On Mon, 12 Feb 2001, Carl Wilhelm Soderstrom wrote: > Ok, I'm a new Dweebian^WDebian user; and I am wondering how experienced > users deal with .rpms and non-.deb'ed software. > since the stuff on the debian mirrors is commonly months behind the latest > version (or maybe you're testing alpha versions of a project); what do you > do if there is a .rpm (or even just a .tgz) for a package you might already > have installed with dpkg? I'll save the standard 'if you want bleeding-edge run testing' speech, since I assume you've heard that part already. :) Personally, I like to have a few things bleeding-edge, with most of my system running well-tested, stable software. So here's what I do. My Debian install is the latest stable, a.k.a. potato. For other software that either isn't included or isn't the latest version in potato, I use a combination of a few methods: 1) If I can find source, I compile from that rather than using an RPM usually. It keeps my system generally cleaner. From source I can go one of two directions: A) If I'm lazy, or just want to test something, and/or it doesn't need to be in the same location as packaged things, I'll just throw it in /usr/local/stow/<packagename> and stow it. B) If the package does need the same prefix as pre-packaged things (e.g. extra GNOME libraries), and/or I'm feeling meticulous/anal, I make a Debian package out of it. This isn't as hard as it seems at first. The best place to start reading is probably the New Maintainer's Guide, available at http://www.debian.org/doc/maint-guide/ch-first.html. 2) If you want to install from RPM, I would recommend using alien. It does a fairly clean job of things, and you can always check the .deb it generates before you install it. I believe there's also a way to tweak the control scripts before you actually build the package. Using these methods, and taking meticulous notes about what I install, I've managed to keep a relatively clean system, get the bleeding-edge software I want without sacrificing too much stability, and not expend too much effort in doing so. As always, YMMV, but HTH. (those damn acronyms... ;p ) Pacem in Terris / Mir / Shanti / Salaam / Heiwa Kevin R. Bullock