How to Install 'Alien'

KNOW HOW Alien

Alien Debian Goes Extraterrestrial

lien is a Perl program and requires Alien is a program designed for converting packages in third party formats to Perl Version 5.004 or better. You Acan call perl --version from the the format required by your own distribution for installation purposes. command line to discover what version is installed on your machine: The tool runs on most major distributions and can handle various package

huhn@transpluto:~$ perl U formats. In this month’s article we will be looking into the topic of converting --version “alien”software to known package formats with Debian. BY HEIKE JURZIK This is perl, v5.6.1 built for U i386-linux

To create RPMs, you will obviously need to install the Red Hat Package Manager ([1]). If you use apt to install Alien, any dependent packages will be installed at the same time:

transpluto:~# apt-get install U alien Reading Package Lists... Done Building Dependency Tree... Done The following extra packages U will be installed: debconf-utils debhelper html2U text librpm4 rpm The following NEW packages willU be installed: alien debconf-utils debhelperU html2text librpm4 rpm

0 packages upgraded, 6 newly U NASA installed, 0 to remove and 156 not upgraded. Need to get 1320kB of archives.U on and to other packages. This feature to convert a package, if not, the following After unpacking 4260kB will beU ensures perfect integration of the new error message will be displayed: used. software, and allows you to remove it Do you want to continue? [Y/n] cleanly from your system, if required. Must run as root to convert to U However, the format is not used by any deb format (or you may use fakeU Press the [y] key to confirm and Debian other distributions (except distributions root). will get on with the job. Just one more based on Debian). note before we get down to the nitty Similarly, you will experience some After successfully completing the conver- gritty: Alien is still under development difficulty if you try to install RPM format- sion, alien issues the following message: (this includes the latest version 8.12), i.e. ted packages on Debian. Of course, there occasional errors may occur. So before is normally no need for this, as Debian transpluto:~# alien mypackage.U you start converting really important includes a variety of packages, and most rpm packages such as init or libc with this new programs are quickly made available mypackage.deb generated tool, it is a good idea to find out if your in the .deb package format. But if you do Debian version already has the software happen to need to install a third party Before installing the package, you check you need in Debian package format. RPM package, you can rely on alien for where the components have been stored support. by typing dpkg -c. dpkg --info mypack- From .rpm to .deb The simplest syntax for alien on the age.deb which provides details of the A Debian package(.deb suffix) contains a command line is alien package.rpm. You characteristics such as version number, range of information about dependencies will need to have superuser (root) access dependencies, or even a description of

36 September 2002 www.linux-magazine.com Alien KNOW HOW

the software. If you intend to install the ensure that Debian can handle the third In contrast to Debian based systems, package, you may want ensure that the party package. To do so you can type where apt will automatically perform a installation will succeed under your real dpkg -s mypackage. The command line complete installation of the required conditions. To test this you need to type output should be something along the packages, you will need to install the dpkg --no-act -i mypackage.deb, then the lines of Status: install ok installed. By the RPM packages manually (see [2]). system will let you know if it finds any way: You can type dpkg to deinstall any Alien will also allow you to create tgz dependency issues. Everything OK? Next packages you have installed. If you use packages (parameter -t or --to-tgz) for time you can omit the --no-act option, and the -P option (abbreviation for --purge), Slackware, or pkg packages (parameter -p install the package without prior checks. you not only deinstall the software, but or --to-pkg) for Solaris. In addition, alien If you are sure that you want to install you also remove the configuration files will not only run on Debian, but there is a the package without a prior check, you completely. A simple command, such as version for RPM based systems. This tool can set the following Alien flag when dpkg -r mypackage (for --remove) will goes by the name of alien-extra – for converting the package -i (or the long only remove the package, leaving all the information and binaries see [4]. Of form: --install): settings under /etc intact. course, conversions of this kind can cause issues. You will often need libraries transpluto:~# alien -i U And vice versa? and discover that you either have the mypackage.rpm Of course, you can use alien to create wrong version or do not have the library Selecting previously deselectedU RPMs from Debian packages. To do so, at all. So it makes sense to first check and package mypackage. use the --to-rpm parameter: see if the package is included in your own (Reading database ... 53783 U distribution before you start installing files and directories currently transpluto:~# alien --to-rpm U “alien” software on your machine. ■ installed.) mypackage.deb U Unpacking mypackage (from mypackage.rpm generated INFO mypackage.deb) ... Setting up mypackage (1.0.3-1) U You can now install this package on [1] http://www.rpm.org/ ... those distributions based on RPM. If [2] http://rpmfind.net/ errors occur when you call rpm -i [3] http://www.kitenet.net/programs/alien/ No errors occurred during conversion and mypackage.rpm, the error may be to do installation, but you may still want to with unresolved dependencies. [4] ftp://ykbsb2.yk.psu.edu/pub/alien/ NOT ROCKET SCIENCE

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