Re: Package management

[Hans Deragon]

Mark.Burgess@iu.hio.no wrote:
> 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?

RPM is a package format.  Sort of like .tar.gz.  The notion of how it knows 
where to look for does not apply.  You are probably asking how a user will find 
the existance of a package and figure out where to get it.

In that case, it means that the user must download the rpm from a http or ftp 
site and manually install it (rpm -Uhv <package.rpm>).  However, the next 
version or Red Hat (version 10?) will officially support both apt and yum, which 
will allow users to find and install packages more easily.

>  Could the packages be downloaded in from cfservd? 
>  If so, where should they go?

Can you expand on your idea?  See RPMs as tarball equivalents.  Essentially, you 
could do to RPMs what you can do to tarball files.

>  How are dependencies handed?

If downloaded manually, you are required to download any other RPM packages 
which are missing.  rpm -Uhv will tell you what packages are missing, if any.

If using apt or yum, missing packages will be downloaded and installed 
automatically.

> 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.

Express where?  in an RPM spec file?  All RPMs have a spec file which declares 
dependencies, among other things.  But you do not tell where the packages 
reside.  You simply have to install the other packages before the main one, 
using the command ¨rpm -Uhv¨.

Best regards,
Hans Deragon
--
Consultant en informatique/Software Consultant
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