Am I just stupid here? Maybe it is because I don't understand the full RPM thing fully. I can't even get the programs to install using make half of the time. I have been trying to install dependencies for the past 4 hours, to the point I forget why I am installing them.

I tried to install setup-2.5.25-1.noarch.rpm. It said it needed filesystem. So, I went hunting for filesystem and came across filesystem-2.2.1-3.i386.rpm. Trying to install that, it says it needs "setup >= 2.5.4-1". So, I went to find an older version of setup to try and install that. (setup-2.5.12-1.noarch.rpm, btw)

When I try to install this one, it shows:

Preparing.... ####################### [100%]
Segmentation fault

Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong in a case like this, or am I just too stupid to use Linux?

I am running Slackware 9.1 (had to because Mandrake 9.2 has so much software that is different, like ADVX, that I couldn't install anything on that either...) on a AMD K6-2 with 1/2 gig ram. I have been installing dependencies and trying to find dependences for 4 hours.

Is software *** ALWAYS *** this hard to install? And my next question would be *** WHY ??? ***

Your experiencing why you need to use pkgtool. Slackware systems aren't setup to be based around rpms. You can install rpms with the --force and --no-deps options but this is a bad idea. Rather, Slackware uses its own package scheme called slackpacks. They're packages that end in .tgz. To install a slackpack then cd to the directory the slackpack is in and run 'pkgtool' as root. You'll see lots of options but you want to install so choose that one. pkgtool doesn't check dependencies so if a program doesn't run from the command line it will usually give you a message about what it's missing. Check Google for that file if that happens. I strongly suggest not using rpms on a Slackware system for the reasons your experiencing. It's really hard to get it all setup, if not impossible, and takes a long as well. You can find many packages on LinuxPackages. If you're doing this all for one program and you can't find it on LinuxPackages you can always compile it from source and install it using checkinstall (that's on the second Slackware CD). If you need any more help, just let us know.

Can I ask what you're trying to install?

And also, why are you using rpms at all?

Slackware uses .tgz packages, which in my opinion, are much much easier to handle than rpms.
-Shade

I was trying to install MAME but I am still learning how to install software on Linux..

I have recently changed over to Slackware because like I said before Mandrake has too many programs that are not linux standard. The only way I could install programs on Mandrake was with RPM's. I guess I need to continue to read more before I try booting the computer back up. *sigh*

Thank you for all of your help though. I think it makes it a little easier to have people willing to help instead of RPFM-types...

you can also convert rpms to .tgz packages in slackware with the rpm2tgz command ("rpm2tgz <filename.rpm>"). i like to use that only as a last resort, though.

Thank you for the helpful tip. I think I have to do a bit more reading before I can turn on my computer again. *sigh*

I just have to find some *.tgz files to try it with too.. hehehe