Where does RPM intall the executable?

JBull · 07-04-2005, 07:46 PM

I'm running Redhat 8.0 (3 days now) and I am having trouble with installations. Here are some questions/problems:

1. Where should I install apps? I'm putting my rpm's and installers into /usr/src , then rpm them. Firefox had an installer and it installed in /usr/src/firefox-installer/ Is that a good place for it?

2. After installing some apps (for example winamp for linux) from an rpm, I have no idea where the executable was put. There is no icon on the desktop and I can't create one without knowing the location and name of the executable. (I was able to creat one for Firefox)

There seems to be a problem with the Winamp. After RPM was done, I tried RPM -q Winamp-1.0.4-alpha.rpm (or whatever the name was) and it said RPM not installed. So I tried RPM -vi Winamp-1.0.4-alpha.rpm and it said "already installed".

When the file is an RPM and there are no readme.txt or whatever, how do you know?
I had the same problem with xmms media player. RPM'ed it and it worked, but no output about where the heck the executable is. I correctly guessed xmms and it worked, but that was sheer luck. But I have no idea where that program resides. Is there a way to find where the files go and if I have the choice (as in tar.gz installs) where should I put them?

Thanks

JBull · 07-04-2005, 08:16 PM

Ok, I found Winamp in usr/local/bin. However when I try to run it just flashes and crashes. Oh, well it was just a test version. But I still wonder how to more easily find the location of installations - especially the executable file.

Vgui · 07-04-2005, 08:22 PM

Hi there, in semi-response to your question #2. If you know what the program is called / the command to execute it, you can find which one is being called when you try to execute it. For example, if you installed the "Winamp for Linux", called xmms, you would go:

Code:

which xmms

That would give you a directory where your xmms executable is running from.
Also, when querying RPMs, I don't think you use the .rpm extension, I could be wrong, but that might be why it said "not installed".
Hope that helps a bit.

tda · 07-05-2005, 02:08 AM

Hello JBull.
You can use following useful commands to work with RPMs.
a. Get info about package:
rpm -qip XXX.rpm
b. Get list of files in package (with pathes where they will be installed)
rpm -qlp XXX.rpm

Useful info about RPMs and how to work with one you can find out for example in http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/doc...RPM-HOWTO.html

Dmitry.

JBull · 07-06-2005, 10:42 PM

Thanks dude

that helps a lot...

My primary concern is creating a luanch icon on the desktop for new programs. Your help is appreciated.