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Be it a bug fix or an enhancement, SUSE Linux often has updates that you need to install. The updates come in the form of software patches, which refer to changes to existing software packages. You can use the GUI YaST Online Update (or YOU, for short) to keep SUSE Linux updated by downloading and installing patches.
 | You need a fast Internet connection (such as a DSL or cable modem) to easily update your SUSE Linux applications or download new software packages. Make sure that your Internet connection is up and running before you attempt to update your SUSE Linux system online. |
SUSE Linux comes with YOU (YaST Online Update) for online software updates. To access YOU, start YaST Control Center --> Software --> Online Update. This brings up the YaST Online Update window.
To set up YOU automatic updates, click the Configure Fully Automatic Update button. This brings up the YOU Automatic Mode Setup dialo g box.
You can then enable automatic updates by checking the Enable Automatic Update box. If you enable automatic updates, you have to specify a time of the day and frequency (daily or weekly) when you want YOU to check for any available patches and download and install them, if available. If you don't want to install the patches automatically, you can specify that YOU only download the patches and not install them. After setting the automatic update options, click OK to close the dialog box.
The next important setting for YOU is the online server from which to download the patches. To select the location, click the Installation Source drop-down menu in the YOU window and select an online server from where YOU should download the software updates. When you select a location, the full URL for the location appears in the Location text box. If you know of a new server, you can click New Server and enter the information about the new server. Typically, you can get by with the predefined set of servers that SUSE Linux provides.
 | After the Installation source is set, YOU is ready to update SUSE Linux. If you have configured a fully automatic update, the update process would happen according to the day and time you specified in the YOU Automatic Mode Setup dialog box. Otherwise, you can manually perform an update by clicking Next in the YOU main window. YOU then downloads information about any new updates in the form of a list of patches and displays them. |
The upper part of the left pane shows the list of YOU patches. A description of the currently selected patch appears below the list of patches. Typically, the description tells you what sort of problem the patch fixes. The right pane shows the packages updated by the patch.
Some of the critical patches are preselected for you and marked with icons denoting the type of action to be taken. You can accept the recommended selections and simply click Accept (in the lower-right corner of the window). YOU then begins to download the selected patches and installs them on your SUSE system one by one. For some patches, YOU displays a dialog box with information recommending a specific action. For example, if you're installing a patch to the Linux kernel, a dialog box recommends that you reboot the system after installing the patch. You can respond to these messages by clicking Install Patch as long as you understand the recomm endation and plan to follow it.
Depending on the number and size of patches, YOU takes some time to download all the patches and install them. As YOU performs its steps, it displays the status of the patch download and installation in the window. When all patches are downloaded and installed, the Finish button is activated, and yo u can click Finish to exit YOU.
That, in a nutshell, is how you can update your SUSE Linux system online with YOU. It's a nice and easy way to maintain your SUSE system, provided you have a high-speed Internet connection.
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