To open the preferences window, select Edit Preferences. The window has four tabbed pages: General, Cache, Daemon, and Advanced.
You can set the following preferences here:
Server URL: The location of the Red Carpet server you are using. If you know the exact URL of a server, you can enter it here, or choose one from the list of mirrors by clicking the Mirrors button.
Mirrors: Click this button to get a list of mirrors you can choose from. All of these servers have the same software as the main Ximian server, and update at least once per day.
For best results, choose a mirror with a physical location near yours. That generally means that there are fewer intermediate connections between the server and your computer. In addition, the primary Ximian site is often crowded, so even a relatively distant mirror can be faster. Another way to get a faster connection is with Red Carpet Express. See the Section called Red Carpet Express: More Software, Faster for more information.
Enable Premium Services: If you have already activated Red Carpet Express or Red Carpet Enterprise services, you can turn them on and off here.
Require Package Signatures: Ximian ships software with a cryptographic signature. Unless you absolutely trust your server (for example, you are using Red Carpet Enterprise) you should leave this setting on for security.
Maximum Number of Packages to Download at Once: If possible, Ximian Red Carpet will download several packages at once in order to make the best use of your network connection. If you have a very fast connection, you may wish to increase this number. If you are sharing your connection with others, you may wish to reduce it.
Use a Proxy: If your network uses an HTTP proxy, check this box, then enter the proxy URL. If necessary, also enter your username and password. Because Ximian Red Carpet does not depend on a particular desktop, this setting must be entered independently of the GNOME desktop proxy setting.
Ximian Red Carpet stores downloaded les so that if you quit or cancel an operation, you can resume it quickly without downloading again. The Cache tab in the Preferences window lets you change cache handling behavior. Your options are:
Cache Downloaded Packages and Metadata: If you don't want to cache anything, uncheck this box. It is normally on.
Location of Cached Data: Enter the location where you will save cached files.
Cache Expiration: You can the cache to empty after a certain number of days, or if its contents take up more than a certain amount of space. By default, this happens after 30 days or 300 MB. If you turn off cache expiration, packages will be kept until you delete them yourself by clicking the Empty Cache button.
At the bottom of the window, you can empty the package cache by clicking the Empty Cache button.
The options available in this section are:
Dispatcher Host: The dispatcher, or "magic" proxy, is used only in complex Red Carpet Enterprise deployments. If you are using one, your system administrator will give you a hostname to enter here.
Repackage for Rollback: When you upgrade or remove software, Ximian Red Carpet normally just deletes the old version. However, it is possible to "repackage" it, creating an archived version so you can switch back if necessary. Repackaging is time consuming and uses signicant amounts of disk space.
Verify Server SSL Certificates with External Authority: This setting demands that the Red Carpet server have an identity certicate which is veried by external authority organizations. An external certicate is expensive and most servers will not have one.
User HTTP/1.0 for Server Communication: Check this box if your proxy or server insists on strict HTTP/1.0 protocol for communications.
Logging Level for rcd-Messages: Operation messages are saved to the le /var/log/rcd/rcd-messages depending upon the degree of importance assigned to them by the developer. A value of 1 will send only the messages that are agged as most important; 6 will send every message, and 0 will send no messages.
Logging Level for Syslog: Determines the amount of information sent to the central operating system log. Messages are sent depending upon the degree of importance assigned to them by the developer. A value of 1 will send only the messages that are agged as most important; 6 will send every message, and 0 will send no messages.
If you require ner control over the operation of Ximian Red Carpet, you may wish to edit the conguration les, as described in the man pages for rug, rcd, and rcd.conf.