One of the most common problem for new and also experienced Linux users is, that they don’t really know how to install software. Most tend to search for the RPM or software packages on the WWW. Switchers from other distributions sometimes believe that openSUSE does not contain a package manager at all.
So let me show you some ways to properly set up the package manager and how to install software.

Yast / Zypper (Basic setup):

1. Open Yast –> Software –> Community Repositories
2. Enable OSS, NON-OSS, Packman, Update (+ the repo for your GPU if necessary)
3. You are now set to install software which is in those repos using zypper (or yast as a zypper frontend)
4. Commandline: zypper in software_name
   Yast: Open Yast and start clicking….

Yast / Zypper (Advanced setup):

If you cannot find a software using zypper in package_name after having set up the repos, it is a good idea to check http://packages.opensuse-community.org/ for the software. If it is in there:

1. If there are numerous repos, try to take an official one, not a home user project (better software quality and higher trust level).
2. If you want to install more than one software package from the same repo, do _not_ use 1-click (see below for explanation). Rather add the repo using:
   zypper sa source name_for_source (e.g. zypper sa ftp://download.nvidia.com/opensuse/10.3/ nvidia) and install the software using zypper
   Note that zypper ar -r http://path_to_.repo_file_in_obs_repos can also be used to add a repo. The name will be choosen automatically in this case.

Without Yast / Zypper (software not found in any repo):

If the software package can not be found in any repo you will want to check for the software on the developers homepage.
If it offers a RPM to download:

1. Download the RPM
2. Open a console (alt+f2 –> konsole (in KDE))
3. su
4. rpm -Uhv /path/to/rpm/name_of_rpm.rpm
5. done (if there are no missing dependencies, this case will not be covered here)

If you can only obtain the source code:

1. Download the source code
2. Unpack the source code
3. Read and follow the instructions that are given in INSTALL, README, WHATEVER
4. done

If you can wait and if it is an interesting software which you believe should be obtainable via a repo, you can ask a packager to include it in the OBS:

1. By filing a bug in bugzilla about it (for inclusion in the OSS repo)
2. By filling a wish at http://en.opensuse.org/Category:Wishlists

Terminology:

CLI:
Command line interface
repo:
Place where already compiled software is available. With the package manager of your choice,
you can just download the package and install it automagically
Package manager: 
Software which can install packages and solve dependencies. openSUSE ships with zypper / Yast, but one can basically install the package manager of his / her choice (like smart or apt). Personally, I still prefer smart.

Why not 1-click?:

I understand that 1-click is a nice thing for windows user. But as many Windows solutions, this seems to be a bad one:

1. It does not work on CLI.
2. If you don’t learn to use package managers and understand this concept, you will not be able to understand how an update process works and what is important about it. You will not be able to install software that is not available via 1-click. You will not understand how the concept of shared libraries work in Linux. You will basically miss everything that has to do with one of the most essential parts of Linux.
3. Not in all version of ymp the source / repo can be integrated into the system, which makes updates potentially impossible.
4. You will tend to use more different repos, which potentially leads to some sort of breakage (dependency hell)
5. It is very complex to open a web browser, search for a package, choose a trustworthy repo and click on the 1-click download, wait for the pop-up window, click on advanced to check out what really happens, type in the root password, etc, instead of simply doing su –> zypper in package_name
6. As the ymp are webbased, potential – yet undiscovered – weird hacks are possible. So you open up to a new attack vector (buffer overflow and such things are one of the most common attack vectors, so what happens if you include an overlenghty URL with weird sings and stuff like that?).

I don’t know what went wrong in the programmers routine. But see for yourself, by clicking on the picture below. Watch the last entry:

I would like to be able to walk (if I have to) to this bus station whenever I want and I hope I won’t have to pay for it then…