I am a very new linux user, let me say that first... Second, I have some rpm's that I want to install into my linux system. I am running Fedora Core 2, (final version by the way, and all updates installed and windows xp dual booted, if that makes a difference). I am running these on an IBM Thinkpad with a 1.8ghz processor, 256 mgs of ram. I used Partition Magic 7 to change the partition to make room for linux. Ok, now that we have the basics out of the way, I have a problem.

Whenever I click on any .rpm file, I get an error message that says no program association to .rpm choose what program to use to open the file.

What program should this be? From what I understand, and that is limited mind you, an .rpm file is like a setup excutable. There is not really a program that is used to open it. So, if anyone out there has any idea, please let me know. I have done my research and it seems that this is a common error. Is there a fix for it?

Thanks.
chrismiller@softhome.net

rpm is the extension for files used with redhat package manager - also called rpm.

Open a terminal and (as root) type:
to install a package (assuming you're in the same directory as the package).

Personally I think packages are the scourge of the universe, best avoided. Once you've failed to install this particular package because of numerous failed dependencies download the source code instead and follow the instructions in the INSTALL file included with it. It's much much easier.

And much much more reliable and it will save you from pulling your hair out. It looks scary and sounds scary to compile the program from source, but it actually is not. The way things go:

unpack the file

tar -zxvf filename (for files ending with .tar.gz)
tar -jxvf filename (for files ending with .tar.bz2)

see what happened with the ls -la command.

go to any newly created directory:

cd newly_created_directory (they are usualy in blue color by default unless you change something)

ls -la (again to see what is in there)

emacs README (or INSTALL, depending on which files come with the installation.)

From there on, there are ussually only three easy steps (which you can combine into one):

./configure; make; make install; make clean

Ecplanation:
configure configures the source make file for your system.
make and make install --> make and install the files
make clean --> cleans the files needed for installation only.

So to sumarize:

unpack (tar)
configure
install (make, make install)
clean up (make clean)

However you should read the README or INSTALL file that comes along every source package to see if these commands differ somehow. But basically this is it.

If you really need a GUI tool for RPM's, it would be the Archive Manager (also known as the File Roller)

It should be under System Tools. If you want it to run automatically, then type file-roller into the "program to run" area in the "Add file type" window. When the application is double-clicked on, the file roller should then automatically open with the RPM selected in the window.

The easy way to install an RPM in Fedora:

1 - Open a terminal window (right click an open space on the desktop and left click Open Terminal)

2 - Change the the directory where the .rpm file is located. If it is in /temp then type: cd /temp

3 - Type: rpm -Uvh filename_of_the_package.rpm

That is it.

Details: rpm is the name of the program used to install the package.
-Uvh -U is for Update, -v is for verbose & -h is for hash. These all sound optional but you really need them to install the package.

Tip: A lot of the time RPMs have a very long name and since Linux is case sensitive you need to type it exact so an easy way to do this is once you have changed into the directory in the terminal issue the ls command to list all the files in the directory and then highlight the text of the RPM you want to install and then right click and copy. Then type your rpm -Uvh then right click after with your mouse and you can paste the file name into the command line. I know it sounds lame but it is better than typing AdobeReader_enu-7.0.1-1.i386.rpm to install Adobe Acrobat Reader.