I'm playing with the apt-get feature but don't know the default root password. Anyone know where I can find this?

sudo gainroot

after installing the "rootsh" package from the application manager.

That worked, I was able to run apt-get update flawlessly.

Thanks!

whats the apt-get feature ? Noob here

You can also run directly from xterm "rootsh apt-get...". rootsh is instead of sudo.

You can change the password through rootsh by using passwd user
It won't help a lot though since you can't execute binary files

And after you install rootsh you can just type root to get root access instead of sudo gainroot, or at least I can!

... what??

This could get wordy.....

Maemo is based on a Linux Operating System called "debian". It uses "debian" package files with the extension ".deb". The management of these files is with a utility called "dpkg". However, most packages have dependencies - software that they require to already be on the system before they will function - and dpkg does not handle this. It just tries to install the deb file and fails if dependencies are missing. This creates what is called "dependency hell".. searching endlessly for dependency upon dependency.

Thus came APT, the "advanced packaging tool". This allows people to setup repositories that apt can connect to, it can check for software, determine what dependencies it has - and download everything you need in one simple tool. This tool is controlled by the commands "apt-get", "apt-cache", "apt-key", and a few others.

Who wants to remember all those commands? Nobody but people like me. Thus, Nokia (and a million other people) have written "front-ends" to apt to give you a graphical interface to installing your applications. That is your Application Manager on the N900. (Synaptic or Kynaptic on most desktops).

So, in short, the "apt-get feature" is just the command line utility to do what your application manager does. It just gives you more control, and a few added features.

We have a THANKS button for useful posts....... where's the THUMBS DOWN button for inappropriate responses ?????


If ever a post deserved it, it would be this one...... don't you know, Fatalsaint, that the correct response to the noob's question was "if you have to ask, then it's better off that you don't know" :-)


Seriously, thanks for a simple, informative response that not only answered the original noob, but helped this noob as well.

It may surprise some people to learn that a response like yours does more for encouraging some noob's to go out and learn more about linux for themselves than a lot of other less helpful responses linux noob's often get around here.