I installed freetype-2.1.4-1, and now I need to install freetype-devel. The problem is that freetype-devel requires freetype-2.1.3-6 (an older version).

So, is there any way that I can downgrade my version of freetype from 2.1.4-1 to 2.1.3-6 ?

I can't just rpm -e freetype and then install it again because a TON of other projects rely on it.

Maybe I can somehow modify the 2.1.3-6 rpm so redhat thinks its newer than 2.1.4-1 and it will install it? Or like swap them or something?

This really sucks because freetype-devel is the one thing I need that's preventing me from being able to compile ANYTHING with a gui.

yes u can

rpm -e freetype-2.1.4-1.i386.rpm --nodeps

that will get rid of the dependencies, then

rpm -i freetype-2.1.3-6.i386.rpm -replacepkgs

to install it. it should now work fine.

That is sooo great. Thanks a lot!

If 2.1.4 offers new features, bugfixes and/or any other critical changes, then installing the headers for 2.1.3 is no good. You could install the headers from the 2.1.4 tarball, or find an rpm that contains the 2.1.4 headers. At rpm.pbone.net and rpmseek.com I found the only distribution that has an the 2.1.4 devel rpm is PLD. Even tho PLD does some things different from RH/Mandy some rpms are mixable if you really need to do so, just diff the contents with those from the tarball if you're unsure...