SuSE Package Management (was Re: SENDMAIL - HELP - SUSE)

[Rich Edelman]

On Thursday 18 November 2004 10:54 am, Jonathan Hutchins wrote:
> On Wednesday 17 November 2004 09:54 pm, Dave Hull wrote:
> > I haven't tried SuSE... yet, but this is interesting. Is there no way to
> > do a command-line only install with no X system? If so, does the package
> > management system use ncurses or something or similar?
>
> Yes, there's a pseudo-graphics mode, but you have to step through all the
> menus, there's no way to say "yast2 install <package>" (docs claim you can,
> but it doesn't work).  Also no way to save excluded packages.

yast2 -i <package>
or 'yast2 sw_single' to bring up the software installer/remover portion of 
yast.

also, if you are at a command line, yast gives you the curses based installer, 
yast2 gives you the GUI if your DISPLAY env variable is set.

> > If it's really not possible to have a text based SuSE install, then I
> > probably won't bother trying it out. I prefer to keep my servers lean and
> > mean. The less crap I can install on a box the better.
>
> SuSE tends to keep it's server-targeted distro's two or three versions
> behind it's desktop (though both can contain the same packages).
>
> I wouldn't recommend it for a server, but right now I don't know what I
> _would_ recommend.

What is wrong with SuSE as a server? I'm running 9.1 Professional on a dual 
xeon with 3GB RAM and a 2.5T raid array. Haven't had any problems whatsoever. 
SLES9 (the server targetted version) I've seen on bigger servers, again with 
no problems. SLES9 isn't that far behind 9.1, they are essentially the same 
thing... both are 2.6 based.

It DOES have a text based install, too. You can add the boot parameter 
'textmode=1' on the Grub graphical boot screen to force YaST to run in text 
mode. If you prefer the grub text based screen, press escape first. You can 
also press F2 to change your video mode and select text mode on there. 

If you select Manual Installation, you can tell YaST to use FTP, WWW, NFS, 
SMB, or even a local directory as the installation source, so you won't have 
to swap cds. (Using the DVD this isn't a problem, but a local net resource is 
still faster.)

You can even launch SSH or VNC, so that you can start the install at the 
server, and complete it from your desk. You can assign a static IP or use 
DHCP, in which case SuSE advertises the VNC connection using SLP (Service 
Locator Protocol).

I've installed SuSE 8.0 - 9.1 on many machines, many times, using all 
available installation methods. If you need help installing, just email me.

Rich