rpm unable to resolve dependencies
 

hi there,
i'm kinda new to the linux world. I'm running red hat linux 5.3 in my machine . whenever i try to install a rpm it crashes out by saying that it is unable to resolve dependencies.what should i do??
for example, i m trying to install this rpm-
"vlc-2.1.2-2.fr21.i686.rpm" and some of the the errors it lists is as follows:-
Missing dependency:libxcb-render.so.0 is needed by the package vlc-2.1.2-2.fr21.i686(/media/abhra/vlc-2.1.2-2.fr21.i686.rpm)
Missing dependency:liblibprojectM.so.2.0.1 is needed byvlc-2.1.2-2.fr21.i686(/media/abhra/vlc-2.1.2-2.fr21.i686.rpm

and many more missing dependencies are listed....

rpm will feedback what dependency package need to be installed. What is your error output?

I assume you mean Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3? That's way out of date (the latest RHEL in the 5 series is 5.10 or 5.11, I believe). Since you're running RHEL, you should have an active support contract and have your system registered with the RHN. You should use "yum" (which has automatic dependency resolution) to update yourself to the latest versions, and then do "yum install vlc" to install vlc.

It looks like you're trying to install a recent Fedora package on a very old RHEL system, which is unlikely to ever work.

Those messages aren't anything that's "crashes out"...those are warning/error messages. The program is NOT CRASHING, but behaving EXACTLY like it should when you're telling it to do what you're attempting to do.

And one thing you need to know about Linux, is that you REALLY shouldn't install things using the RPM command. There are package management utilities that resolve dependencies automatically. For Red Hat, that's "yum", as in "yum install <package name>". Debian/Ubuntu use apt-get. But since you're using RHEL 5.3, those commands won't work...mainly because RHEL5.3 is NOT SUPPORTED any longer, so even if you DID pay for support (which I doubt), you wouldn't be able to get it any longer.

Unless you have a genuine NEED for RHEL, you should NOT use it. RHEL is a server-class distro, made for SERVERS...so things like sound, wifi, bluetooth, graphics, etc., may work. Or, may NOT work without a good deal of effort (if at ALL). Devices like that typically aren't found on servers. Use a consumer-grade distro like Mint or Fedora instead. Fedora will let you learn Red Hat based systems as well as RHEL, but is FREE....but if you DO need a server-class distro, then load CentOS instead.

And always load the latest versions of things...you would not be loading a fresh install of Windows XP, would you?

also that "fc21"
is the TESTING alpha level version of the NEXT VERSION OF FEDORA!!
it is NOT !!!!!!!!!
a RHEL 5/CentOS 5 rpm

you can NOT install a fedora 21 --ALPHA level TESTING, not yet ready for the public program on cent

it would be like trying to install a Windows 8.2 PREVIEW program on Windows ME or XP


also Centos/rhel 5 is OLD
VERY OLD

and 5.3 is 7 minor versions and 3+ years OUT OF DATE