The Package Display

Each folder icon in the tree view at left represents a group of packages. Each group can contain subgroups. Groups are used to place packages that perform similar functions in similar locations. For example, the folder Editors contains text editors such as ed, vim and GXedit. From the tree view on the left, you might find another folder beneath Editors called Emacs, which would contain both emacs and emacs-X11.

The tree view is also arranged in an expandable and collapsible manner, which helps you to easily navigate through the packages. A folder which appears with a + next to it indicates that there are subfolders within that category.

To view the packages and subgroups within a group, click once on a folder or a + with your left mouse button. The display window will then show you the contents of that folder. By default, you will be presented with icons to represent the packages. You can change that view to a list view by selecting View as list from the Interface tab you'll find under Operations => Preferences. Refer to the section called Configuration for more information about customizing the settings.

In this manner, you can move about the tree view, opening and expanding folders containing applications, games, tools and more. The contents of each folder will be displayed at the right.

Selecting Packages

To select a single package, click on it with the left mouse button. You'll notice that highlighting will appear around the package title (as shown in Figure 6-2) which reflects the selection. To unselect it, either click on an empty space in the display panel with the left mouse button, or click on the Unselect button on the toolbar. When you unselect a package, the highlighting will disappear.

Figure 6-2. Selecting Packages in Gnome-RPM

You can select and unselect multiple packages, in more than one folder in the tree panel. To select more than one package incrementally, left-click with your mouse button, while holding down the Ctrl key; you'll see highlighting around each additional selection.

To select more than one package globally, that is, make larger selections within a folder, left-click one package, then, while holding down the Shift key, left-click on the final package you wish to select. By doing so, you'll notice that individual packages between your starting and ending selections will also be highlighted for selection. Using this option makes selecting groups of packages quicker than selecting each package individually.

The status bar at the bottom of Gnome-RPM will display the total number of packages you have selected.