Run package manager without root privileges to install packages to your home dir

Question

I am working on a Linux system where I do not have root privileges. It lacks svn and some other packages, so I thought I would install them in my home directory. However, installing them from source (for those whose binaries are not readily available) is quite painful because of the dependencies.

Is there a way I can use the package manager (zypper in this case, since its a Suse system) to install packages in my home dir? Since they take care of dependency resolution, it would be a bliss. If not, then I shall contact the sysadmin, but am curious why you can't run package managers on your ${HOME}.

Answer 1

The job of the package manager is to check for dependencies, extract files from packages to proper destinations & executing required scripts.

If you just want the files in your home directory, you can simply extract the packages in your home directory.

You can use command line rpm2cpio php-5.1.4-1.esp1.x86_64.rpm | cpio -idmv to extract the packages, (I am an Arch user, so I don't have experience with rpm packages so I am not sure about the command).

But, the task you are trying to do is a difficult one & will require more than just extracting the files to the home directory. Happy hacking.