problem is fixed. Please consult /var/log/vbox-install.log to find out why the
kernel module does not compile. Most probably the kernel sources are not found.
Install them and execute
 
  /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
 
as root.

This happens even when you have the kernel-devel rpm package installed already.

The short:-
Your kernel is most probably a PAE kernel, so just yum install kernel-PAE-devel.i686 and then run /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup. You can then run VirtualBox as usual.

The long:-

Further investigating, I tailed the /var/log/vbox-install.log file, which gave this error :-

[root@atreides ~]# tail /var/log/vbox-install.log
** Compiling vboxdrv
Makefile:145: *** Error: unable to find the sources of your current Linux kernel. Specify KERN_DIR=<directory> and run Make again.  Stop.
</directory>

I found it kind of weird, since I have already installed the kernel-devel rpm. So I decided to check my kernel version with this command:-

[root@atreides ~]# uname -a
Linux atreides.dune 2.6.29.5-191.fc11.i686.PAE #1 SMP Tue Jun 16 23:19:53 EDT 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

After reading up further, I saw this in the Fedora 11 Release Notes:-

3.1. x86 Specifics for Fedora
By default, the PAE kernel is used on 32-bit hardware, where supported by the hardware.


My CPU supports PAE, so by default the kernel-PAE rpm is installed. I checked this by using the following command:-

[root@atreides ~]# rpm -qa | grep kernel
kernel-PAE-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.i686
kernel-firmware-2.6.29.5-191.fc11.noarch
kernel-PAE-2.6.29.5-191.fc11.i686
kernel-devel-2.6.29.5-191.fc11.i586
kerneloops-0.12-5.fc11.i586
kernel-headers-2.6.29.5-191.fc11.i586

You can see that kernel-PAE-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.i686 and kernel-PAE-2.6.29.5-191.fc11.i686 is installed.

Doing a yum search kernel-PAE shows this:-

[raja@atreides ~]$ yum search kernel-PAE
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, presto, refresh-packagekit
========================================= Matched: kernel-PAE =========================================
kmod-iscsitarget-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in iscsitarget kernel module for newest kernel-PAE
kernel-PAE.i686 : The Linux kernel compiled for PAE capable machines
kernel-PAE-devel.i686 : Development package for building kernel modules to match the PAE kernel
kernel-PAEdebug.i686 : The Linux kernel compiled with extra debugging enabled for PAE capable machines
kernel-PAEdebug-devel.i686 : Development package for building kernel modules to match the PAEdebug
                           : kernel
kmod-VirtualBox-OSE-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in VirtualBox-OSE kernel module for newest
                             : kernel-PAE
kmod-blcr-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in blcr kernel module for newest kernel-PAE
kmod-em8300-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in em8300 kernel module for newest kernel-PAE
kmod-kqemu-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in kqemu kernel module for newest kernel-PAE
kmod-ndiswrapper-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in ndiswrapper kernel module for newest kernel-PAE
kmod-nvidia-173xx-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in nvidia-173xx kernel module for newest
                           : kernel-PAE
kmod-nvidia-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in nvidia kernel module for newest kernel-PAE
kmod-open-vm-tools-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in open-vm-tools kernel module for newest
                            : kernel-PAE
kmod-rt2860-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in rt2860 kernel module for newest kernel-PAE
kmod-rt2870-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in rt2870 kernel module for newest kernel-PAE
kmod-rt3070-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in rt3070 kernel module for newest kernel-PAE
kmod-slmodem-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in slmodem kernel module for newest kernel-PAE
kmod-sysprof-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in sysprof kernel module for newest kernel-PAE
kmod-wl-PAE.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in wl kernel module for newest kernel-PAE

Now you know that the kernel-sources for the PAE kernel is kernel-PAE-devel.i686. So, I’d hav to install that instead.

[root@atreides ~]# yum install kernel-PAE-devel.i686
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, presto, refresh-packagekit
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * fedora: mirror.oscc.org.my
 * rpmfusion-free: mirror.transact.net.au
 * rpmfusion-free-updates: mirror.transact.net.au
 * rpmfusion-nonfree: mirror.transact.net.au
 * rpmfusion-nonfree-updates: mirror.transact.net.au
 * updates: mirror.oscc.org.my
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package kernel-PAE-devel.i686 0:2.6.29.5-191.fc11 set to be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
 
Dependencies Resolved
 
=======================================================================================================
 Package                      Arch             Version                       Repository           Size
=======================================================================================================
Installing:
 kernel-PAE-devel             i686             2.6.29.5-191.fc11             updates             6.2 M
 
Transaction Summary
=======================================================================================================
Install      1 Package(s)
Update       0 Package(s)
Remove       0 Package(s)
 
Total download size: 6.2 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
Setting up and reading Presto delta metadata
Processing delta metadata
Package(s) data still to download: 6.2 M
kernel-PAE-devel-2.6.29.5-191.fc11.i686.rpm                                     | 6.2 MB     08:33
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Installing     : kernel-PAE-devel-2.6.29.5-191.fc11.i686                                         1/1
 
Installed:
  kernel-PAE-devel.i686 0:2.6.29.5-191.fc11
 
Complete!

Once done, run /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup as root, and your done.

root@atreides ~]# /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
Stopping VirtualBox kernel module                          [  OK  ]
Recompiling VirtualBox kernel module                       [  OK  ]
Starting VirtualBox kernel module                          [  OK  ]

You can now run VirtualBox.

One of the first things I needed to do was install the latest updates for it. Thats when I realised that I didn’t know nuts about software installation in Ubuntu, other than it was apt-get something.

After reading up the ubuntu docs, and a little googling around, I’ve compiled a list of common tasks I do with yum on Fedora and its Ubuntu equivalents.

1. yum upgrade is apt-get upgrade

   This one is a little tricky. You should first run apt-get update to get the updated list of files in from the repository. Then follow up by the apt-get upgrade.

2. yum search packagename is apt-cache search packagename

   The indispensable yum search is apt-cache search. Good to look through the repositories to determine which package you need to install. Just like yum, you could search for terms or keywords, apt-cache will give you the packages that have matching descriptions.

3. yum info packagename is apt-cache show packagename

   Like yum info, this provides descriptions on the packages you want to install. An interesting addition comapred to Fedora is the Suggests: column, which gives you additional packages that you might want to install to enhance functionality of the program.

   Here’s a sample:-

   raja@atom:~/Examples$ apt-cache show mplayer
   Package: mplayer
   Priority: extra
   Section: multiverse/graphics
   Installed-Size: 10088
   Maintainer: Ubuntu MOTU Developers <ubuntu -motu@lists.ubuntu.com>
   Original-Maintainer: Ubuntu MOTU Media Team <motumedia @tauware.de>
   Architecture: i386
   Version: 2:1.0~rc2-0ubuntu17
   Replaces: mplayer-nogui
   Depends: libaa1 (>= 1.4p5), libartsc0 (>= 1.5.9), libasound2 (>> 1.0.17), libatk1.0-0 (>= 1.20.0), libaudio2, libaudiofile0 (>= 0.2.3-4), libc6 (>= 2.7), libcaca0 (>= 0.99.beta13b-1), libcairo2 (>= 1.2.4), libcdparanoia0, libcucul0 (>= 0.99.beta13b-1), libdbus-1-3 (>= 1.0.2), libdbus-glib-1-2 (>= 0.71), libdv4, libenca0 (>= 1.9), libesd-alsa0 (>= 0.2.35) | libesd0 (>= 0.2.35), libfaac0 (>= 1.26), libfontconfig1 (>= 2.4.0), libfreetype6 (>= 2.3.5), libfribidi0 (>= 0.10.9), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1), libggi2 (>= 1:2.2.2), libgif4 (>= 4.1.6), libgl1-mesa-glx | libgl1, libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.12.0), libgtk2.0-0 (>= 2.14.1), libjack0 (>= 0.109.2), libjpeg62, liblircclient0, liblzo2-2, libmad0 (>= 0.15.1b-3), libmp3lame0 (>= 3.98), libmpcdec3, libncurses5 (>= 5.6+20071006-3), libogg0 (>= 1.0rc3), libopenal1 (>= 1:1.3.253), libpango1.0-0 (>= 1.21.6), libpng12-0 (>= 1.2.13-4), libpulse0 (>= 0.9.8), libsdl1.2debian (>= 1.2.10-1), libsmbclient (>= 3.0.24), libspeex1 (>= 1.2~beta3-1), libstdc++6 (>= 4.1.1), libsvga1, libtheora0 (>= 0.0.0.alpha7.dfsg-1.1), libvorbis0a (>= 1.1.2), libx11-6, libx264-59 (>= 1:0.svn20080408), libxext6, libxinerama1, libxt6, libxv1, libxvidcore4 (>= 1:1.0.0-0.0), libxvmc1, libxxf86dga1, libxxf86vm1, zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4), ttf-bitstream-vera, mplayer-skins, ttf-dejavu
   Suggests: w32codecs, libdvdcss, mplayer-doc, ladspa-sdk
   Conflicts: mplayer-nogui
   Filename: pool/multiverse/m/mplayer/mplayer_1.0~rc2-0ubuntu17_i386.deb
   Size: 4425834
   MD5sum: c34e4650c294bf0277d37432bdd81bde
   SHA1: da382398f120a0ecb421ac160d4d5676c081b27a
   SHA256: edf9c491e09c9f215a57db60df2ba94d17561ea20d890d576f5202a760dd5ad0
   Description: The Ultimate Movie Player For Linux
    It plays most mpeg, avi and asf files, supported by many native and win32
    DLL codecs. You can watch VCD, DVD and even DivX movies too. The other
    big feature of mplayer is the wide range of supported output drivers. It
    works with X11, Xv, DGA, OpenGL, SVGAlib, fbdev, but you can use SDL (and
    this way all drivers of SDL) and some lowlevel card-specific drivers (for
    Matrox/3dfx/SiS) too! Most of them supports software or hardware scaling,
    so you can enjoy movies in fullscreen.
    .
    This version includes the Gtk GUI
   Bugs: mailto:ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com
   Origin: Ubuntu
   </motumedia></ubuntu>

4. yum deplist is apt-cache showpkg

   Provides similiar information, giving you an idea of the additional dependencies required to run the program.

5. yum grouplist is tasksel –list-tasks

   Yum in Fedora has groups. So does Ubuntu. Finding it involved a little google-fu, but they work relatively the same. I sort of like the way tasksel lists its already installed / available packages. Seems more neat to me, eventhough new users may encounter a WTF??? moment looking at the the u & i prepended on the task names.

6. yum groupinfo a combo of 2 separate tasksel commands

   yum groupinfo gives you a description of the task or group, as well as a list of packages that need to be installed To get similiar info from tasksel, run tasksel –task-desc lamp-server to get a brief description on the task. e.g.

   raja@atom:~/Examples$ tasksel --task-desc lamp-server
   Selects a ready-made Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP server.

   To get a list of packages that task installs, run tasksel –task-packages taskname.

   raja@atom:~/Examples$ tasksel --task-packages lamp-server
   libwrap0
   apache2
   mysql-client-5.0
   tcpd
   libapache2-mod-php5
   apache2.2-common
   apache2-utils
   php5-common
   libaprutil1
   php5-mysql
   libmysqlclient15off
   libdbi-perl
   libplrpc-perl
   mysql-server
   openssl-blacklist
   libdbd-mysql-perl
   mysql-server-5.0
   libnet-daemon-perl
   libapr1
   libpq5
   ssl-cert
   apache2-mpm-prefork
   mysql-common

I guess that would be it for this post. I’ll post more if I find anything else that I may be missing.

Sources for my info:-

• Debian / Ubuntu tasksel: Install Group Software (tasks) such As DNS / Web Server In A Single Click
• The Debian Apt User Manual
• SwitchingToUbuntuFromLinuxRedHatEnterpriseLinuxAndFedora(A must read)