Suntan Special version 0.69

Suntan Special Web edition

Using Suntan Special with RPM/YUM

Suntan Special uses RPM/YUM to install and maintain some applications. RPM/YUM will determine what and where to install, but the interface provided by Suntan Special remains the same as for other applications.

rpmyum

RPM Package Manager (RPM) is a powerful command line driven package management system capable of installing, uninstalling, verifying, querying, and updating computer software packages. Each software package consists of an archive of files along with information about the package like its version, a description, and the like. There is also a library API, permitting advanced developers to manage such transactions from programming languages such as C or Python. RPM is free software, released under the GNU GPL.

YUM is an automatic updater and package installer/remover for rpm systems. It automatically computes dependencies and figures out what things should occur to install packages. It makes it easier to maintain groups of machines without having to manually update each one using rpm. Yum has a plugin interface for adding simple features. Yum can also be used from other python programs via its module interface.

Suntan Special autmatically installs the bootstrap, but prompts first for the UNIXROOT drive. A reboot is needed for PATH and LIBPATH changes to take effect.

yumutil

YUMUTIL is used in a sequence to install the prerequisites for other programs, like SeaMonkey. The argument is the actual yum command. A -y argument is added to allow for automatic execution.

yumfix

YumFix

is an application that takes some specific actions to correct problems with an installed copy of YUM.

Useful commands:

REMOVE Remove yum from PATH and LIBPATH in config.sys

DELETE Delete yum directories.

URLGRABBER copy urlgrabber files to the correct directory.

LIBPATH modify LIBPATH in config.sys to support RPM/YUM.

STDCPP correct an error in eComStation 2.2 beta 2 installation that prevents RPM/YUM from loading

PLATFORM Set platform to i686-OS/2-OS/2

PYTHON Unset environment variables set by prior Python installation

REINSTALL Reinstall everything currently installed

RPM/YUM Errors

When errors occur in RPM/YUM, Suntan Special reports that an error has occurred, and offers the choice of abort, retry or ignore. In order to see what the error was, switch to the log tab, scroll to the end, and examine any messages from RPM/YUM.

A new setting, yumignorerpmdb, can be set to ignore some rpm errors. The errors that are ignored are generally spurious.

Last Modified: 26 Jun 2025
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