RPM installation instructions

1. Download ​http://rpm.netlabs.org/bootstrap/rpm-yum-bootstrap-1_3.wpi.
   
   
2. Select a target drive for installation. Consider the following:
   
   
   • The target drive should be big enough to install all software you need from RPM repositories. A good estimate is 5G of free space (this counts future RPM releases of big applications like Java, OpenOffice and so on). If you are a developer, you should double this reserve (so that it can fit the compiler and various frameworks).
   • The installer will create a simplified Unix tree on the target drive. This single tree will be used by all software ported from !Unix/!Linux and distributed with RPM.
   • It is a good idea to select the boot volume as a target drive for the RPM installation (provided that it is big enough). This way, all system components, including those installed from RPM repositories, will live on a single drive and not interfere with your personal data (or with your custom installations of applications from ZIP archives) which we recommend to store on a separate partition.
   • Installing the RPM and Unix tree to a sub-folder is not well tested and therefore not yet possible.
     
     
3. Start the WPI installer and carefully follow the on-screen instructions.
   
   

Please keep in mind that while it is possible in principle to move the Unix tree together with all software installed from RPM to a different drive later, this operation requires special knowledge. Therefore, it is recommended to plan the hard disk space usage before installing RPM, as described above.

After installation, please read the ​RPM How-To for End Users that describes the basics of YUM and RPM which you need to know in order to install and remove software distributed as RPM packages.