Re: RPM under Debian?

[Mitch Blevins <mblevin@mindspring.com>]

In foo.debian-user, you wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> this is Linux newbie and just-heard-about-Debian asking:
> 
> is there support for RPM package management under Debian? The
> website doesn't meantion it, not even for the upcoming 2.1
> release. Did I miss something?

Debian provides different levels of rpm support.

1) The rpm program is available as a Debian package, and it can
   install/uninstall rpms.  This method of use is not advised,
   however.  RPM keeps a database of which packages are installed
   and uses this database to determine if the required dependencies
   for a given package are available.  Since the RPM database
   cannot read the database of the native Debian package manager (dpkg)
   it will not work as desired.  You can cause serious problems for
   your system by trying to use two different package managers
   actively.

2) You can use the 'alien' program, supplied as a debian package,
   to convert rpms to debs.  Then you can use dpkg to install the
   package, and still have the advantage of a single database of
   installed packages.

   This works well for non-system-critical packages and packages
   without alot of complex dependencies... but you are just asking
   for trouble if you install (for instance) gnome as a converted
   alien package.


Of course the best alternative is to install a native deb if
available.

-Mitch