pankaj khandar forced the electrons to say:
> --- hari <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > please let me know what is known as rpm -rpm etc
> RPM Stands for RedHat Packet Manager
No! RedHat Package Manager.
> When you want to install some New Software on your
> System, you need the *.rpm file of that software.
Not necessary! You can install even from any of many other formats. RPM works
only on systems that use RPM to manage packages. These include RedHat and
SuSE. Slackware is an example of a distribution that doesn't use RPM.
> you can said in another way as it is a software installer.
Plus a lot of other things.
Having said that...
RPM is two things - a file format for packaging software, and the program
that understands this format, and can install or uninstall the software
thus packaged. It was developed by RedHat Software, and is placed in
the public domain under the GPL.
RPM can be used to install packages in a painless way. For example,
if package foo needs package bar to function, then RPM can detect this
and issue you a warning (and refuse to install package foo) if bar is
not installed. RPM is similar to Add/Remove Programs in Windows, but
much more powerful. Some of the situations in which RPM helps a sysad are:
1. Ease of installation/uninstallation
2. Verification of existing packages
3. Which package owns this file?
4. I want to upgrade package foo, but I don't know what all this will break
5. I want to remove package foo, but I don't know what all this will break
6. I want to install package foo, but will it conflict with package bar?
(The sendmail/qmail conflict)
But RPM has its share of disadvantages also. Like,
1. You have to be satisfied with what the distributor packaged for you. You
cannot enable/disable certain features. (For example, mutt RPMs are usually
distributed with PGP disabled and POP3 enabled. My requirement is
exactly the reverse - with PGP and without POP3).
2. RPM cannot find packages that are not installed via RPM. A package that you
installed from the sources can occassionally break RPM's functioning.
3. Not all linux distributions support RPM.
Binand
--
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--------------- Binand Raj S. ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
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