Thread: Installing from Packages

RPM and DEB are to Linux what executables are to Windows. RPM stands for Red Hat Package Manager, and DEB stands for Debian. Debian is a combination of Debrah and Ian - Ian Murdock being the founder of Debian. and Debrah his girl friend. SuSE and Red Hat were some of the earliest flavours of Linux distributions. Debian also shares the same distinction. Most of the distributions that we see nowadays have their origin from one of these distributions. SuSE itself is derived from Slackware. Mandrake (now Mandriva) and Fedora are both derived from Red Hat. Ubuntu and Knoppix are botp derived from Debian, and Linux Mint is derived from Ubuntu. There are some original releases, like dyne:bolic and puppy linux. By and large, a Linux distribution will work with either RPM packages or DEB packages.

DEB files are available on GetDeb - Software for Ubuntu Linux and RPM files are available on is another site for RPM downloads, particularly useful for downloading libraries and dependencies. It is an RPM search engine. Once the packages are downloaded to a relevant folder, all you need to do is double-click to install. If another version of the software is listed m the repository of the distribution, then a prompt will show up.





Usually, the distribution will have been tested with the version of the software listed in the repository. In most cases, it works fine to use the version you have downloaded. In some distros, the installer does not manage the dependencies as effectively as it's done in other versions.

In Linux Mint, the dependencies are listed. ThesE: will be downloaded and installed along with the contents of the package you have already downloaded. If you're facing problems with dependencies in an RPM-based distro, a software called 'yum' is better at resolving dependencies as compared to YaST. If the necessary dependencies are not there in the system, and the installer does not automatically install the dependencies, you will be given -a list of missing libraries. Consider this as the missing DLL file problem in Windows, and download and install the missing libraries manually. If the installer resolves the dependencies automatically, first the .libraries are installed, and then the data from the package is used to install the program.

The procedure is more or less similar for RPM-based distribu¬tions where dependencies are not a problem. If you have an RPM or DEB package for a particular program, but your distribution is not cbmpatible with RPM or DEB files, there are a number of ways to install the program onto your machine despite this. Deb packages use tarballs as a component of their packaging. Extracting these tarballs from the packaging is 'a relatively easy process: Open the terminal, and type ar -x package.deb The process for installing RPM packages on debian-based distributions is not as simple as that, and requires a little more effort. One common program that people use is called Alien. The software is available for download at Although unstable, and may not work well with all the packages, but is the most probable solution. You will also need to download the RPM package manager for converting to and from RPM,

which is available at An easier method is to go out and find a source tarball for the same software. Use the package manager to install Alien. Alien has an unusually long list of dependencies that"need to be resolved. Installing Alien on an RPM-based distribution is tougher than installing Alien on a deb-based distribution, but Alien works better on an RPM-based distribution because of the way -deb files are made. For those downloading Alien on an RPM¬based distribution, has all the neces¬sary extra packages required to run Alien.

Once installed, Alien will not show up in the menu. Don't worry about this, you will come across a lot or Linux programs like this. This does not mean that there was anything wrong with the installation procedure. This just means thai you will have to run the program from the command line. Open the terminal in the folder where you downloaded the RPM package.

Type in
$ sudo alien package.rpm
In this case, the package name was darcnes-9b0401-
2.3.i586.rpm
So, in the command line,
-/Downloads $ sudo alien darcnes-9b0401-
2.3.i586.rpm
The terminal will prompt for a password [sudol password for user:
Enter the password here. The password will not show up on the screen. The DEB package should be in the same folder if all goes well.