Pakfire

Pakfire was specially developed for IPFire and provides a safe and easy way to install Addons and updates. Similar to well known applications such as apt-get and yum from other Linux distributions, Pakfire is a package manager. It checks for dependencies, downloads these and installs them.

Some important features of Pakfire are…

• Encryption: All packages and transferred data is encrypted and digitally signed by the server.

Therefore it is ensured that no forged packages can be installed.

• Mirrors: Mirror servers don't have to be trusted. This poses no security risk due to the encryption scheme.

• Easy to Use: The installation of the packages is simple, with its own GUI.

If the outgoing firewall is configured in mode 1, you need to add rules for downloading packages via port 80 (HTTP) and the icmp protocol for the server-is-alive?-check.

When you select the web interface tab for Pakfire, the most important information will be shown, which is:

• What is the update status? (left)
• When was the last update? (left)
• What updates are available? (right)
• How old are the update lists? (left)

If needed, you can click on Refresh List to update the lists of available updates and Addons. A click on will install the missing updates.

All updates and Addons will be checked thoroughly and several tests will be performed.

In the window to the right you will always get informed about the newest updates. Because these updates often contain fixes for security-critical problems, they should get installed as fast as possible. By clicking on the button under the window, you can perform that operation by hand. You can also automate this by activating the automatic Upgrade in the configuration.

In the second section, the actual Addons can be found. Here are available and installed Addons listed. If you want to install one or more Addons, you need just to select the needed Addon with a mouse click (press CTRL key for more than one).

Clicking on the plus sign installs the Addon. However, before actual installation you will be asked to confirm installation or to abort.

Uninstall is as easy as installation! In the list of installed Addons select the Addon to be uninstalled, by clicking the minus sign.

You will then be prompted to confirm or abort the process.

The Command, for example: to install the package ”Samba” on IPFire via the Console:

pakfire install samba

After a short period the installation process starts. The Console output can be bypassed with the parameter ”-y”.

Several packages can be installed at same time by using the Command:

pakfire install -y htop samba bwm-ng tripwire...

A list of available packages can be found by using the following Command in the Console window:

pakfire list

To uninstall a package e.g. ”Samba”, run the following Command in the Console window:

pakfire remove samba