Installing and Uninstalling Software

Installable software for PCQLinux comes in RPM format (which is analogous to the install packages
in Windows), and can be identified with a .rpm extension. 

You can install these RPMs in multiple ways–by double-clicking on any RPM; from a Web browser, using Webmin; or, as an option for true geek, by using the command line from the terminal.

What’s an SRPM? An SRPM is a file containing the source code and a spec file. The spec file is a list of individual files and the directories where they have to be installed, and also the commands to compile and install the package. SRPMS are compiled to produce RPMs.

Through Webmin

Open Webmin on a Web browser and click on the System tab on its tool bar. This opens a window where you select the Software Package icon. From here,
you can select the package by giving the location of the RPM file. 

Then click on the Install button to install the package on your machine.Through Command Line 

To install a new software

#rpm —ivh  

To upgrade the software 

#rpm —Uvh

To install the software forcefully

#rpm —ivh --force 

To Uninstall a Package 

Open Webmin the same way as described above (ie, System>Software Package). Select the Package Tree Button, which will show you all the application folders. Now, select the application folder from which you wish to uninstall a package. This shows you the list of RPM files against the installed folder. Click on the RPM file. This show you the details of that RPM file. Click on the Uninstall button to uninstall the package.

At the command line use

#rpm —e

As you can see, installing and uninstalling programs on Linux is extremely easy.

Sanjay Majumder