Package management

[Mark . Burgess]

I would like to ask about the RPM package management stuff.
I am not a big user of RPM, but I would like to try this
out now and see whether it can be done for debian packages too.
(getapt is a wonderful thing)

I wonder:

 How does rpm know where to look for packages?
 What if they are at a remote source?
 Could the packages be downloaded in from cfservd? 
 If so, where should they go?
 How are dependencies handed?

If this has been explained to me previously than I apologize.
I am wading through old mail, and working on "methods"
for 2.1.0... any help appreciated.

e.g.

 Suppose I want to make sure that all hosts have tcpdump installed
 and that requires the pcap library as a dependency. How do I
 express that, given that the packages are all on a DVD...or
 copied into some source dir.

Mark

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Work: +47 22453272            Email:  Mark.Burgess@iu.hio.no
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