Being a newbie linux admin, I usually appreciate the power and ease of rpm packages. However, lately I notice that a lot of times I download an rpm, only to find out that I need more rpms,(and when I download more, the new ones just ask for more). Sometimes they even have circular dependecy. I know there is an option to ignore dependency, but I am not sure when it is safe to do so.

Also, I use rpmfind.net, and I notice that rpm comes from many sources. Is there some rules I should adhere when choosing which to install? Should I always choose those from RedHat since I am using RH7.1?

Can someone give me some rules of thumb when it comes to RPM installation?

Thanks,

Peter

I am not a big fan of RPM's because of the reasons you listed above. I would sooner just download a tarball and compile my own package without having to worry about dependency issues.

I seem to recall that the Red Hat RPM Find tool will resolve dependency issues automatically by not only downloading the RPM's listed but also the ones needed for it to work correctly.I could be wrong though in stating this, as I have mentioned I try to avoid RPM's when possible.

You may also want to do a search at freshmeat or sourceforge and see if someone hasn't writtern a script that will do this if in fact the RH RPM Find does not.

Hi Peter,
I too am pretty much against the idea of RPM's on a server. For minor things such as tools and utilities they usually work just fine. But, I try to stay away from the server rpms like apache, php, etc.

As a rule of thumb, you should always choose the package for your build. For example if you are running RH7.1 do not try to use a package compiled for RH7.2. Although they seem the same, there are a lot of little differences in the programs installed. RPM's look for specific versions of programs, because they were built against them. This becomes a major pain when you want to upgrade an older OS to the latest version of a program.

-Dan

RPMs are nice, but not properly handled, it can cause a lot of mess. My tips about using RPMs:

- Don't use any 3rd party binary RPMS, ever. Use only ones distributed by your vendor

- If you need a 3rd party RPM, try getting a source RPM (src.rpm) one, then create binary package(s) from it on a development system identical to your target server.

- Understanding how to create RPM packages can save you a lot of time and effort, especially if you manage a lot of servers. Also understanding RPMs can tell you which 3rd party RPMs are the good ones.

- If you are unwilling to spend resources on package management (e.g. development hardware, learning time, etc), then I suggest you compile your software from sources manually without RPMs.

although its not recommended because it usually comes back to haunt you later you can use:
rpm -ivh --nodeps rpmname.rpm

you can always try this too:
rpm -ivh --force rpmname.rpm

you will usually find out later that you will need the dependencies though