3.1. RPM packages

I compile binary and source RPM packages for the software I need and don't have on my SuSE Linux system - either because the available version from SuSE is too old, or because there is no package available at all. Of course one can use the usual 3-line mantra:

./configure
make
make install

to install a package from source, but having a RPM package helps keep track of the files installed on a system, as well as their dependencies.

I offer binary and source RPMs for the following software, as well as any dependent packages:

• LyX, a LaTeX and DocBook editor.

• GNU MP library (GMP), a free library for arbitrary precision arithmetic, operating on signed integers, rational numbers, and floating point numbers.

• Octave, a high-level language, primarily intended for numerical computations.

• Yacas, (Yet Another Computer Algebra System), a small and highly flexible general-purpose computer algebra system and programming language.

• po4a, (po for anything) project goal is to ease translations (and more interestingly, the maintenance of translations) using gettext tools on areas where they were not expected like documentation.

• poedit, a cross-platform gettext catalogs (.po files) editor.

• Anjuta, a versatile Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for C++ and C++ on GNU/Linux.

• Graphviz, an open source graph visualization software. See How to use Graphviz to generate complex graphs for a tutorial.

• wxWidgets (wxGTK), a single, easy-to-use API for writing GUI applications on multiple platforms.

• Code::Blocks, a free C++ IDE, built specifically to meet the most demanding needs of its users.

• GTK+ 2 (package gtk2), a multi-platform toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. Offering a complete set of widgets, GTK+ is suitable for projects ranging from small one-off projects to complete application suites.

• MySQL Administrator, a powerful visual administration console that enables you to easily administer your MySQL environment and gain significantly better visibility into how your databases are operating.

• MySQL Query Browser, a visual tool for creating, executing, and optimizing SQL queries for your MySQL Database Server. The MySQL Query Browser gives you a complete set of drag-and-drop tools to visually build, analyze and manage your queries.

• gtkhtml, a HTML rendering/editing library designed to be easily embedded into applications that require lightweight HTML functionality. Many programs that use GTK+, like the MySQL Query Browser, need the gtkhtml2 package.

• Dia, is inspired by the commercial Windows program 'Visio', though more geared towards informal diagrams for casual use. It can be used to draw many different kinds of diagrams. It currently has special objects to help draw entity relationship diagrams, UML diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, and many other diagrams.

• The GIMP, (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a powerful image composition and editing program, which can be extremely useful for creating logos and other graphics for Web pages. The GIMP has many of the tools and filters you would expect to find in similar commercial offerings, and some interesting extras as well. The GIMP provides a large image manipulation toolbox, including channel operations and layers, effects, sub-pixel imaging and anti-aliasing, and conversions, all with multi-level undo.

Use the command

rpm -Uhv xxx.rpm

to install the binary RPMs. I used the build package of SuSE to compile my own source RPMs from source, as described for example in Compiling SuSE Source Packages. Note that up to and including version 9.0, SuSE uses the usedforbuild string on a comment line of the spec file to list all needed files for a successful compilation of the package.

The packages are build for SuSE 9.0. To rebuild a package for your own version of (SuSE) Linux, use the source RPMs and the build and/or rpmbuild commands, as described in How to compile an older version for a newer system in RPM.