Re: Synaptic Package Manager vs. RPM
On Thu, 2005-10-06 at 09:35 -0700, Jeremy Merritt wrote:
> What makes Synaptic different from RPM in "concept"?
Like they said, it's the difference between .rpm's and .deb's, and the
package managers. They both contain the install location(s) and a list
of dependencies. The big difference is that apt-get, and friends, don't
simply throw up their hands when a dependency is missing -- they go get
it and install it. Usually -- and when they don't, it's cause for
massive whinage on the user lists until the prob is fixed.
Apt-get has been ported to several rpm distros, and does an outstanding
job installing rpm packages (and fetching dependencies). Apt's benes are
more in the package handling software than in the packages themselves.
> Can you manage any packages via RPM in Debian? I saw there was some
> kind of RPM utility but I never worked with it much.
rpm itself is there, if you want to apt-get install it, and it will
unpack a package, check for dependencies, and install just fine. The
biggest problem you can run into using random rpm packages is that they
may (very often will) look for dependencies in the wrong places and/or
install things in the wrong places -- RedHat/Mandrake/SuSE places
instead of Debian places.
--
Glenn English
ghe@slsware.com
GPG ID: D0D7FF20
Reply to: