[opensuse] thank you all for trying help. question on configuring package repository
Dear all Thank you very much for answering my posts about not being able to find or install software. They are: 1. new user: how to start openoffice? tried half an hour 2. confusing package management: can a package exist on DVD and not online? 3. can I use gnucash in opensuse? All these questions, after carefully reading your suggestions and try myself, leads to the same source that caused all the problem. The source of my problem: I installed OpenSUSE on iBook (PowerPC), while it defaults to the official package repository that doesn't offer binary package for PPC. Now I think I am very close to get the system prepared for my daily work use. I only need to add the powerpc repository as Anders suggested. However I could not do that. Adding repository always leads to the following error: [|] Error trying to read from 'http://powerpc.opensuse.org/distribution/11.1/repo/oss//' - Timeout exceed I can access the repository through Firefox, so I am sure the connection is no problem. I guess I simply hit a timeout limit on the time to fetch repository package database. It seems to me that if I adjust timeout for adding repository I could solve the problem myself. However I could not find out how to do so. Since I am preparing a working PC for use in next week I couldn't finish reading & studying how zapp & yast works in short time. Can you show me brief hints on how to set this timeout? Thanks (quick searched into email archive already) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Sunday, 2009-05-17 at 19:29 +0800, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
Adding repository always leads to the following error:
[|] Error trying to read from 'http://powerpc.opensuse.org/distribution/11.1/repo/oss//'
- Timeout exceed
Try setting a mirror manually and use that. - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAkoP+DoACgkQtTMYHG2NR9UijQCeMQLe9yCqJsLS/HwoiE5L10CU vg8An0DrsvvHVFjOgEYtay1xi7vIsmLi =SQzU -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Carlos E. R. wrote:
Try setting a mirror manually and use that.
Is there a easier way than mess with server administration? I hit similar problem in Ubuntu several years ago, when asking for help, someone sent me a file less than 3 lines and ask me to save it to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/ then it is solved. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Sunday, 2009-05-17 at 20:03 +0800, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
Try setting a mirror manually and use that. Is there a easier way than mess with server administration? I hit similar problem in Ubuntu several years ago, when asking for help, someone sent me a file less than 3 lines and ask me to save it to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/ then it is solved.
You are the administrator, so you have to administrate. It is your job. Go to http://mirrors.opensuse.org/, find a mirror for your version, check that it contains the files, and add that repo directly instead of the default one. Notice that the download engine uses mirrorbrain, which automatically and silently redirects you to a mirror it thinks it is good. If it is not, you may be "pissed". Notice too that browsing with firefox is no proof, you do not get redirected till you do an actual download. And this behaviour changes in every suse version. Else, you might try to activate metalink support (export ZYPP_ARIA2C=1), assuming your version supports it (11.1 on 86, dunno for ppc). - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAkoQCSMACgkQtTMYHG2NR9XEgACdHc6FXTH9u23bCVKDF59L42Vy b8UAn2ZOFFGPVNtQiCQIeexquIzdpeoP =MFGc -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
在 2009-05-17日的 14:54 +0200，Carlos E. R.写道：
On Sunday, 2009-05-17 at 20:03 +0800, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
Try setting a mirror manually and use that. Is there a easier way than mess with server administration? I hit similar problem in Ubuntu several years ago, when asking for help, someone sent me a file less than 3 lines and ask me to save it to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/ then it is solved.
You are the administrator, so you have to administrate. It is your job.
Should I? Although that may sounds stupid but I just want to use OpenSuSE for my daily business, mostly OpenOffice, GNUCash and browse the Internet. I am not sure if I am the rare case here in OpenSUSE mailing list. Are everybody else also system administrators? P.S. I assume you mean "system administrator" here. I am more or less an "administrator" but in regarding to office management.
Go to http://mirrors.opensuse.org/, find a mirror for your version, check that it contains the files, and add that repo directly instead of the default one. Notice that the download engine uses mirrorbrain, which automatically and silently redirects you to a mirror it thinks it is good. If it is not, you may be "pissed". Notice too that browsing with firefox is no proof, you do not get redirected till you do an actual download.
And this behaviour changes in every suse version.
Oh! Guess I have a lot to learn to follow up. I'll certainly try that. Thank you!
Else, you might try to activate metalink support (export ZYPP_ARIA2C=1), assuming your version supports it (11.1 on 86, dunno for ppc).
Thanks for offering hints even the previous post demonstrated my stupid-ness and disqualification of administrator, which I admit. By the way I managed to get email software running now, this is the first email I sent from this SuSE installation. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Zhang Weiwu pecked at the keyboard and wrote:
在 2009-05-17日的 14:54 +0200，Carlos E. R.写道：
On Sunday, 2009-05-17 at 20:03 +0800, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
Try setting a mirror manually and use that. Is there a easier way than mess with server administration? I hit similar problem in Ubuntu several years ago, when asking for help, someone sent me a file less than 3 lines and ask me to save it to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/ then it is solved. You are the administrator, so you have to administrate. It is your job.
Should I? Although that may sounds stupid but I just want to use OpenSuSE for my daily business, mostly OpenOffice, GNUCash and browse the Internet. I am not sure if I am the rare case here in OpenSUSE mailing list. Are everybody else also system administrators?
P.S. I assume you mean "system administrator" here. I am more or less an "administrator" but in regarding to office management.
Go to http://mirrors.opensuse.org/, find a mirror for your version, check that it contains the files, and add that repo directly instead of the default one. Notice that the download engine uses mirrorbrain, which automatically and silently redirects you to a mirror it thinks it is good. If it is not, you may be "pissed". Notice too that browsing with firefox is no proof, you do not get redirected till you do an actual download.
And this behaviour changes in every suse version.
Oh! Guess I have a lot to learn to follow up. I'll certainly try that. Thank you!
Else, you might try to activate metalink support (export ZYPP_ARIA2C=1), assuming your version supports it (11.1 on 86, dunno for ppc).
Thanks for offering hints even the previous post demonstrated my stupid-ness and disqualification of administrator, which I admit.
By the way I managed to get email software running now, this is the first email I sent from this SuSE installation.
I believe you will find better help with this email list: opensuse-ppc@opensuse.org - Discussion about openSUSE on the PPC platform http://en.opensuse.org/Communicate/Mailinglists#Architecture_Lists -- Ken Schneider SuSe since Version 5.2, June 1998 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Sun, 2009-05-17 at 21:09 +0800, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
You are the administrator, so you have to administrate. It is your job.
Should I? Although that may sounds stupid but I just want to use OpenSuSE for my daily business, mostly OpenOffice, GNUCash and browse the Internet.
For all intense and purposes, you are the admin on that box. -- Michael S. Dunsavage -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Michael S. Dunsavage wrote:
For all intense and purposes, you are the admin on that box.
This is confusing. That is essentially saying in order to use powerpc repository through slow connection (because in foreign country maybe) I there should be a mirror, and because I am the admin of the box I should do this myself, which turns out powerpc users in foreign land are suggested to set up their own mirror of package repository. I wouldn't say this impossible because there are tools to download the website hierarchy, but I do feel it a frustrating experience. I know some people feel setting up a mirror a happy experience, unfortunately that is not my case. Anyway since I already spent more than 2 days on trying to prepare openSuSE for my work I think it's too pity to give up. I was told I should choose openSUSE because ubuntu no longer support iBook. However I am feeling unsupported on openSUSE which have official iBook support, as much as I feel on ubuntu ppc, which did not say they have "official support for ppc". So what makes the difference stating it is "officially supported"? I am thinking by saying this I offended everybody here on the list and make myself look like a jerk in the community. After trying 2 days to prepare a working notebook I could not help but feel frustrated, given there are probably another 2 days ahead. I never spent so much time on preparing a notebook for working. In general no matter how I am frustrated about the product, it is great to see people responding and trying to help. In some other forums nobody care to reply stupid user's question like mine. The frustration is about the product's ppc support but not to you who try to help me. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Anyway since I already spent more than 2 days on trying to prepare openSuSE for my work I think it's too pity to give up. I was told I should choose openSUSE because ubuntu no longer support iBook. However I am feeling unsupported on openSUSE which have official iBook support Emm. It seems I frustrated at the wrong thing. Read on. Ken said: Go to http://mirrors.opensuse.org/, find a mirror for your version, check that it contains the files, and add that repo directly instead of the default one. Notice that the download engine uses mirrorbrain, which automatically and silently redirects you to a mirror it thinks it is good. If it is not, you may be "pissed". Notice too that browsing with firefox is no proof, you do not get redirected till you do an actual download. I spent a few moment to get an idea how to tell if I am "pissed", and I
Zhang Weiwu wrote: try to download a random .rpm file from powerpc.opensuse.org, and use Firefox I noticed I was redirected to mirror.in.th, which is a mirror server blocked by the great firewall of China. So, I am pissed, but not by opensuse, but by our lovely firewall which "protects" us every day. I found all my opensuse issue (3 of them), although looks different problems, are all directly caused by the repository misbehavior. I fixed everything quickly by manually find a mirror (ftp5.gwdg.de) and configure package management to use that. My suggestion: 1. In the future version, try to make a tool called "mirror selector" as the way Ubuntu did, to select an available mirror from list of mirror sites, so user wouldn't be pissed by a single mirror server failure; 2. Adjust powerpc.opensuse.org redirect regulation. Make it redirect to something other than mirror.in.th for users from China. 3. Blame the great firewall publicly. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Please reply to the list directly and not me. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
在 2009-05-17日的 10:52 -0400，Michael S. Dunsavage写道：
Please reply to the list directly and not me.
OK. sorry some other mailing list told me to use reply all so that to not to miss those who participate the discussion without subscription. so I did it. Need to adapt to local regulations. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Sunday, 2009-05-17 at 22:16 +0800, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
Go to http://mirrors.opensuse.org/, find a mirror for your version, check that it contains the files, and add that repo directly instead of the default one. Notice that the download engine uses mirrorbrain, which automatically and silently redirects you to a mirror it thinks it is good. If it is not, you may be "pissed". Notice too that browsing with firefox is no proof, you do not get redirected till you do an actual download. I spent a few moment to get an idea how to tell if I am "pissed", and I try to download a random .rpm file from powerpc.opensuse.org, and use Firefox I noticed I was redirected to mirror.in.th, which is a mirror server blocked by the great firewall of China.
Ah! So my guess was correct. O:-)
So, I am pissed, but not by opensuse, but by our lovely firewall which "protects" us every day.
I found all my opensuse issue (3 of them), although looks different problems, are all directly caused by the repository misbehavior.
I fixed everything quickly by manually find a mirror (ftp5.gwdg.de) and configure package management to use that.
My suggestion:
1. In the future version, try to make a tool called "mirror selector" as the way Ubuntu did, to select an available mirror from list of mirror sites, so user wouldn't be pissed by a single mirror server failure; 2. Adjust powerpc.opensuse.org redirect regulation. Make it redirect to something other than mirror.in.th for users from China. 3. Blame the great firewall publicly.
There is a chap from SUSE that I hope can explain the issue and the solutions they are working on. I'm sure he will be interested on this particular problem, so I'm CC him so that he sees this thread when he has time. There are automatic workarounds on the mirror system to work around problems (one of them is the aria2c variable I mentioned), but it doesn't always work. And that kind of "firewall" doesn't help much. - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAkoQKVAACgkQtTMYHG2NR9XT9QCggNHLSknfnmVjBIOH0JvJ77pF /tgAn3eMdEAgsYDlT0m71RJn7gLBxnNr =Gyja -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
在 2009-05-17日的 17:12 +0200，Carlos E. R.写道：
On Sunday, 2009-05-17 at 22:16 +0800, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
Go to http://mirrors.opensuse.org/, find a mirror for your version, check that it contains the files, and add that repo directly instead of the default one. Notice that the download engine uses mirrorbrain, which automatically and silently redirects you to a mirror it thinks it is good. If it is not, you may be "pissed". Notice too that browsing with firefox is no proof, you do not get redirected till you do an actual download. I spent a few moment to get an idea how to tell if I am "pissed", and I try to download a random .rpm file from powerpc.opensuse.org, and use Firefox I noticed I was redirected to mirror.in.th, which is a mirror server blocked by the great firewall of China.
Ah! So my guess was correct. O:-)
Yes and you suggested trials closet to the final solution. Sorry I mistaken that Ken suggested this. I break the "law" this time to reply all instead of reply to the list so Peter can follow up.
My suggestion:
1. In the future version, try to make a tool called "mirror selector" as the way Ubuntu did, to select an available mirror from list of mirror sites, so user wouldn't be pissed by a single mirror server failure; 2. Adjust powerpc.opensuse.org redirect regulation. Make it redirect to something other than mirror.in.th for users from China. 3. Blame the great firewall publicly.
There are automatic workarounds on the mirror system to work around problems (one of them is the aria2c variable I mentioned), but it doesn't always work.
I forgot one important suggestion, it is really important for ppc users. (they might be CIOs, as they might try opensuse for their business and have good reason to already have used a above-average OS called Mac OS thus have a PowerBook there.) suggestion: make powerpc.opensuse.org the default online repository than download.opensuse.org this is so important that without this the newly installed system is instantly broken after first package update, and easily gets openoffice.org removed as in my case. I still miss my two days time spent on getting my hands dirty, a large part could be saved by this change. It's so obvious that I am thinking the QC procedure has some problem. Although I don't have time & knowledge to contact & describe this to the R&D people for this because I already spent too much effort to get things running.
And that kind of "firewall" doesn't help much.
The great firewall of China protects people in China from knowing something, of what that something is, I don't know. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Zhang Weiwu pecked at the keyboard and wrote:
在 2009-05-17日的 17:12 +0200，Carlos E. R.写道：
On Sunday, 2009-05-17 at 22:16 +0800, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
Go to http://mirrors.opensuse.org/, find a mirror for your version, check that it contains the files, and add that repo directly instead of the default one. Notice that the download engine uses mirrorbrain, which automatically and silently redirects you to a mirror it thinks it is good. If it is not, you may be "pissed". Notice too that browsing with firefox is no proof, you do not get redirected till you do an actual download. I spent a few moment to get an idea how to tell if I am "pissed", and I try to download a random .rpm file from powerpc.opensuse.org, and use Firefox I noticed I was redirected to mirror.in.th, which is a mirror server blocked by the great firewall of China. Ah! So my guess was correct. O:-)
Yes and you suggested trials closet to the final solution. Sorry I mistaken that Ken suggested this. I break the "law" this time to reply all instead of reply to the list so Peter can follow up.
Keeping replies to the list doesn't break a law, it is a suggestion because it keeps the person replying to you from getting two copies of your email, the one you send directly to them and the one they get through the list server. The only people that can participate must be members of the list. Therefore anyone who answers you gets their reply from you via the list server. Welcome to the list and hope you find what you need. As I stated in another email you moght want to also subscribe to the PPC list for any answers specific to that platform. -- Ken Schneider SuSe since Version 5.2, June 1998 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Monday, 2009-05-18 at 00:35 +0800, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
Ah! So my guess was correct. O:-)
Yes and you suggested trials closet to the final solution. Sorry I mistaken that Ken suggested this. I break the "law" this time to reply all instead of reply to the list so Peter can follow up.
No, no need. I mailed one to him so that he notices this thread; once done, he can find the thread in the mail and read it fully. No need to fill his inbox more :-)
I forgot one important suggestion, it is really important for ppc users. (they might be CIOs, as they might try opensuse for their business and have good reason to already have used a above-average OS called Mac OS thus have a PowerBook there.)
suggestion: make powerpc.opensuse.org the default online repository than download.opensuse.org
If that is not so, it is probably a bug.
I still miss my two days time spent on getting my hands dirty, a large part could be saved by this change. It's so obvious that I am thinking the QC procedure has some problem. Although I don't have time & knowledge to contact & describe this to the R&D people for this because I already spent too much effort to get things running.
The "testing" is done mostly by volunteers; you can see that in the factory list. If there are not many people testing a version (ppc, in this case) then problems can go undetected. - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAkoQWtIACgkQtTMYHG2NR9W97wCfa5SrkaJpG9y5Z6Imjvc0dFOr rRoAnRjj3wgynvj8wVJ24hQjUQ22fJ26 =dW3W -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Sunday 17 May 2009 09:16:21 am Zhang Weiwu wrote:
I found all my opensuse issue (3 of them), although looks different problems, are all directly caused by the repository misbehavior.
I fixed everything quickly by manually find a mirror (ftp5.gwdg.de) and configure package management to use that.
My suggestion:
1. In the future version, try to make a tool called "mirror selector" as the way Ubuntu did, to select an available mirror from list of mirror sites, so user wouldn't be pissed by a single mirror server failure;
The Mirrorbrain ( http://www.mirrorbrain.org ) is that tool and besides unpredictable problems like yours, it does a lot of decisions that make downloads both, secure and fast. Using mirrors directly is possible, but it is strongly discouraged, except in cases like yours as a temporary measure. It bypasses features important for system security like serving repositories descriptions direct from openSUSE servers, which makes impossible for mirror servers to insert their own and silently serve software to openSUSE users that doesn't come from openSUSE.
2. Adjust powerpc.opensuse.org redirect regulation. Make it redirect to something other than mirror.in.th for users from China.
That part is Peter's area and I'm sure he will do necessary changes as soon as he get this message. What is problem with server chosen by MirrorBrain is impossible to comment. I tried to access http://mirror.in.th with Konqueror (KDE4) and it failed, first reloading page every 2 seconds, and finally stopped responding. It worked to some extent with Firefox, [I didn't test it thoroughly] and this is not the first one with some problem on main page, but working fine when direct URL is used. I can't recall the other one I stumbled upon some months ago, although you can see well known example of http://download.nvidia.com that doesn't let you browse repos, but you can browse them using ftp://download.nvidia.com . BTW, http://mirror.in.th/osarchive/opensuse/ppc/distribution/11.1/ should be browseable as you skip main page. -- Regards, Rajko http://news.opensuse.org/category/people-of-opensuse/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Sunday, 2009-05-17 at 21:09 +0800, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
在 2009-05-17日的 14:54 +0200，Carlos E. R.写道：
You are the administrator, so you have to administrate. It is your job.
Should I? Although that may sounds stupid but I just want to use OpenSuSE for my daily business, mostly OpenOffice, GNUCash and browse the Internet. I am not sure if I am the rare case here in OpenSUSE mailing list. Are everybody else also system administrators?
Well, computers are complex machines. The intention is for them to work automatically and easily, but sometimes this doesn't happen and someone has to "get dirty" and change things. That means you, a friend, a colleague, even hiring a professional to do it for you. And Linux can be more demanding here (once fully configured, Linux should remain working for years and years, but setup is a bit hard sometimes). PPCs are perhaps more difficult, there are fewer users. The only thing we, over the mail, can do is offer guidance, but in the end, it is you you have to get you hands dirty. So yes, you are the admin of your computer...
And this behaviour changes in every suse version.
Oh! Guess I have a lot to learn to follow up. I'll certainly try that. Thank you!
I mean that 11.1 is much more resilient to mirror failure than 11.0, and this than 10.3, and all less than the future 11.2, because it is work in progress.
Else, you might try to activate metalink support (export ZYPP_ARIA2C=1), assuming your version supports it (11.1 on 86, dunno for ppc).
Thanks for offering hints even the previous post demonstrated my stupid-ness and disqualification of administrator, which I admit.
By the way I managed to get email software running now, this is the first email I sent from this SuSE installation.
Good! :-) - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAkoQLO8ACgkQtTMYHG2NR9VAOgCdFZLABHNKn9PmkQIIrSmdPT5Y oaQAn0riavj/ZMmgOz196Sc5pMxObBA8 =WIwP -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
participants (5)
-
Carlos E. R. -
Ken Schneider - openSUSE -
Michael S. Dunsavage -
Rajko M. -
Zhang Weiwu