To get new packages and keep your Mandriva system up-to-date, you add urpmi media sources using the urpmi.addmedia command. You can get a list of urpmi media sources from our Urpmi Online Media Setup page located at: Urpmi-Addmedia That page will assist by giving you the right command(s) to enter into a terminal, as root, which allows you to successfully setup online media sources.
Various Repositories To Setup
On that page you will find options to setup media sources for Main, Main Updates, Contrib, Contrib Updates, PLF-Free and PLF-NonFree(you don't have to pay for PLF-NonFree). Read Repos Defined for an explanation of each repo mentioned on Urpmi-Addmedia
Synthesis.hdlist.cz And Hdlist.cz Defined
On the mirrors you might see a synthesis.hdlist.cz as well as a hdlist.cz and will begin to wonder what the difference is. The synthesis.hdlist.cz was created with dial-up users in mind. It contains much less information in it about the RPM's than the hdlist.cz does. This makes it a smaller file and a better choice for dial-up users. However, the disadvantage to using the synthesis.hdlist.cz is that you will lose some functionality with urpm* itself due to the lack of additional information. One good example is that urpmf can't find files in non-installed packages. The advantage to using the synthesis.hdlist.cz instead of the hdlist.cz is that it will speed up the process a bit for you considering your slow connection.
Below is an example of what a urpmi.addmedia command should look like that you enter into your terminal as root user.
urpmi.addmedia main ftp://ftp.uio.no/linux/MandrivaLinux/official/2007.0/ \ i586/media/main/release with media_info/hdlist.cz
Recovering lLost CD/DVD Media Sources
Let's say you did urpmi.removemedia -a (which is discussed on a different page) and you want to recover your CD's or DVD as media sources again. To accomplish this you can perform the following command to get them back:
urpmi.addmedia --distrib cdrom removable://mnt/cdrom
Special Note For this to work, you need one of your Mandriva CD's or DVD in the cdrom before pressing enter to run this command.
Copying CD's To The Harddrive And Using Them As A Media Source
If you don't like swapping CD's during urpmi sessions and you've got some room to spare, make a directory on your system (let's say: /home/CDS/), then copy the base/ and Mandriva/ directories (recursively) from the first install-CD to there. Now copy the RPMS2 to RPMS8 directories into the previously created Mandriva/ directory. After removing or disabling the install CD's as media sources, perform the following command:
urpmi.addmedia --distrib HD file://home/CDS
3rd Party Repositories Worth Mentioning
Below is a list of a couple of personal RPM repositories (media sources) that we feel are a good choice to use for obtaining good, quality, safe rpms. They provide instructions on their pages to add their repositories as online media sources using urpmi.addmedia. The SoS RPM Repository is hosted and run by Hawkwind, who also hosts LinuxForDummies