> Can debian handle rpms right out the box, or is it necessary to add
> support after installation.
Debian uses a program called dpkg to install software with. Dpkg then can
use a variety of front-ends to do various installations (the most popular of
these front-ends is the text-mode dselect program).
To gain full rpm support one has to install two Debian packages, alien and
rpm. Once those are selected in dselect (or installed with dpkg) one can
seamlessly install rpms.
What happens is that the rpm packages are converted to Debian *.deb files,
and then installed normally. This procedure allows Debian to track files from
the rpms in Debian's package database.
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