To get new packages and keep your Mandrake system up-to-date, you add urpmi media sources using the
urpmi.addmedia command. You can get a list of urpmi media sources from our Urpmi Online Media Setup page located at:
http://urpmi-addmedia.org/ That page will assist by giving you the right command(s) to enter into a terminal, as root, which allows you to successfully setup online media sources.
On that page you will find options to setup media sources for 'main', 'contrib', 'PLF', 'updates' and 'jpackage'. Below is what each repository stands for and what it might contain.
- Main - This is the core of the Mandrakelinux distribution.
- Contrib - These are extra packages that are either made by Mandrakelinux or by volunteers.
- Updates - Official updates for Mandrakelinux, including security updates.
- PLF - Packages that aren't allowed to be included with Mandrakelinux for legal reasons.
- Jpackage - Various java software for Mandrakelinux.
My personal opinion is that everyone should have online media sources setup for 'main', 'contrib' and 'updates'. If you are one who likes to, or wants to, watch DVD's inside Mandrakelinux then you will definitely want to have a 'PLF' media source added.
On the mirrors you might see a 'synthesis.hdlist.cz' as well as a 'hdlist.cz' and will begin to wonder what the difference is. The 'synthesis.hdlist.cz' was created with dial-up users in mind. It contains much less information in it about the RPM's than the 'hdlist.cz' does. This makes it a smaller file and a better choice for dial-up users. However, the disadvantage to using the 'synthesis.hdlist.cz' is that you will lose some functionality with urpm* itself due to the lack of additional information. One good example is that 'urpmf' can't find files in non-installed packages. The advantage to using the 'synthesis.hdlist.cz' instead of the 'hdlist.cz' is that it will speed up the process a bit for you considering your slow connection.
Below is an example of what a
urpmi.addmedia command should look like that you enter into your terminal as root user.
urpmi.addmedia main ftp://ftp.uio.no/linux/Mandrakelinux/official/10.1/i586/media/main with media_info/hdlist.cz
It is recommended that when you add an 'updates' source you give it the
--updates switch so that 'urpmi' can distinguish it from a normal source.
Recovering lost CD media sources[/u]
Let's say you did
urpmi.removemedia -a (which is discussed on a different page) and you want to recover your CD's as media sources again. To accomplish this you can perform the following command to get them back:
urpmi.addmedia --distrib cdrom removable://mnt/cdrom
Special Note For this to work, you need one of your Mandrakelinux CD's in the cdrom before pressing enter to run this command. Copying CD's To The Harddrive And Using Them As A Media SourceIf you don't like swapping CD's during urpmi sessions and you've got some room to spare, make a directory on your system (let's say: /home/CDS/), then copy the base/ and Mandrake/ directories (recursively) from the first install-CD to there. Now copy the RPMS2 to RPMS8 directories into the previously created Mandrake/ directory. After removing or disabling the install CD's as media sources, perform the following command:
urpmi.addmedia --distrib HD file://home/CDS
Below is a list of a couple of personal RPM repositories (media sources) that we feel are a good choice to use for obtaining good, quality, safe rpms. They provide instructions on their pages to add their repositories as online media sources using
urpmi.addmedia. The SoS RPM Repository is hosted and run by Hawkwind, who also hosts http://linuxfordummies.org/addmedia Please note, that the NORLUG repository quit building rpm's for Mandriva after the 10.1 version.
http://seerofsouls.com/
http://norlug.org/?op=rpms
