Pakfire was specially developed for IPFire and provides a safe and easy way to install Add-ons 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:
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Encryption: All packages and transferred data are encrypted and digitally signed by the server. Therefore it is ensured that no forged packages can be installed.
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Mirrors: Mirror servers don't have to be trusted. This poses no security risk due to the encryption scheme.
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Easy to Use: The installation of the packages is simple, with its own GUI.
Additional Note
If the firewall behavior operates with an blocked outgoing chain, you need to add rules for downloading packages via port 443 (HTTPS), so that IPFire itself is allowed to download packages and the icmp protocol is able to check if the IPFire server-is-alive.
Using the WUI
Preparation
When you select the web user 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 Add-ons.
Note - All updates and Add-ons will be checked thoroughly and several tests will be performed.
Installation of the Updates
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. When you click on the Upgrade button, a confirmation screen will be displayed where you can review and confirm the updates.
Installation of Add-ons
In the second section, the actual Add-ons can be found. Here are available and installed Add-ons listed. If you want to install one or more Add-ons, you need just to select the needed Add-on with a mouse click (press CTRL key for more than one).
Clicking on the Install button displays a confirmation page showing the dependencies of the Add-on and allows you to confirm the installation.
Remove an Add-on
Removal is as easy as installation! In the list of installed Add-ons select the Add-on to be removed and then click the Remove button.
You will then be prompted to confirm the removal. When you remove an Add-on it's dependencies will also be removed except in the case where a dependency is in use by another Add-on.
If you select a package to remove that is in use by other packages, the package will not be removed.
The Repository option makes testing easier
You can now choose among the stable and two testing branches, to more easily install unreleased builds.
We hope that this helping you to help us testing IPFire better and therefore be able to give us more valuable feedback on releases.
Pakfire console commands
See the Pakfire console commands here --> Using the Pakfire Console
Pakfire troubleshooting
See Pakfire troubleshooting information here --> Pakfire troubleshooting