laxi@LaXi:~/gaim$ ls
gaim-0.64-1.i386.rpm wry.dll*
laxi@LaXi:~/gaim$ rpm2tgz gaim-0.64-1.i386.rpm

laxi@LaXi:~/gaim$ ll
-rw------- 1 laxi users 2919100 2003-11-28 20:38 gaim-0.64-1.i386.rpm
-rw-r--r-- 1 laxi users 131 2003-12-07 00:38 gaim-0.64-1.i386.tgz
-rwxr-xr-x 1 laxi users 7435074 2003-12-01 23:19 wry.dll*

the convert tgz just have 131bit .why ?how can i do to make rpm2tgz work well again?
(i have remove the rpm-4.2.1-i486-2.tgz ,and reinstall it again ,but the problem is still here :-( i dont want to reinstall my slack)

thanks for any ideas ~

Save yourself the hassle and get a .tgz for gaim from linuxpackages.net

thanks Hangdog42, but you know the function of convert rpm to tgz is very useful (some software just have rpm package,and sometimes i want to use the binary package beacause i am very lazy ),although it is not secure sometimes .
i want to know how to fix my rpm2tgz ,please help me ,thanks

laxi...

Tried running rpm2tgz as root?

Azmeen ,thanks ,but i got the same result ......
why ? i have reinstalled the rpm system ,but it still cant work....

Maybe there's some problem with that particular RPM itself... so far, I've yet to find an RPM that I can't successfully convert to Slackpacks.

I understand that you're using this gaim RPM as an example... are there any other RPMs that you're having problems converting?

to Azmeen: no, i cant convert other rpm package too~ .
i have removed the rpm system (remove the rpm-4.2.1-i486-2.tgz) ,and then i remove the rpm2tgz (i dicovered it is a link to rpm2targz ,so i remove rpm2tgz too),then i reintalled the rpm-4.2.1-i486-2.tgz,but there isnt rpm2tgz or rpm2targz in /usr/bin .why ?which package include the rpm2targz command? so i copy a rpm2targz from my friend's slackware9.1 .
run rpm2targz again ,but i got the same result ....

how can i do with that ?i want my slack be fine again ....please.....
thanks in advance again

rpm2tgz is part of the bin package.

'rpm2tgz' usually screws up permissions so I wouldn't use it unless absolutely necessary. Instead, look for a slackpack or compile from source and install with checkinstall or something similar.

thanks for reply...
i just want to know why it cant work. i read the rpm2targz ,but i cant understand it, i dont know the bash programe . why does the rpm2targz can convert rpm to tgz ?i want to know it ,maybe i can find out why my rpm2tgz get bad ,and fix it .please tell me ...

It's something to do with the program but I'm not sure why. You'll have to ask Patrick Volkerding, the creator of Slackware and rpm2tgz, why rpm2tgz screws with permissions. I wish I could be of more help.

thanks Nis ...
i think i will ask him later....

Why do say this? Actually if you actually take a look at the contents of rpm2targz you can see that it actually sets all files to 755 (check lines 87-88, might differ slightly depending on your slack version), the default behaviour of "normal" slackpacks.

I'm sorry if what I'm saying is false, but I'm only speaking from my personal experience. Also, check this on LinuxPackages for some more problems with using rpm2tgz. I don't want to give false information so again I am sorry if I have. But I still advise against using rpm2tgz; you can always compile the program from source and install with checkinstall.

Nis,

I'm not saying that what you said was false... in fact, it might be correct as I can foresee files that the permissions shouldn't be 755 (like configuration files and so on)... in fact I acknowledge that rpm2tgz is far from perfect, but on most occasions, it does work.

I too have unsuccessfully tried to convert some RPMs into Slackpacks, however, these are few and far between... And usually I prefer to compile from source anyway if no Slackpack is available for the particular app I want to try.

Anyway, for "common" apps... I believe you will most likely find them in sites such as LinuxPackages.net and others.