[CALUG] Linux software management

[Russ]

Hello,

I'm trying to understand the complexitites of managing software on a
Linux machine.  I just installed CentOS, and I want to download and
install J2EE and Eclipse.  I'm a Linux beginner.  Should all my software
come from the manufactureers recommended repositories in order to retain a
stable system?  I added the jpackage.repo to my 'yum.repos.d' directory
and it seems to work fine.  I also tried adding the dries.repo and the
dag.repo, and neither of those worked.  I was following dries and dag web
site recommendations/instuctions on how to add the repos, but my system
complained about not finding the /var/cache/dag and the
/var/cache/dries directories.  I've been looking online in the tldp web
site, Linux books, and the CentOS documentation.  I figure I'm not setting
up the .repo files properly.  Sorry I can't send them with this email at
this time, but any help would be appreiated.  Any suggestions on where I
can learn more about repos and  software management?  If you need more
info please let me know.

Sincerely,

Russ Main