Hi,

Can someone give me an explanation for these four extensions ?
I'm a little bit confused in the documentation.
( Im currently using a Pentium 4 , i presume it is i586 ? )
For example, i want to install amsn-0.71-1.

but i have those four extensions.

noarch.rpm
src.rpm
i386.rpm
( sometimes i586.rpm )

Which one is the "best" for my MDK 9.1 Distro ?
The best solution for me would be to use urpmi, thus a rpm file.

noarch = (normalyly) a script file, so is not compiled ever, so that architecture is not an issue
src = source - i.e. you will need to compile it for your system
i386 = compiled for intel i386 architecture

there's no BEST really.. but i wouldn't recommend src.rpms unless you have a specific reason. try to use i586's or i686 wherever possible.

i586 or i586-mdk.rpm would be best for Mandrake.

noarch means that it's not an application that is architecture specific, or has not been compiled against any specific architecture.
src.rpm is a source file that is bundled up in an RPM.
i386-i686 means it's a precompiled binary against the x86 architecture, which in linux means it's pretty much all IBM compatible PC's or for the purpose of generalizing, nearly all home PC's except Mac.

HTH

Cool

Good to know we are relatively the same in our answers

Cool

Tks a lot acid_kewpie and MasterC !

I can see a lot of tar.gz files which seems to be the application sources and binaries. More than RPM and DEB Files in fact.

Is it so long to create RPM, DEB,... files ?
Is it understable to create RPM file from a tar.gz files for a new linux user ?

Well, here's my take on that...

A tarball (tar.gz) is universal. Anyone with a compiler can use a tarball, and just about any distro comes with a compiler (at least an option to install one). RPM on the other hand is very specific, your system must support RPM's; worse, they are (usually) precompiled for architecture lower than what you've got so they don't perform optimally on quite a few systems.

So why would a developer go to all the trouble to make:
A slow package, precompiled for fewer distros, which causes all kinds of dependency issues, and in the end only pleases about 1/3 it's users?

It doesn't make sense for EVERYONE to make RPM's. Rather it's often times the distro's themselves who will produce the RPM's and then the developers will link these on their website simply for ease of the end user.

That's my take on the whole "why tarball and not RPM" thing

Cool