Re: freshmeat repository
On Mon, 27 Apr 1998, Kevin Traas wrote:
> While I'm still running Debian (for years - and on dozens of machines), I've
> long considered switching to RedHat for the simple reason that RPM's seem to
> be more readily available (leading to the (possibly) mistaken view that
> RedHat is the more prevalent - and thus preferred - distribution out
> there.). (Oh, and the few times I've tried using alien, etc. to install
> RPM's under Debian, the attempts have failed miserably - possibly
> user-related, but non-the-less....)
You need to be VERY careful with RPM packages since so many different
distributions use it. Caldera is drifting away from Red Hat as it evolves
and though a package designed for Red Hat might install on Caldera or vice
versa, it might not integrate well. Things it needs might be located in
places other than it expects to find them in. Also, though S.u.S.E. uses
RPM they have changed the extention on their packages to .spm to alert the
user that the package is designed to integrate with their layout.
I have not had too bad of luck converting packages. Of the few that I
tried, they all built o.k. but there are some versioning problems with
certain libraries when going between Red Hat and Debian. What I think
would be interesting is converting Debian packages to rpm's with a .dpm
extention. Debian's stuff integrates so well and the default
configuration is so good, for some sets of packages, it would really make
sense. uucp/cnews/nntpd/smail comes to mind. Debian is the only
distribution with a well configured and integrated set of these
applications which are popular in areas with expensive intermittant
connectivity.
George Bonser
If I had a catchy quip, it would be here.
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