How to enable Packman in openSUSE

Packman is a set of third-party software repositories for openSUSE that enables lots of restricted and encumbered packages not available in the traditional openSUSE set of repositories.

In my opinion, the Packman repositories are a must-have for anyone wanting to use openSUSE as a desktop Linux distribution. They aren’t nearly as important for folks wanting to run openSUSE as a server.

Let’s get started

Enabling the Packman repositories used to be as easy as enabling the repo in the “Community Repositories” section in YaST. While Packman may show up in YaST in the future, for now just stick to using zypper via the terminal

To use zypper, open up your favorite terminal window. Execute one of the following commands based on the version of openSUSE you are using:

• Tumbleweed: sudo zypper ar -cfp 90 http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/packman/suse/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/ packman
• Leap 15: sudo zypper ar -cfp 90 http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/packman/suse/openSUSE_Leap_15.0/ packman

If successful, you’ll see a message in the terminal that says

Repository ‘packman’ successfully added

Once the Packman repository has been added, you will want to switch all of your installed packages of to the Packman versions:

• sudo zypper dup

You may run into package conflicts. Zypper provides a handy interactive way of resolving the conflicts.

You typically want to select the option that says “with Vendor change”. Follow the prompts and finish the updates.

You’ve got Packman!

If you want to run openSUSE as your desktop, the Packman repositories are a must-have. Sure, you can run openSUSE without Packman but you will have difficulties trying to play certain games or watch certain media formats. This does not make for a great desktop experience.