X-pop3-spooler:	POP3MAIL 2.1.0 b 4 980420 -bs-
Date:	Wed, 16 Sep 1998 11:18:11 +0100 (BST)
From:	"Dr H. T. Leung" <htl10 AT cus DOT cam DOT ac DOT uk>
Reply-To:	"Dr H. T. Leung" <htl10 AT cus DOT cam DOT ac DOT uk>
To:	Shawn Leas <sleas AT ixion DOT honeywell DOT com>
cc:	david <david AT kalifornia DOT com>, pcg AT goof DOT com, beastium-list AT Desk DOT nl,
	johan19 AT idt DOT net
Subject:	RPM (was Re: libc-5.4.22?!?)
In-Reply-To:	<Pine.HPP.3.96.980915162251.28168A-100000@ixion.honeywell.com>
Message-ID:	<Pine.SOL.3.96.980916110105.25151A-100000@ursa.cus.cam.ac.uk>
MIME-Version:	1.0
Sender:	Marc Lehmann <pcg AT goof DOT com>
Status:	RO
X-Status:	A
Lines:	27

Oh, I have definitely used the rpm system. I d/loaded it from RedHat and
installed it (of course I did not have a RedHat dist in the first place).
But nobody ever told me the one important fact:

- On a non-RedHat distribution, the rpm database does not work,
- i.e. it will not allow you to install things except with the "-nodeps"
-  (by force). What's more, the rpm database is not updated by
- "-nodeps ", so after installation, you cannot deinstall either, as it
- complains that it was never installed in the first place. And you ended
- up having to do a query and remove every file by hand. This is the
- behaviour of RPM 2.5.1.

So these days I do "rpm2cpio something.src.rpm |cpio --extract" 
exclusively and do everything by hand. People said rpm's are nice, but it
doesn't work for me. 

On Tue, 15 Sep 1998, Shawn Leas wrote:

> So, you've never used it so you have to complain.  OK, I understand.  RPM
> is a nice package management system that any distribution can use.  You
> CAN query/verify installed packages or package files you haven't installed
> yet..
> 
> Noone started a holy war about distributions, and you should try to
> either.  I like RedHat, SuSe, Slackware, Stampede, and yes, even FreeBSD
> for there individual merits.

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