Package formats

[Ben Kochie <ben@nerp.net>]

I have not studied the source code to teh package formats, so i am not an
expert.. but this is what I have been able to come across.

RPM: Redhat Package Manager, used by many distros, many redhat like.
RPM is a binary, and source package system, you can get a source package,
that includes all of the instructions to compile in a single file.
things I have found about RPM.

file dependancies, an RPM package can include depancies not just on other
packages, but on indivdual files.. this can be a major pain in the ass, if
you don't know what the package a file belongs to.

I have not looked into the scripting of RPM, but I have found that many
RPM's do not include useful pre/post install/remove scripts.

DEB used by debian and debian clones, from what I remember, DEB's are gzip
compressed CPIO archives  a directory called debian/ stores all the
package information, including pre/post install/remove scripts, and
package information files.. (i have built deb's but not RPM's)

there are a large number of help files, and set standards for creating
debs.. things like documentation on the deb itself, a changelog file for
each package revision.  I don't know much about RPM development, so I
can't say.

debs don't have a very easy to use source packaging format.

Thank You,
        Ben Kochie (ben@nerp.net)

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 "Unix is user friendly, Its just picky about its friends."

On Wed, 12 Jan 2000, Schlough, Mark wrote:

> 
> Is there any reason that RPMS are used by RedHat, Caldera, SuSE, Turbolinux
> ( I know RH invented RPM so that's a given)
> 
> and DEBs are used by Debian and .....
> 
> I dunno.  I wanna know.  Is there any technical advantage of one over the
> other?   i.e are debs always precompiled?  sometimes?  are there source debs
> and debs?
> 
> Mark
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	Adam Maloney [SMTP:adam@iexposure.com]
> > Sent:	Wednesday, January 12, 2000 12:30 PM
> > To:	tclug-list@mn-linux.org
> > Subject:	Re: [TCLUG:12193] newbie distros (was: Re: [TCLUG:12143]
> > hello)
> > 
> > and slack packages are easy...and BSD's system is...uh...very nice.
> > 
> > 
> > Scott wrote:
> > > 
> > > On Wed, 12 Jan 2000, Schlough, Mark wrote:
> > > 
> > > >       Is there a techincal comparison to the debian packaging system
> > and
> > > > the RPM packages?  I don't understand the difference, is anyone able
> > to
> > > > explain what they are?
> > > 
> > >      Technically, .deb's are whacked and .rpm's are screwy.
> > > 
> > > Scott
> > > --
> > > I love you more than anything in this world.
> > > I don't expect that will last.
> > >  -Elvis Costello
> > > 
> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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> > 
> > -- 
> > Adam Maloney
> > Systems Administrator
> > Internet Exposure, Inc.
> > 
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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