Re: what is already there?
joey@finlandia.Infodrom.North.DE (Martin Schulze) writes:
> They can? Please tell me how? You need to have rpm2cpio?
Have you seen the source for rpm2cpio? It's tiny, as I said all it
does is skipper the header gunk and call cpio. I was wrong about it
being a shell script, but I'm sure someone could make one, if rpm2cpio
really bothers you.
Yes, getting rpm's extracted is more work than deb's, but I don't
think it's a big deal, and rpm is most certainly not proprietary.
> .rpm is proprietary.
No it's not.
> iirc proprietary means that it's a particular format (e.g.) from
> that company instead of a well known standard (in this case; for
> sure not a definition which a lawyer could accept)
I don't know where this misconception comes from but it seems common
on #debian. (Websters is the best I can do, atm)
Main Entry: pro·pri·e·tary
Pronunciation: pr&-'prI-&-"ter-E
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -tar·ies
Date: 15th century
1 : one that possesses, owns, or holds exclusive right to something;
specifically: PROPREITOR
2 : something that is used, produced, or marketed under exclusive
legal right of the inventor or maker; specifically : a drug (as a
patent medicine) that is protected by secrecy, patent, or
copyright against free competition as to name, product,
composition, or process of manufacture
3 : a business secretly owned by and run as a cover for an
intelligence organization
Main Entry: proprietary
Function: adjective
Etymology: Late Latin proprietarius, from Latin proprietas property -- more at PROPERTY
Date: 1589
1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of a proprietor <proprietary
rights>
2 : used, made, or marketed by one having the exclusive legal right <a
proprietary process>
3 : privately owned and managed and run as a profit-making
organization <a proprietary clinic>
> If I need rpm to *look* inside a .rpm this is proprietary.
You don't, you need rpm2cpio, and that is hardly some nasty, hard to
reproduce tool. And even if you really did need rpm to extract or
examine rpms, your definition of proprietary is wrong.
> The Debian way is much better - using standard tools like tar, gzip
> and ar - which normally exist on every unix system.
As I said, cpio is a POSIX standard. Is that not standard enough for
you?
deb:
ar
tar.gz
tar.gz
rpm:
header gunk
cpio
Both are using standard formats, the difference is the header gunk;
make an issue out of it if you want, but please don't claim it's
proprietary.
--
James
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