This is version 2.0 of the guide to Ximian Red Carpet, describing Ximian Red Carpet 2.0. It was last updated March, 2003.
Copyright © 2000-2003 Ximian Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. You may obtain a copy of the GNU Free Documentation License from the Free Software Foundation by visiting their Web site or by writing to: Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
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Table of Contents
Ximian Red Carpet is a program designed to help you manage the software you have on your computer. It can help you install, update, and remove programs, without making you keep track of dependencies and conflicts yourself. It works with the package management structures your operating systems already has, so you can use it alongside unrelated command-line tools.
Red Carpet 2 has a number of important differences from the previous version. The appearance and interface have been completely overhauled, and there are several new features like enhanced search tools and the ability to make a list of removals and installations, then then do everything at once.
One important structural difference is that, as of version 2.0, Red Carpet the graphical tool is actually a client for rcd, the Red Carpet Daemon. Having two pieces means:
You can update remote systems that are running the daemon. Select -> to choose a remote host.
You have a choice between the graphical red-carpet program and the command line rug tools. Both tools require the rcd package. Detailed information about rug and rcd are available in their man pages (standard UNIX manuals). You can read them by typing man rug or man rcd at the command line.
Software for most versions of Linux is shipped as a package file, most commonly the rpm or deb format. Each package contains a set of files that constitute the software itself, plus additional information about what the software is, what requirements it has, and where it should be installed. Proper packaging makes software easier to install, upgrade, or remove, and can help manage the interdependencies among various programs.
Ximian Red Carpet supports the rpm (Red Hat Package Manager, used by most distributions), and the deb (Debian) package formats.
Ximian Red Carpet groups software into channels. For example, "Red Hat 8.0," "Ximian Evolution Beta Snapshots," and "Ximian Desktop" are all channels. You can subscribe to channels that interest you, and ignore those that do not. Ximian Red Carpet will not install or update software from channels to which you are not installed.
To subscribe to a channel, select -> or click the button in the toolbar. A window will open to show you the list of available channels. Check the box next to a channel to subscribe.
Some channels also have groupings called sections, which describe the purpose of the individual pieces of software. "Imaging," "Productivity," and "Development" are examples of sections.
Ximian Red Carpet also gives you access to two important services from Ximian, Inc. The first service, Red Carpet Express, is for individuals, and offers access to special high-speed servers with faster connections, so you get better download rates. The other service, Ximian Red Carpet Enterprise, is aimed at businesses and workgroups that want to manage software deployment on a larger scale.
To find out more about using Red Carpet Express, read the section called “Red Carpet Express: More Software, Faster”. For more about Red Carpet Enterprise visit the Ximian website.
Ximian update and installation services require a network connection. If you do not have a network connection, you can still use Ximian Red Carpet to remove software or install local packages that you already have on disk. To install from a file, select ->. For information on removing software, see the section called “Remove Software on My Computer”.
To install, update, or remove software, you must enter your system's root password. If you do not have root privileges, you may only view the software installed on your system.
Ximian ships software for a limited number of operating systems. Not all software is available for all systems. The official list of supported systems is available at the Ximian Support Center.
To start using Ximian Red Carpet, select -> from the menu panel, or type red-carpet at the command line. Enter your root password when prompted.
The Red Carpet window has two major sections that display information. In the center, there is a list of software packages. On the left side of the window is a list of transactions. As you use Red Carpet, you will choose software from the package list to install or remove, adding the installation or removal to the list of actions.
For detailed information about a package, select it and click the button.
To change the way information is sorted, click the headers at the top of the columns of data. For example, to sort software in alphabetical order by package name, click the Package header. Click again to sort in reverse alphabetical order.
To select a package, click on it with the left mouse button. You can select multiple packages by holding down Ctrl and clicking, or select a range using Shift. To select all packages in the list, press Ctrl-A.
To mark a package for installation or removal, click the or buttons at the bottom of the screen. You can also click the Action column to choose an action for each package.
There are only two basic kinds of transactions in Red Carpet: installation and removal. An upgrade is essentially the removal of the old version and installation of the new one. Therefore, there are only two actions you can choose: and
Where appropriate, Red Carpet displays upgrades as though they were single transactions. For example, the History view has an Action column that displays upgrades as well as installs or removals.
To remove an item from the list of pending transactions, select it and click or right-click on it and select .
When you are done choosing actions, click the button. Red Carpet will then check to see if additional actions are required. For example, if you attempt to install a new spelling dictionary, but do not have the spelling tool, you will need to install the the spelling tool as well as the dictionary.
Red Carpet will present you with a list of the actions that it is about to take, and ask you to confirm or cancel. If you are satisfied with the set of actions, click .
For best performance, select a mirror near you. To learn how to choose a mirror, and why mirrors can give you a faster download, read the section called “General Preferences”.
Along the top of the right side of the window are five tabs that give you different views of your system:
This is the view you will see when you start Ximian Red Carpet. It displays updates to software that you have installed and that is in channels to which you are subscribed.
This displays software that is installed on your computer.
This lets you search the largest possible list of packages: those installed on your system, and those available for installation in all channels.
This displays a list of actions you have performed in the past.
This displays a detailed list of upcoming software transactions you have chosen. To perform them, click the button in the upper left hand corner of the window.
When you start Ximian Red Carpet it will show you a list of software packages that you can update. An update notice is only shown for software that you already have installed, that is in a channel to which you are subscribed, and for which there is a newer version than what you already have. New software, and new versions of software that you have but that is in a channel to which you do not subscribe, is not part of the update screen.
If you do not see any updates, make sure that you are subscribed to the right channels. See What are Channels and Sections? to learn how to adjust channel subscriptions.
Each package is displayed with the following information:
The action you are performing for this package. This entry will be blank if you are neither installing nor removing it. If you have selected an action, it will have an installation or removal icon. You can click on the blank space to perform an action (install a package if it is not installed, remove a package if it is installed), or click on the icon to cancel the action.
Ximian will indicate how important it is for you to install this update. From least to most important, an update can be listed as minor, feature, suggested, urgent, or necessary.
The name of the channel in which this package is shipped.
The version number for the updated package. Note that version numbers do not count by digits, but instead use numbers separated by. In other words, version 1.10 is newer than version 1.9. You can remember this by referring to "one point ten" instead of "one point one zero."
The version number of the software you have installed now.
To perform a simple update of software that is already on your system:
Select one or more packages in the list of available updates.
Mark the selected packages for installation by clicking the button.
Click the button to have Ximian Red Carpet perform the updates.
To uninstall software that is on your computer now, click the My Computer tab. Red Carpet will display a list of the software that is on your system now.
Select packages for removal and click or click the space next to the package in the Action column. When you are finished, click the button, or select another view to choose more transactions.
Each package is displayed with the following information:
The action you are performing on this package.
The name of the channel in which this package is shipped.
The name of the package.
The version number of the software you have installed now.
There are three ways to change the items in the list:
Choose from the list of channels to show only the software that comes from a particular channel.
Choose from the list of software sections to show only the software of that type. Some channels do not use section divisions.
You can also search for a word or word fragment in the packages and their descriptions by typing into the text box above the list of packages.
For this view and for the Search view, you will have the following additional search options:
Check this box to search in package descriptions as well as package names.
Select Any Word for a broad search that matches any of the words you enter in the text box, or All Words to find only matches that contain all the words you enter.
Select Substrings to search for word fragments, or Whole Words to search for whole words only. Package names are rarely whole words, so this is mostly useful for package descriptions.
To look at the broadest possible range of software, and to find new software to install, click the tab. This will not immediately display a list of all available software. You must first search for the software you want to see. If you really wish to see every available piece of software, enter a blank search in the search box.
To search for software, select one or more criteria for your search. You can choose:
Narrow your search to a specific channel. If you do not select anything, you will search in all channels to which you are subscribed.
The type of software you are looking for, such as Productivity or Imaging.The default is to search in all sections.
You can search for packages that are not installed, packages that are installed, packages that you have installed but for which a newer version is available, or for packages of any status. The default is to search for packages which you do not have installed.
Enter words or word fragments to search for, and press Enter.
The advanced search options are the same as in My Computer. See the section called “Remove Software on My Computer” for more information.
In the Search view, each package is displayed with the following information:
The action you are performing on this package.
Indicates whether you have the software installed and if so, whether an update is available. If you do not have the software, the value is listed as not installed. If you have the same version of the software as the one listed, the status will be installed. If you have a different version, the listed package will be described as older or newer than the installed version.
The name of the channel in which this package is shipped.
The column with the lock icon indicates whether the package is cryptographically signed.
The name of the software package.
The version number of the package.
The history view displays a list of of your past transactions. That is, each time you install, remove, or upgrade a piece of software, it's recorded here.
The history information is taken from the logs of the Red Carpet Daemon, rcd. It includes transactions made with the rug command line tool, but not changes made with dpkg, apt-get, or rpm.
It displays the following information about each transaction:
The time and date when the transaction occurred.
Whether you upgraded, installed, or removed the software.
The user who performed the action. In most cases, this will be root, but you may allow other users to use Red Carpet.
The name of the software package involved in the transaction.
For upgrades and removals, this is the version of the software you had installed before the transaction. For installs, this entry is blank.
For Installs and Upgrades, this displays the version of the software after the transactions. For removals, this entry is blank.
To change the displayed list, you can choose one or more of the following criteria:
Normally, the History view shows you all transactions. You may choose instead to display just installations, removals, or upgrades.
Normally, Red Carpet will show you transactions performed by all permitted users. If you have allowed other users to use Red Carpet, you may choose to display just their actions. If you have not allowed any other users to change the system, the only option here will be All.
Normally, Red Carpet will show you the transactions in the last thirty days. You can choose a longer or shorter time frame if you wish..
The left side of the main Red Carpet window shows you a list of transactions you have selected, but it doesn't have room to give you a lot of detail. For more information about your pending transaction list, click the tab.
In addition to the action and package name available in the concise view, the detailed transaction view lets you see see the package version number and the amount of disk space taken up by the package.
Red Carpet Express is a premium service that provides you with exclusive access to high speed download servers, plus additional software not available through the free service. Red Carpet Express works like basic regular Red Carpet service, except there are more channels of software available, and you connect to a dedicated high-bandwidth server. A one-year subscription is included with the purchase of Ximian Desktop.
When you purchase a subscription, you will be given an activation key, which is a string of numbers and letters like 83ab2f90e821f000. To activate your subscription, select ->. A dialog will open and ask for your email address and the activation code.
You can turn Red Carpet Express and other premium services on or off by selecting -> and, under the General section, clicking the Enable Premium Services checkbox.
To sign up for Red Carpet Express, or find more information about its benefits, visit http://store.ximian.com.
Red Carpet Enterprise allows you to run your own Ximian Red Carpet server and distribute software to your network in a secure and convenient manner. Clients may connect with either Red Carpet or the rug command line tool, simplifying automated updates. The server includes a web interface and scriptable command line tools. You can use Red Carpet Enterprise to manage installs and updates for internal or purchased software, plus easy redistribution of software from Ximian, SuSE YaST, and the Red Hat Network. For additional information, visit http://ximian.com.
To open the preferences window, select ->. The window has four tabbed pages: General, Cache, Daemon, and Advanced.
You can set the following preferences here:
The location of the Red Carpet server you are using. If you know the exact URL of a server, you can enter it here, or choose one from the list of mirrors by clicking the button.
Click this button to get a list of mirrors you can choose from. All of these servers have the same software as the main Ximian server, and update at least once per day.
For best results, choose a mirror with a physical location near yours. That generally means that there are fewer intermediate connections between the server and your computer. In addition, the primary Ximian site is often crowded, so even a relatively distant mirror can be faster. Another way to get a faster connection is with Red Carpet Express. See the section called “Red Carpet Express: More Software, Faster” for more information.
If you have already activated Red Carpet Express or Red Carpet Enterprise services, you can turn them on and off here.
Ximian ships software with a cryptographic signature. Unless you absolutely trust your server (for example, you are using Red Carpet Enterprise) you should leave this setting on for security.
If possible, Ximian Red Carpet will download several packages at once in order to make the best use of your network connection. If you have a very fast connection, you may wish to increase this number. If you are sharing your connection with others, you may wish to reduce it.
If your network uses an HTTP proxy, check this box, then enter the proxy URL. If necessary, also enter your username and password. Because Ximian Red Carpet does not depend on a particular desktop, this setting must be entered independently of the GNOME desktop proxy setting.
Ximian Red Carpet stores downloaded files so that if you quit or cancel an operation, you can resume it quickly without downloading again. The Cache tab in the Preferences window lets you change cache handling behavior. Your options are:
If you don't want to cache anything, uncheck this box. It is normally on.
Enter the location where you will save cached files.
You can the cache to empty after a certain number of days, or if its contents take up more than a certain amount of space. By default, this happens after 30 days or 300 MB. If you turn off cache expiration, packages will be kept until you delete them yourself by clicking the button.
At the bottom of the window, you can empty the package cache by clicking the button.
The options available in this section are:
The dispatcher, or "magic" proxy, is used only in complex Red Carpet Enterprise deployments. If you are using one, your system administrator will give you a hostname to enter here.
When you upgrade or remove software, Ximian Red Carpet normally just deletes the old version. However, it is possible to "repackage" it, creating an archived version so you can switch back if necessary. Repackaging is time consuming and uses significant amounts of disk space.
This setting demands that the Red Carpet server have an identity certificate which is verified by external authority organizations. An external certificate is expensive and most servers will not have one.
Check this box if your proxy or server insists on strict HTTP/1.0 protocol for communications.
Operation messages are saved to the file /var/log/rcd/rcd-messages depending upon the degree of importance assigned to them by the developer. A value of 1 will send only the messages that are flagged as most important; 6 will send every message, and 0 will send no messages.
Determines the amount of information sent to the central operating system log. Messages are sent depending upon the degree of importance assigned to them by the developer. A value of 1 will send only the messages that are flagged as most important; 6 will send every message, and 0 will send no messages.
If you require finer control over the operation of Ximian Red Carpet, you may wish to edit the configuration files, as described in the man pages for rug, rcd, and rcd.conf.
Ximian Red Carpet may be used with remote systems running the Red Carpet Daemon, rcd. You will need to have an account with the daemon on the remote system.
To add an rcd account on the remote system, you must log in to that system as root, and use the rug user-add -U username -P password command. Then, you may administer the system without logging in as root.
To connect to a remote system, do the following:
Select ->.
Click the button.
Enter the hostname and, if necessary, port for connection to the remote system.
Enter your user name and password.
Click the button.
Once you are connected you can view and administer the system as you would a local one, in accordance with the privileges granted to your account.
You can also use the rug command to administer a remote system. For information on the command line Red Carpet tools, use the man rug command.