18 replies to this topic

[saturnian]

I installed Google Chrome Beta in PCLinuxOS. PCLOS has Chromium in the repos, but it hasn't been receiving updates lately, so that's why I installed Chrome.

I used the instructions I found here: http://blog.gambliser.com/2011/10/how-to-i...pclinuxos-2011/

I downloaded the .rpm for the beta, then installed lsb, then ran the following command:

CODE

# rpm -Uvh google-chrome-beta_current_i386.rpm

Okay, so Google Chrome Beta installed just fine. But ever since I installed it, I haven't seen a single update for it.

Where I've installed Google Chrome in other distros that use apt, like Debian 6 and Mepis 11, there exists /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list, containing something like this:

CODE

deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

But in PCLOS, /etc/apt/sources.list.d is empty. I thought about creating the google-chrome.list file but since PCLOS is an .rpm distro I don't know what to put in the file, or how things should work.

I searched at the PCLOS forums but the answers were like, "Don't install stuff from outside of the repos, use Chromium instead." So I didn't post a question about it there. I accept the responsibility if doing this somehow breaks my system; I just want to be able to get the updates. Anyone have any advice?

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Manually installed apps do NOT auto-upate in Linux. If you want a newer version, you have to manually install the newer version. That's why it's always better to install from the distribution's repos... the maintainers of the repos do all the work for you. Note, the repos may not stay on the cutting edge of versions. They will update eventually, but it may take a while.

[saturnian]

Manually installed apps do NOT auto-upate in Linux. If you want a newer version, you have to manually install the newer version. That's why it's always better to install from the distribution's repos... the maintainers of the repos do all the work for you. Note, the repos may not stay on the cutting edge of versions. They will update eventually, but it may take a while.

Sorry, Eric, but I have manually installed Google Chrome from outside the repos in Mepis, Debian, and SalineOS. I am able to update them all via Synaptic. (Same applies to Firefox, which I've also installed from outside the repos in various distros, except in that case the updates didn't come via Synaptic -- I believe FF notified me when updates were available).

Edited by saturnian, 25 March 2012 - 06:15 PM.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Interesting. How does synaptic (using standard repositories) know that your Chrome (manually installed from a download) needs to be updated or where to get those updates?

I've never, that I can remember, had manually installed apps on my systems update automatically. I'd like others to post their experiences about this so I can learn more.

Thanks...

[securitybreach]

I have never heard of this either Eric.

I would not think it would be possible to change the version without needing the root password as the apps do not have write permission to /usr/bin  

And if this is the case, that is a HUGE gaping hole in your security.

[saturnian]

In Debian, for example, Chrome adds the file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list, which contains the following line:

CODE

deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I have never heard of this either Eric.

I would not think it would be possible to change the version without needing the root password as the apps do not have write permission to /usr/bin  

And if this is the case, that is a HUGE gaping hole in your security.

Precisely! I believe that I must be misunderstanding what Saturnian is actually doing.

[saturnian]

So, no, it is not changing the version without the root password. In Debian and other distros I simply run Synaptic and if there's an update available for Google Chrome it shows up there. Same as updating any other package.

[securitybreach]

In Debian, for example, Chrome adds the file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list, which contains the following line:

CODE

deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

Then that means that your package manager is updating chrome.

[saturnian]

Then that means that your package manager is updating chrome.

Exactly. Except in PCLOS there's nothing in /etc/apt/sources.list.d. I don't know why.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

In Debian, for example, Chrome adds the file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list, which contains the following line:

CODE

deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

OK, I see what you're doing. You are (or your system is) adding custom repos to your sources.list. I understand what's happening now. This is NOT manually installed software; not if you're adding custom repos and updating via synaptic (or apt-get) using those repos.

When I say "manually installed" I mean the way I installed Chrome in my Slackware... downloading source from Chrome's site and compiling (making a SlackBuild, actually) and then installing from that result. I do NOT have any non-Slackware sources on my Slackware system, so I have to manually update Chrome.

As to why you're no longer updating... I would first check the repo sources to see if the one for Chrome is still active. If it is, just navigate there using your browser and see what version of Chrome in on the server. After that... *shrugging* it may be a PCLOS issue somewhere.

Thanks for clarifying, Saturnian! I thought I was going nuts for a bit there.

[saturnian]

When I say "manually installed" I mean the way I installed Chrome in my Slackware... downloading source from Chrome's site and compiling (making a SlackBuild, actually) and then installing from that result. I do NOT have any non-Slackware sources on my Slackware system, so I have to manually update Chrome.

OK.

As to why you're no longer updating... I would first check the repo sources to see if the one for Chrome is still active. If it is, just navigate there using your browser and see what version of Chrome in on the server. After that... *shrugging* it may be a PCLOS issue somewhere.

I think that's the problem. As I said, in other apt distro's when I've installed Chrome, the repo gets added to /etc/apt/sources.list.d, in the file google-chrome.list. This didn't happen in PCLOS. There's no repo source to check to see if it's still active. I think maybe it would work if I added the file myself but I don't know what to put in the file. I can't use the same repo line that I see in the other distro's because they're .deb distros.

So I think I'll just try downloading the current .rpm and re-installing.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

This is why:

from the dl.google.com page --> For Linux (Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora/openSUSE)

There doesn't seem to be a prepackaged version for PCLOS. You'll have to wait on PCLOS repo maintainer to update (if you installed it via PCLOS) or you'll have to manually download and build the new version from source, like I do in Slackware.

[saturnian]

So I think I'll just try downloading the current .rpm and re-installing.

That worked and it was painless. So I can just do that every now and then. Obviously, installing Chrome in PCLOS is different than in Debian distros. I assumed that a repo would be added that Synaptic would pick up. You know what they say about "assume."

[saturnian]

This is why:

from the dl.google.com page --> For Linux (Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora/openSUSE)

There doesn't seem to be a prepackaged version for PCLOS. You'll have to wait on PCLOS repo maintainer to update (if you installed it via PCLOS) or you'll have to manually download and build the new version from source, like I do in Slackware.

Yes, exactly, except I don't have to wait for the PCLOS repo maintainer, as it turns out, nor do I have to build the new version from source. The .rpm I used is the 32-bit one for Fedora/openSUSE.

[saturnian]

So basically what I have to do, as far as I can tell, is periodically go back and manually install the current .rpm. Even though you don't call that "manually installing."    No big deal, it's just a matter of downloading the .rpm, opening a terminal, getting root access, and pasting a command.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

If the Fedore/OpenSuSE rpm works without any modification on your PCLOS, just set the Google Chrome repo for those distributions in your PCLOS and it should (theoretically) update as it did in your Debian system.

[saturnian]

I'm not sure how to properly add the repo in PCLOS. The things I've tried so far (I tried creating the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list file and adding a line for the repo in that file, then I tried adding the repo using Synaptic) haven't worked.

I'll look into it a bit more, but without knowing what I'm doing it seems safer to just download the current .rpm every few weeks and then reinstall Chrome. Also, that's very quick and easy to do, and I'm comfortable with that approach.

In the meantime, it'll be interesting to see how long it'll be before upgrades for chromium-browser and other packages start appearing in PCLOS' Synaptic. Things have been slow lately, I think because the dev (Texstar) hasn't been well. Some other guys have been trying to fill in, looks like. I'm just hoping that Tex will be okay; if he can come back and re-take full control of the distro, that would be great, but, I think right now his health is the main concern.

[securitybreach]

Try this:

Command line key installation for RPM

On an RPM-based system (Fedora, SUSE, Mandriva, RHEL, etc.), download the key and then use rpm to install it.

w-get https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub
sudo rpm --import linux_signing_key.pub
You can verify the key installation by running:

rpm -qi gpg-pubkey-7fac5991-*
To manually verify an RPM package, you can run the command:

rpm --checksig -v packagename.rpm

http://www.google.com/linuxrepositories/


(remove the - in w-get)

Nevermind that is just for adding the key.