Hi,

I'm using Redhat Linux ver.9 now and some basic questions which are general and not only related to Redhat:

1. Should I install only redhat packages into redhat system?
(Can I install other distributer's rpm packages into my system ? ->Can I mixed up the system with various distributors' software?)

2 Can I install different version of Redhat rpm packages?
(->Can I install some redhat 7 or 8 packages into redhat 9, for example?)

3 If I upgrade Linux kernel from 2.4.20-9 to newer version, will other installed rpms still work well? (I'd like to upgrade kernel version to 2.4.21 for NIC drivers trouble)

Thanks and Best Regards,

Other RPMs will work so long as all the necessary libraries are in place. You may find the location of configuration files may change so for an easy life RPMs aimed at Redhat systems will probably make your life easier.
I would imagine the arguments above would apply to this too, but I'm not a Redhat guy so am not 100% sure.
This shouldn't present you with any problems at all, if you were changing from say 2.4.20-9 to 2.5.x then I'd expect a few more updates would be required, but moving from one 2.4 kernel to another should be fine.

HTH

Jamie...

In general yes, you will find that for any packages other than extremely simple ones you will hit big problems with this. If there isn't an RPM for your version of your distro, compile. Others MIGHT work, but they might not.

Rules of thumb:

RPMs built for earlier versions of your distro in the same major series will normally work, ie 7.2 RPMs will install OK onto 7.3 but probably not 8. 8->9 is special because 9 is really 8.1 except for NPTL threading, but that only affects a few packages (java,wine,realplayer spring to mind).

RPMs for other distributions probably won't work, but if they do try and get the one that matches most closely with your version, ie MDK9.1 for Redhat 9, SuSE 8.0 for redhat 7.3 and so on.

if you are installing any modem or video card or any kind of driver if they are made for 2.4.20-8 they will not work in 2.4.20-9 you have re compile or install again