Repositories
Repositories are collections of Linux software. They can be used to extend your openSUSE installation with software that is not included in an openSUSE release for size or policy reasons, or to update it with newer software versions that were not available at the time of release. [Note: there are offline repositories as well (i.e. DVD). ]
Repositories may contain software of any trust level and may replace important system packages as well as adding new software. In addition, by combining many different repositories and installing their software, conflicts between software versions may arise which cause some packages to be uninstalled.
Before registering arbitrary repositories to your openSUSE installation, you should consider these risks. The repositories suggested by the Community Repositories list in YaST's Installation Sources module are intended to be safe and free of conflicts. However, when installing or updating software you should always look at the proposed changes to make sure nothing is being added or removed that could compromise the integrity of your installation. If in doubt, do not continue.
Multimedia Software
Support for some formats and codecs is not shipped out-of-the box in openSUSE. See the Restricted Formats page for more information on enabling additional formats.
Debug packages
To help improve openSUSE, you can report bugs when a program crashes. The crash handler can install additional debug packages to improve the quality of this crash information. For openSUSE releases, these packages are contained in a separate repository due to their size. This repository can be activated using the following steps:
- confirm in the dialog that you want to configure additional repositories
- enter your superuser password in the next dialog, after which Software Repositories YaST module opens
- select the debug repository in the list (openSUSE-11.3-Debug for openSUSE 11.3)
- check the Enabled checkbox
- select the Ok button to finish enabling the repository
Other Software
More software can be found in various repositories. Suggested repositories from the Community Repositories list in YaST's Installation Sources module can be added using the following steps:
- confirm in the dialog that you want to configure additional repositories
- enter your superuser password in the next dialog, after which Software Repositories YaST module opens
- click the Add button at the bottom
- select Community Repositories from the list and click Next
- check the repository or repositories you want to add and click Ok
- you will be presented with a dialog asking whether to import the repository's GnuPG key; do not use software from untrusted sources
- select the Ok button to finish adding the repository
Note that in some cases there may be no package at all available for certain action, for example when trying to open an unknown file in the Dolphin file manager. In this case the only option is choosing not to add any additional repository. Since there are many software repositories available for openSUSE it cannot be determined automatically whether it is possible to install the required package or not. You can try to search additional repositories.
Disclaimer / Warning
The above link is to a non-openSUSE site. The linked sites are not under the control of Novell and Novell is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site, or any changes or updates to such sites. Novell is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by Novell of any linked site.