It all started when I tried to install the curl RPM on my Mandrake 9.2 machine:

[root@localhost arrived]# rpm -i curl-7.12.0-2.i386.rpm error: Failed dependencies:
libcrypto.so.4 is needed by curl-7.12.0-2
libssl.so.4 is needed by curl-7.12.0-2

I said "Gee, what's libcrypto and where do I get it?" Where DO I get it? How would I know where to get it? I went to rpmfind.net and searched on it. Not much results. Only after scouring newgroup archives did I find out it's part of openssl. (How would I have been able to find that out otherwise?)

So... :

[root@localhost arrived]# rpm -i ./openssl-0.9.7c-3mdk.i586.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
libopenssl0.9.7 = 0.9.7c-3mdk is needed by openssl-0.9.7c-3mdk


And later:

[root@localhost arrived]# rpm -U ./libopenssl0.9.7-0.9.7c-3mdk.i586.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
libopenssl0.9.7 = 0.9.7b-4mdk is needed by (installed) openssl-0.9.7b-4mdk
libopenssl0.9.7 = 0.9.7b-4mdk is needed by (installed) libopenssl0.9.7-devel-0.9.7b-4mdk


Now what?! Am I even on the right track?

You may want to look into using urpmi or apt-get to automatically download all needed packages to satisfy dependencies. The downside to rpm-based systems is often these dependency situations, but the two apps I mentioned above allegedly help a lot.


Håkan