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154 lines
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<title>UnRpm Issue 19</title>
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<BODY BGCOLOR="#ffdfae" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#0020F0"
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ALINK="#FF0000">
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<center><h1>The UnRpm-Install Package</h1></center>
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<center>
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<h4><a href="mailto: layers@vax2.rainis.net">by Larry Ayers</a></h4>
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</center>
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<P><hr>
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<center><h3>Introduction</h3></center>
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<p>No matter what distribution of Linux you have installed, there will come a
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time when you would like to install a package in one of the other
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distribution's formats. No one distribution has available every possible
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package, and the updates to packages often depend on a volunteer's inclination
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and time constraints.
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<p>On a reasonably current and well-maintained Linux system, most of the
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quality source-code packages will compile without much effort beyond perusal
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of the README and INSTALL files. In other words, <em>*.rpm</em> and
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<em>*.deb</em> packages aren't vitally necessary, though the ease of upgrading
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or removal possible with these packages makes them a time-saving convenience.
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<p>But few people have both the time and/or inclination to compile every new
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program from source. It <em>does</em> take more time than using a precompiled
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package, and often a package maintainer will have access to patches which
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haven't yet been incorporated into an official release. One of these patches
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might be just what it takes to insure a successful installation on your
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system! Therefore it stands to reason that the more different genera of
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precompiled packages you have available, the wider the pool of available
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software.
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<p>A year and a half ago I was running a Slackware 3.0 system, but had used
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Redhat just long enough to appreciate the value of an <b>rpm</b> package. As I
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remember, there were a few pieces of software which I was unable, no matter
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what tweaking I did, to successfully compile. The <b>rpm</b>'s available for those
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packages were tempting, but I didn't want to start from scratch and reinstall
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the Redhat Linux distribution just for a few packages. Poking around the
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Redhat FTP site, I saw that the source for the then-current version of <b>rpm</b>
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was available, and after various trials and tribulations I managed to
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successfully compile and install it. The crucial factor which made it all
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work was downloading and installing a newer version of <i>cpio</i>, which was
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right there in the Redhat <b>rpm</b> directory. It wasn't the easiest installation
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I've ever done, but I don't blame the folks at Redhat for not making it a
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no-brainer. After all, they evidently worked long and hard developing the <b>rpm</b>
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package system and they surely wanted to leverage its value in influencing
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users to buy their distribution. Redhat is to be commended for resisting
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purely commercial urges and making <b>rpm</b> freely available.
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<p>Two distributions later, I never have gotten around to reinstalling <b>rpm</b>,
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partly because the Debian distribution has a utility called <b>alien</b>,
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which will convert an <em>*.rpm</em> file into a <em>*.deb</em> file. This is
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a nice utility, but sometimes I'd just like to poke around inside a package
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and see what's there without actually installing it. Both <b>rpm</b> and Debian's
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<b>dpkg</b> utility have command-line switches for just listing the
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contents, or extracting individual files from a package. These aren't the
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sort of switches I would use often enough to memorize, and it's a pain to read
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the man page each time. So I gradually meander my way to the point of this
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article...
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<center><h3>UnRpm-Install</h3></center>
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<p>Recently, in nearly daily updates, <a href="mailto: robotti@pop.erols.com">
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Kent Robotti</a> has been releasing to the Sunsite archive site a
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package of programs and scripts which simplify working with these various
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package formats. UnRpm is most useful when used in conjunction with the
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<b>Midnight Commander</b> file manager, as one component of the package is a
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set of entries meant to be appended to the <em>mc</em> user menu.
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<p>This is what the package includes:<br>
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<ul>
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<li>the version of <b>cpio</b> which works well with <b>rpm</b>
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<li>two shell scripts from the Slackware distribution, <b>installpkg</b>
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and <b>removepkg</b>
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<li><b>rpm2cpio</b>, a program from Redhat which converts an <b>rpm</b>
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archive to a <b>cpio</b> archive
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<li><b>dpkgdeb</b>, a program from the Debian distribution which unpacks,
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packs, or provides information about a Debian archive file
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<li><b>unrpm</b> and <b>undeb</b>, two shell scripts which can either be
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used as is or be called by the <b>Midnight Commander</b>.
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<li><b>Update.mc</b>, a shell script which will append entries for the above
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scripts and programs to the <kbd>/usr/lib/mc/mc.menu</kbd> file
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<li><b>Install</b>, a shell script which installs the above binaries and
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shell scripts, and also thoughtfully renames any pre-existing
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equivalents in case you may want to back out any of the installed files
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</ul>
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<p>The earlier versions of UnRpm-Install included statically-linked binaries, no
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doubt to make them usable by a wider variety of users, but with the
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disadvantage of large binaries. Since most systems have compatible
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<em>libc</em> versions installed, which is the only library linked with the
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binaries, recent versions have included the smaller dynamically-linked
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versions.
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<p>The <b>Midnight Commander</b> in its recent incarnations has excellent
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support built-in for treating these various archive formats as virtual
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file-systems, allowing the user to browse through their contents without
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actually expanding them. The menu entries provided by UnRpm expand upon these
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capabilities, making it easier than ever to convert one format to another and
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to see just what an archive will install on your system.
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<p>There's nothing in UnRpm-Install which you couldn't gather up yourself, from
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various FTP sites or distribution cd's. What makes the package valuable is
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that Kent Robotti has done this for you, and presented these disparate
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binaries and scripts as a coherent whole, bound together by the Midnight
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Commander used as archive manager.
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<center><h3>Availability</h3></center>
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<p>Various versions of UnRpm-Install are still in the /pub/Linux/Incoming directory of
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the <a href="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/Incoming">Sunsite</a> FTP
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archive, but the most recent version will eventually make its way into
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<a href="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/utils/compress">the archive
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utility</a> directory.
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H5>Copyright © 1997, Larry Ayers<BR>
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Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>
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