rpm or tgz or i386 which to use?
 

an rpm is the equivilant of the exe in windows and tgz is the source code right?? whats the diff between an rpm tgz and i386??

so am i right to say that i should always build a program from it's source so that it is configured to my system?

thanks in advance

Its really a preference really. In some cases you can find and install RPM's that are more suitable to your system setup, etc.

just a newbie myself Laptop2250 and have found rpm and tgz
just as eazy as each other. i think it comes down to preference.
I think if you get hold of the right rpm for your os you should have no problems.

wombatz

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H.A.N.D

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ticle&artid=15

things like this is why i like this site.. there is only a big answers button on the top right of this site that helps u out

anyway, i now know the diff's b/w rpms and gz's can somebody update me on what an i386 does? thanks

First a little explanation:
We may say that .RPM files are like "setup.exe" or "install.exe". They are installation packages. .RPM files are the standard installation package for Red Hat, Mandrake and SuSe. ok? So let's go ahead.

Now we come to some differences: We have .TGZ files and .TAR.GZ

We may say that .TGZ files are just like .RPM files. .TGZ are installation packages aswell.
It is the standard installation package for Slackware Linux.

.TAR.GZ files are just like .ZIP files. You compress stuff in them. They often carry the source code of programs, so it's right to say that .TAR.GZ files are source code

i386 is the architecture of your system/computer. if your computer is a 386 or similar it will be i386, if it is a 486 or similar, then i486, if pentium, k6, Cyrix 5x86 it will be i586, anything in front of it is commonly called of i686 although you can have systems optimised for PIII, P4, DURON/ATHLON.

Hope my message can help you to solve the puzzle that is the many file types on linux.

P.S.: It's kinda hard but you may find .TGZ files that are just compressed files or installation packages for another operating system: FreeBSD. But don't worry, it will be specified the type of file on the page where you download it.
P.P.S.: You may also find installation packages .DEB. These packages are standard for Debian GNU/Linux.

thanks that helped :D

Oh My post came a little later then yours but now I see you may be talking about .i386.bin files. They are just installation packages as well, usually they have installers like windows/dos have. The i386 just specifies the architecture as you may see the explanation in my last post. To execute then just do one of the following:
A)
i) chmod 755 archive.i386.bin
ii) ./archive.i386.bin

or

B)
i) sh archive.i386.bin

Hope this is what you want. If it's not try to be more specific like giving an example name.

P.S.: I'm not quite sure if the second option (letter B) will always work.

yeah it did help, i only learned about the i368, now knowing im i686, from deciding which package i should download to update my certificate for up2date

now i tried installing checkinstall, and from previous experience i know i need libs in other stuff, so i got the error

make[1]: gcc: Command not found
make[1]: *** [installwatch.o] Error 127
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/understandlinux/Source/checkinstall-1.5.3/installwatch-0.6.3'
make: *** [all] Error 2

so could you tell me a good place to get libs and gcc so if i ever get more errors i'll know where to look

the whole message was (in case that wasn't that whole error):
make -C installwatch-0.6.3
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/understandlinux/Source/checkinstall-1.5.3/installwatch-0.6.3'
gcc -Wall -c -D_GNU_SOURCE -DPIC -fPIC -D_REENTRANT -DVERSION=\"0.6.2\" installwatch.c
make[1]: gcc: Command not found
make[1]: *** [installwatch.o] Error 127
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/understandlinux/Source/checkinstall-1.5.3/installwatch-0.6.3'
make: *** [all] Error 2

Not to meaning to muddle up the previous explanation, but .tgz and .tar.gz files are essentially the same thing- a collection of files that have been tar'd and gzip'd. The contents of both can be either source files or binaries depending on the preference of the developer. Similarly, you can also get RPMs with either source or binary files. How each is used really depends on the package maintainer.

tar.gz are normally source files
tgz are package files for slackware :) but can also be source files

what you like better depends on the time you want to spent and many different things