4 replies to this topic

[Chinmoy]

Many of us are not so well versed users of linux. Some dont even know how to compile a software tarball. The rest do not know what to do with rpm packages. Well, for those who dont know, here is something that wont need you to know.

Today, i am going to share a debian package with you, which can create .deb files from any redhat rpm or a slackware tarball or an LSB. This helps us to install rpm softwares on Ubuntu.

Here are three quick easy steps to do just that.

* Download and install a package "alien".

* To convert any .rpm or .tar.gz package, download it.

* Run from the terminal ::

sudo alien -k package_name_to_convert

Read complete post here :: techarraz-PROGRAMMING AND TECHNOLOGY

[Turk4n]

I have to be straight forward with my message, I found it utterly ****ty, sorry for my word selection. There is no use to be working with rmp packages within ubuntu. Ubuntu is a configured debian distro. Even through it would technically work, I wouldn't recommend you or others to use it for "long" terms...
Packages made for a certain distro is always better than rooting up others !
Cheers !

[WingedPanther]

Unfortunately, there are several programs that are distributed only as RPM or tarball. Tarballs can be a pain to install, so having alien to install an RPM while registering it with sudo for consistency is a good idea. RPM is actually a Linux standard for distributing applications, so having alien is a Good Thing ™.

[Chinmoy]

@Turk4n, just try it once and you will see how wonderful it is. Not just for the RPM, in case of other tarballs as well, it saves a lot of trouble. Alien is a very useful package. And yes Jordan, the Ubuntu community is the one offering the best debian troubleshooting.