From: Colm MacCárthaigh (colmmacc at domain redbrick.dcu.ie)
Date: Tue 10 Sep 2002 - 12:27:20 IST
On Tue, Sep 10, 2002 at 09:25:46PM +1200, Andrew Kemmy wrote:
> Summary: "alien -c package.rpm ; dpkg -i package.deb" works sometimes.
This isnt exactly a revelation. Alien is a kludge. Avoid using it,
ever.
> <long preamble>
> I would appreciate comment from long-term Debian users re the merits of
> using alien or other means to convert packages meant for rpm-based
> systems where no other option is available.
If you *need* to use RPM's and don't wan't to bother re-packaging, use
an RPM based distro.
> , for example, the vendor has a policy of not releasing patches for a v
> ersion of their OS after a certain time period (2 years AFAIK for SuSE).
Yep, but Debian does that too.
> One of the reasons I am considering migrating all my boxen to Debian is
> that this "distro
> upgrade process" promises to be less painful in the long run, but this
> will be defeated if I still need to maintain RedHat and SuSE machines
> for various apps. There is always UnitedLinux, but it is still
> essentially vapourware, and is one of the reasons I am trying to migrate
> from SuSE in the first place.
> </long preamble>
If you want the advantges of Debian upgradeability , use only Debian
pre-packaged software
If you're going to use software which is pants, tough luck.
-- colmmacc at domain redbrick.dcu.ie PubKey: colmmacc+pgp at domain redbrick.dcu.ie Web: http://devnull.redbrick.dcu.ie/
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