Linux Magazine: Using APT on RPM-Based Systems

“Managing packages can be a tricky undertaking, even with
package tools like the RPM Package Manager (RPM), the package
management tool used by Conectiva, Fedora, Mandrake, Red Hat, SuSE,
Yellow Dog, and many other distributions. With RPM, you may try to
install a package, only to find that it depends on others you don’t
have. Or, you might discover that your packages are several
versions out of date and then have to track down and install
potentially dozens of updates to fix security and other problems
with the old packages.

“The Debian distribution has long had a solution to these
problems: the Advanced Package Tools (APT), a set of programs that
help manage packages. APT lies at a layer above Debian’s usual
lower-level package management tools, such as dpkg (Debian’s
equivalent to rpm). By linking to one or more package repositories,
APT can streamline software installation, upgrades, and other
management operations…”

Complete
Story