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RPM - What's New in Version 4.0?
rafa asks: "Red Hat has recently upgraded their RPM system from the 3.x to 4.0 in the the Red Hat 7.0 distribution. The RPM Web site hasn't been upgraded since sometime in 1999. What has changed since RPM 3? What improvements have been made, and why did they chose to break compatability?"
Well, actually, an RPM is just a tarball with dependency information. How primitive.
Debian packages, on the other hand, are tarballs with dependencies and configure/uninstall scripts. Now there's a tarball you can take home to mom
RPMs can have configure/install/uninstall scripts, and more besides. And it has done since version 2 (probably before then, I can't remember right now).
I like Debian too, but please know what you are posting is actually correct before proclaiming Debian as having the best packaging system (which it may have, but not for this reason).
Many of the features of older versions of RPM can be found in the freely downloadable book `Maximum RPM' at rpm.org, where there is some documentation. But not for rpm 4.0, as the poster mentioned.
pastie
about tarballs vs RPM, I must agree with this.
tarballs are not only for real-men though, I'm a newbie and I found tarballs works more consistently compared to RPM.
I was even once had to reinstall Linux due to RPM screw-ups. Since then I only use tarballs or Source RPM.
I have heard information that rpm4 is supposed to support checking of installed libs. This means if they were or were not installed from an rpm. This portion does seem to be supported I have tested this on redhat 7.0 with success. I am not sure of other 'new features' although I have been looking for some info. As far as breaking compatability I am not sure what you mean. They are backward compatable being that you can install 3.x rpms with no problem. You cannot on the otherhand install the 4.x rpm under a 3.x system if this is what you mean. This is typical of alot of software not just rpm.
I was having trouble installing new RPMs, particularly those from Rawhide, because they were packaged with the new versions of RPM. Upgrading to rpm-3.0.5 will allow you to install rpm-4 packages.
"It may be remarked in passing that success is an ugly thing. Men are deceived by its false resemblences to merit."
Can a user install packages without being root? I mean, most of the time you would install as root, but for some cases, like games, applications or the like, you should be able to install yourlelf... into your own home directory.
I've had to use tarballs to install IRC clients, Zmodem protocols, games and more on remote systems.
Without user-mode installations, it is just one more reason to give mobile users root access to their own systems.
I'm not a big fan of package management, it has caused me to rebuild more systems than manually solving dependencies has ever. As soon as somebody starts using the phrase "You'll have to rebuild if your corrupt your XXX" where XXX != "Filesystem", it generally means that XXX is a bad idea.
I have to get around to reading that Maximum RPM book...
Guess I should RTFM next time, eh?
*sigh*
--
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"I personal[ly] think Unix is "superior" because on LSD it tastes like Blue." -- jbarnett
It seems to me that each user should have his
own RPM database. So, that if I want to, say,
install a game in my 'cathryn' directory, wouldn't
have to go to root to do it. Ideally every package, could have a 'root' install for everyone, and a 'non-root' install for an individual user, I'd think. Am I missing something?
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