Packages(*.deb,*.rpm,*.tar...)

Magnetic Flux · 09-27-2000, 03:32 PM

I have a debian system, redhat system and a slackware system but they all take different packages. I like debian's packaging system the best but I have some questions.

1. Can I convert rpm's to deb's

2. If I can't find what I want in a package and I get it in a tar file how do they work. Like where do they install to and how I use them.

3. I also would like to know how programs work. As a windows programmer I had an exe and some dll's which all went into the some directory. This single directory system does not seem to be used in Linux. So my question is. What is used? Where do all the files go?

Any extrapolations and explanatory web sites would be helpful.

jeremy · 09-27-2000, 03:42 PM

1) There is a program called Alien that does this. http://kitenet.net/programs/alien/

2) Most tarball's have a README, but the procedure usually goes:

Code:

tar zxvf filename
./configure
make
make test [optional]
make install

3) Linux does not have any dlls. Most libraries are located in /lib, /usr/lib or /usr/local/lib. A full list of library locations for your system can be found in /etc/ld.so.conf.