Differnet ways to install programs on SUSE

There are different ways of installing programs on SUSE. They all depend on where you get them. I will put them in order of easo of instalation. What you must do is first try the first method, then the next and so on. If you were not able to install it, you better ask on news:alt.os.linux.suse with an explanation what you have done and what errors you have encounterd.

Method 1.
Start Yast, go to Software and then to Install and Remove Programs. Search for the file and choose it to install. This will also solve any dependcy problems ther might be, meaning that if it needs another program to function, that will also be selected.
This is the prefered way, as this is also the only way to have security patches installed from SUSE if you run YOU (Yast Online Update) and you should.
There are other ways to install programs that are in your install path. You can open a terminal and type as root 'yast -i program. No need to type out the version number and extention of the program. If you do not know exactly what the program is named, or if you do not know what package the program is in, use 'pin file'. Say you need the program 'conjure' and want to install that, do 'pin conjure' and it will show that the file it is in is 'ImageMagick-5.5.7-220.i586.rpm'. Just do 'yast -i ImageMagick' and it will install conjure and a lot of other programs that it needs.

Method 2.
Find an RPM online. There are several ways to look for RPM's online. The first place would be the site of the programmer or company. A lot already include RPM's on their site. 
Other places to look for rpm's are:
http://rpm.pbone.net/
http://rpmfind.net/
http://www.rpmseek.com
Download it to a place that you will remember. Go to that directory with Konquror and click right on the rpm file go to action and then 'Install with Yast'.

Another way of doing this is to open a terminal and type 'yast -i file.rpm' or 'rpm -Uvh file.rpm'. You can also install the program directly from its location with 'rpm ftp://example.com/directory/file.rpm'
If you need to install several rpm files at once, put them all in an empty directory and do 'rpm -Uvh *'.

Method 3.
Install apt4rm from http://linux01.gwdg.de/apt4rpm/ and do 'apt-install file'

Method 4.
When a site has a selfinstalling program and no rpm file can be found anywhere (look harder, there probably is one) then first read the instructions on the site you aer downloading it from. When people write a selfinstalling program, they tend to take out some time to write how to use it as well. Generally you must download it and then just do 'sh file.bin' or 'sh file.sh'.

Method 5.
Sometimes only the sourcecode can be found. You then have to compile the program itself. In Yast, first install all of the following in the selection filter:
C/C++  Compiler and Tools
KDE Development
GNOME Development
Tcl/Tk Development
and if you are copiling something into the kernel as well:
Kernel Development

See that you download the latest version to an emty directory. Most files will end with .tar.gz, tgz, tbz or tar.bz2. First unpack them depending on the extention. .tar.gz and tgz can be unpacked with 'tar -zxvf file' and the ones with tbz or tar.bz2 with 'tar -jxvf file'. Most of the times this with extract the files to a separate directory. Go into that directory and first read the README and INSTALL file.
Then the actual compilation can begin. First type as a normal user, not as root './configure' If there are errors there, solve them first before you go on. Next type './make'. If there are errors there, first solve them. The next step is to become root and type 'make install'. That will install te program for you.

It is better to have the program 'checkinstall' installed and instead of 'make install' do 'checkinstall'. If you do not just want to make a rpm, but at the same time want to install it, type 'checkinstall --rpmu --install=yes'