Mitch Blevins wrote: > > 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
Call me a silly fool, but I cannot but wonder would it be possible to make a pkg mgmt program (drpm :-)) that would install RPM packages from their native format and put the installed files' and dependencies info in the deb database? Any dpkg developers willing to comment the idea? Jernej
