Trying to install a RPM file
 

I am trying to install VMware-tools. The file is VMwareTools-6.0.0-45731.i386. I have tried to open it with a number of programs. Synaptic Package manager and Kpackage. Both give me an error saying "Unknown package" I am running the most recent version of Ubuntu and have updated it.

If the file is an rpm, then ubuntu will not install it. You need the deb file.

If you like, you can try a program called "alien" which can convert and install some rpm files.

is there a way to get it through the command line apt-get install ??

No there is no way to install natively an rpm file with apt-get. Try to find an equivalent to the program youre trying to install.

That wasn't my question. The question was can I apt-get install ... for the program Alien... not RPM...

Ohh sorry I mizunderstood.. Yes of course you can as long as you have it in the repositories you have configured.

My ubuntustudio box has rpm in stalled for some reason...
anyway
sudo su
cd /path/to/file
aptitude install --force-yes alien
alien -i vmware*.rpm

Thank You
 

Thanks everyone. I got to install Alien and the tools.

Um... isn't vmware server and player in the repos for Ubuntu 7.04?

yes it is. but i am talking about the vmware tools. i have XP and use vmware to create a virtual Linux machine and one of the things they ask to do is to install what are called vmware tools (ways to customize the guest OS)... vmware tools are not the server and player. two different things.

Are you sure there aren't vmwaretools in Ubuntu reposities? I mean, it sounds odd that there would be vmware server (etc.) but no vmware tools, if they're at all needed/necessary/important. Did you search from all the reposities, including non-free ones?

It's just that installing an rpm package, whatever the means, isn't wise thing to do if you can avoid that. Be it alien or just rpm installed on Ubuntu, it doesn't work as well as the native packages - Ubuntu .debs are meant for Ubuntu, they know where they're going to be installed, but .rpms are meant for other distributions and may cause trouble, for example install files into wrong locations on the system. I recommend spending an extra hour trying to find the .deb rather than take the seemingly easy route of alien'ing an rpm.

I can see this in my repos:... but you may be wanting to install vmware tools to an ubuntu virtual machine:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VMware/Tools