Yet another 3rd party repo question

[Curmudgeon]

I'm a new user, trying to do an initial install of SL6. I've tried to be conscientious, and read as much as I can here in the forums about 3rd party repos, but I'm still stuck with certain nagging questions.

As a KDE user, I was disappointed that newer versions of KDE seem not to be available in 3rd party repos. (Nominally, a 3rd party KDE repo does exist, but if I'm reading right, is actually intended for SL5 users, and it's stuck way back on KDE 4.1.)

Anyway, I noticed that Xfce 4.8, along with compiz and emerald are available from EPEL. I'm guessing that I can probably cobble something together from those pieceparts that gives me the functionality I would miss from, say, KDE 4.4, et seq.

Here's the thing: In order to get compiz working, I'll need to install proprietary nVidia drivers. Which, AFAICT, means installing them from a second 3rd party repo (ELRepo). On one hand, the repeated dire warnings here on the forums about mixing-and-matching 3rd party repos have me worried. On the other hand, I feel certain that I'm not the first person to want to install compiz on a system with an nVidia GPU, and if worse came to worse, I could always install the nVidia drivers manually. (Which I am loathe to do; I'm a DKMS sorta person.)

I'm envisioning installing the above-mentioned packages and then disabling 3rd party repos completely until I can learn enough to manage these "backport" repos intelligently.

Or would that be an amazingly stupid mistake?

[tux99]

QUOTE (Curmudgeon @ Jun 28 2012, 08:30 PM)

To get compiz working, I'll need to install proprietary nVidia drivers.  Which, AFAICT, means installing them from a second 3rd party repo (ELRepo).  On one hand, the repeated dire warnings here on the forums about mixing-and-matching 3rd party repos have me worried.  On the other hand, I feel certain that I'm not the first person to want to install compiz on a system with an nVidia GPU, and if worse came to worse, I could always install the nVidia drivers manually. (Which I am loathe to do; I'm a DKMS sorta person.) I'm envisioning installing the above-mentioned packages and then disabling 3rd party repos completely until I can learn enough to manage these "backport" repos intelligently.  Or would that be an amazingly stupid mistake?

You can mix-and-match packages from various repos, but you have to do it carefully with attention, i.e. installing the nvidia driver from Elrepo and xfce/compiz from Epel should work fine but mixing for example various audio/video packages with lots of audio/video library dependencies from different repos is a recipe for desaster.

Some repos are harder to mix with others, for example I find atrpms is best not mixed with any other repo. So if you choose to use atrpms you should stick only to atrpms.

Basically the best way to mix-and-match is to install all repos you are interested in (i.e. the repo configuration packages/files) and then disable them ALL (or all but your chosen main third party repo).
To disable them just edit the repo files in /etc/yum.repos.d/ and changed them all to 'enabled=0' (all except the base SL repos).

Then when you want to install a package from some repo you type:

yum --enablerepo=nameofrepo install xyz

That way each repo is only enabled temporarily to install a specific package and it's dependencies.

Of course the disadvantage of this method is that you won't get any automatic updates from any third party repos as by default they are all disabled. That's why it can make sense to have your chosen main third party repo permanently enabled (but only that one).

[Curmudgeon]

QUOTE (tux99 @ Jun 28 2012, 12:02 PM)

Of course the disadvantage of this method is that you won't get any automatic updates from any third party repos.

I thank you for the quick reply, and the reassurance.

I'm not at all worried about automatic updates, because the first thing I do in most any Linux distro (or any OS, period) is to disable automatic updates. Far too often (especially in LinuxLand), "update" is merely "regression" misspelled.

Thanks again.

(Edit: For the life of me. I can't seem to find an option to edit the subject line of my initial post. I'd like to mark this as SOLVED.)

[redman]

QUOTE (Curmudgeon @ Jun 28 2012, 09:08 PM)

(Edit: For the life of me. I can't seem to find an option to edit the subject line of my initial post.  I'd like to mark this as SOLVED.)

Topics aren't marked SOLVED on this forum.
We like to keep things relaxed and less formal

[Curmudgeon]

QUOTE (redman @ Jun 28 2012, 01:21 PM)

Topics aren't marked SOLVED on this forum.

Say it ain't so!

I'm one of those STFW types who appreciates being able both to search and to scan search results for SOLVED topics.

I can "fake" the first part by adding it to the text of the post. Bummer about the second part.

I think I'll console myself by doing a little desktop pimping.

[Curmudgeon]

Ok, I officially blame the forum's "no solutions" policy for eating two hours of my life, and being responsible for this: http://scientificlinuxforum.org/index.php?showtopic=38&st=150&#entry11837

It's not my fault!

[joutlan]

QUOTE (Curmudgeon @ Jun 28 2012, 04:35 PM)

QUOTE (redman @ Jun 28 2012, 01:21 PM) Topics aren't marked SOLVED on this forum. Say it ain't so! I'm one of those STFW types who appreciates being able both to search and to scan search results for SOLVED topics. I can "fake" the first part by adding it to the text of the post. Bummer about the second part. I think I'll console myself by doing a little desktop pimping.

We "used" to do that....it mucked up the forum and everyone shot it down...so here we are...btw, desktop pimping is a great hobby!

[zxq9]

QUOTE (joutlan @ Jun 28 2012, 11:04 PM)

QUOTE (Curmudgeon @ Jun 28 2012, 04:35 PM) I think I'll console myself by doing a little desktop pimping.  We "used" to do that....it mucked up the forum and everyone shot it down...so here we are...btw, desktop pimping is a great hobby!

Weird hobby, but... um, out of curiosity, what are the rates for quality time spent with your desktops?

[Curmudgeon]

QUOTE (zxq9 @ Jun 30 2012, 12:11 AM)

Weird hobby, but... um, out of curiosity, what are the rates for quality time spent with your desktops?

Some people express themselves aesthetically with a paintbrush, or a musical instrument. For others, it's iconsets and wallpapers. Art is art.