Hi,
I am running Ubuntu 7.04. I am trying to configure my system with the cdk4msp430 tools so I can do embedded programming for TI's msp430 family of processors. Attempting the installation of a handful of RPMs has brought my biggest deficiency as a Linux user to light again. I love the apt-get install tool, but there are still instances, like with the cdk4msp430, where I have to use RPMs and I have failed dependencies. Here is what I am getting when I try to install the JTAG programming support RPM:

root@frogger:~/programs/cdk4msp# sudo rpm -Uhv cdk-msp-jtag-lib-20031101cvs-20031102.i386.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
python >= 2.1 is needed by cdk-msp-jtag-lib-20031101cvs-20031102.i386
ld-linux.so.2 is needed by cdk-msp-jtag-lib-20031101cvs-20031102.i386
libc.so.6 is needed by cdk-msp-jtag-lib-20031101cvs-20031102.i386
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by cdk-msp-jtag-lib-20031101cvs-20031102.i386
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.1.3) is needed by cdk-msp-jtag-lib-20031101cvs-20031102.i386
root@frogger:~/programs/cdk4msp#

I have no idea where to start to remedy this problem. Please help me become a better Linux user!

Thanks,
Tom

Well, first of all, I wouldn't even try to use rpm packages on a Debian-based system which uses apt packages, unless it's absolutely the only way to go. Anyway, if you intend to use 'rpm' (or 'dpkg' for that matter) instead of a package managing tool, your only option is to hunt down manually each and every one of the packages (note the version requests!) and then install them either one-by-one in the correct order, or all with one command (which should install them the right way).

I would try with apt-get first, if that fails, then use dpkg (same as rpm, but for deb packages). Any way you do it, I'd then get the list of dependencies (that you got already) and first try to satisfy them with apt-get for as easy go as possible. Those that can't be found from the repos I would then hunt down as .deb packages (because rpm is not a right tool for an apt-based distribution, unless you want to spend some time at some point if things get messy) and install them using
or maybe multiple at one time. Then only those that absolutely can't be found as .debs I would locate as .rpm packages, install using rpm like you tried, until every depending package was satisfied and the original package got installed.

That's why package managers are used these days, to avoid situations like this. RPM packages shouldn't be used, because they are distribution-specific and Debian-based distributions don't use rpms, so 1+1 it means there probably don't exist Debian-specific rpm packages, which means that installing an rpm package might cause truoble - files getting into wrong places, files missing, wrong naming scheme, ...

EDIT: another thing I just thought is that does rpm (on a Debian-based system like Ubuntu) know about installed .deb packages? For example if you already have the correct version of python, does rpm still ask for it, if it's not installed trough rpm? I hope this problem is circulated somehow, so that rpm knows about installed deb packages too..

I'll say it once more: try to stick with the native binaries for your distribution, .deb with Debian-based, .rpm with RPM-distributions etc. or just use source code. The bigger the variety in different formats or ways you install software, the bigger the mess in the end. It's fixable, if it causes trouble, but wastes time.

You might want to check out alien. I've never had occasion to use it, but it's supposed to convert .rpm's to .deb's.

When using rpms, your "god-send" place is RPM Search, bookmark this site. In the search field, put "cdk-msp-jtag-lib-20031101cvs-20031102.i386.rpm" and hit the search button. The next page shows you a link to download this package, but you already have it, it's the dependencies you need. Well, next to the package link is another link called "info available", click on it. On the next page is all the info you need to know about this package, including it's "requires" which are it's dependencies, you'll also notice these "requires" are links also, click on the ones you don't have to download them and install them all in one command as stated above.