How to install RPM so I can install an RPM Package?
 

I tried to install an RPM package on my computer with

rpm -Uvh xxxxxxx.x.x.xxx..xx.rpm

the echo is:

bash: rpm: command not found

Help!

This is a new installation of Fedora's latest.

I am a newb at Linux, I play a mean guitar however.

Fedora comes with the ability to install rpm files, that is their package manager. Are you signed in as root to install?

Peace,
JimBass

Oh, that's rich!

Try /bin/rpm. If not, I'd recommend reinstalling.

Thanks folks!

Yeah no /bin/rpm

Can't find it anywhere so I'm reinstalling on that machine.

Now I'm trying to install the same rpm on my Ubuntu machine and having the same issue!

You can't install .rpm files on Ubuntu, at least not easily. It uses .deb packages. I think maybe you should be paying for Linspire or Xandros. They make it very easy for newbies and you get support from the vendor. If you think you're capable of installing and maintaining a "free" distro, spend some time reading first. For instance, googling "Fedora newbie" will give you plenty to get started.

Yeah rickh, I figured that out and actually there is an easy way according to what I found about Alien for installing rpm's in Debian or Ubuntu. However could you point out a website or forum where I can post questions like this about Linux then? I didn't know this Website had a member imposed threshold for qualifying valid linux questions.

Nor do I see a posted quide stating something like, 'Your question has to be XX Geeky to be asked!'

Although it's good to know how to use RPMs (and I HIGHLY advise you to learn) you can do most software installations using yum. This installs the RPM and it even finds the dependencies. If you're running Fedora 6 open up a terminal and type:

rpm -Uvh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-6.rpm

After you installed that, type:

yum install mplayer

This installed mplayer without you having to look for the RPM! It also resolves any dependency issues. If you want to install a package, You can do a:

yum install <packagename>

Where <packagename> is the name of the program you want to install.

Way to go Stint, that was an excellent comeback, you're in the right place. There is however, a little problem, well maybe more like a big problem here at LQ, it's called "testosterone overflow". I hope you got that Fedora up and runnin' , if not you should verify the CD/DVD's integrity and get it happinin', it's quirky but nice. Won't be long you'll be advising how to work with .rpm. As for a .rpm distro, Mandriva handles them much better than baby Red Hat Fedora. And the Mandriva forum is rather boring compared to Fedora's, that should tell a story. :cool:
Rock on!

On debian and derivate, you have to use apt. Dot.
(You will find more packages in deb format than in rpm anyway)

Alien only works for small things.
Don't expect to work fine for bigger things and don't expect to get support from people if you use rpm under debian. You should not do this.


What is mandriva based upon? It's a derivate of what?

Red Hat, same as Fedora but been around a little longer. And it's .rpm extension is urpm which has never givin' me the type of grief Fedora's yum has. It also seems to have better support in the hardware department. I have had many distributions, Mandrake/Mandriva and Debian are tops for me, Ubuntu Kubuntu, a little to Windows like for me, I have every version of Windows and don't use them. The only problem I have with Debian is the fact you have to play around with your sources.list as time goes on or apt installs incompatible packages and the errors start appearing trying to update like Fedora, no complaints with Mandrake/Mandriva. My last Mandrake was 2005 LE which came out at the same time they were forced to switch the name to Mandriva, I have it installed on both my multi-boot desktop and multi-boot laptop, both high end Dell XPS units. I am in the process of downloading the latest 2007, gonna' keep up with the times. But 2005 LE is still a solid contender.

I don't want to hijack the thread but if you setup your debian correctly (sources.list AND preferences files) then you do not need to modifiy anything in your sources.list.
Also aptitude (apt-get is not recommended per the documentation) handles conflicts and gives you several solutions to get out of problems, even if you mix stable,testing, unstable, experimental repositories.

I'm using debian testing/unstable/experimental mixing and I've never encountered any of the problems you mention.

It's just that I had a Woody install that I upgraded to Sarge. The other day I booted it for the first time (on old computer) in 435 days and decided to check for and apply updates. I am on dial up and let it go over night, got up in the morning to a command line and got X working after updating it, but could not do anything with anything, got nothing but errors no matter what I tried, blamed it on the source.list that were present from the day I upgraded to "testing" which was Sarge back then. Had to put it to rest as my CD.s were Woody and I could'nt even bring it up to Sarge no more.