> I went to hte Red Hat site to look for erratas and maybe updated drivers
> and found many but I am not sure which to download.
> I am still confused by the notation. I can get the product name and
> version numbering part but quite often there are things like devel appended
> after the product name and I am not sure if it is the source or a
> supporting library that I must load.
> For example :
> rpm-2.5.3-5.0.i386.rpm
> rpm-devel-2.5.3-5.0.i386.rpm
rpm-devel.yadda.yadda indicates that the package contains libraries and/or
tools for development. In this case, the devel package probably contains
libs and tools for the creation of rpm packages.
> I don't mind getting the source code and having to compile it myself but I
> need to know if it is in fact source.
rpm packages are almost always binary. They've been compiled, and put into
an rpm package which contains instructions (for itself) as to where all
the parts of the package need to be placed among other things. The rpm
package will put all the necessary files for the package in all the right
places, and will modify config files and such as necessary. If you see a
package.version.src.rpm (the src part being the key here) that's called
a "source rpm" and does contain source code, however you still use rpm
commands to install it.
> Could someone enlighten me on what the normal conventions for installation
> files are. Like rpm-src-1.1.1.i386.rpm is for RPM for Intel source code
> and the likes.
For most rpm's, it's simply "rpm -i package.rpm" to install, "rpm -U
package.rpm" to upgrade an existing package, and "rpm -e pacakge" to
uninistall (note that it's *not* "rpm -e package.rpm"). Installing
source rpm's is a little different, but still not difficult. Try "man rpm"
for details on that...I don't remember all the flags off hand.
---
Bill Kocik
Information Systems
Medar, Inc.
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web: http://www.medar.com
