LinuxPapers.org: The RPM System

[ Thanks to newsmaster for this link. ]

"Installing and removing programs on your computer can be a little complicated. The software package manager RPM allows you to install, remove and keep tabs on your software in a simple way"

"RPM (RedHat Package Manager) is a program for installing programs. It was developed by RedHat with the aim of simplifying the distribution of pre-compiled software: in other words, software that you do not need to compile before you install it. RPM is especially useful for software companies that distribute GNU/Linux (DISTRIB) and have to deal with thousands of files. RedHat, SuSE and Caldera all distribute their products in RPM format. GNU/Linux users have the advantages of being able to not only install their programs more easily, but also install and keep tabs on their installed programs."

"This is a summary of the important features of the RPM system:

• RPM makes installing, updating and removing software simple.
• RPM analyses what "dependencies" the program to install has on other programs or libraries, in order to work correctly. For example, the software A needs the software or library B to be in the system, in order to work properly.
• RPM keeps information about installed packages in a database. This means that you can know exactly what is installed on your system."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• O'Reilly Network: Installing mod_perl from RPM(Mar 26, 2000)
• LinuxMonth: RPM - Installing, Querying, Deleting your packages(Mar 20, 2000)
• Penguin Magazine: Help with RPM(Feb 27, 2000)
• Red Hat: Whitepaper: Changes in RPM 3.0(Jan 09, 2000)
• About.com: Using RPM(Aug 16, 1999)