Claude Jones wrote: > I seem to remember that there was an rpm command that could be run to take an > rpm not built for FC4 and rebuild it for FC4 installation - or something to > that effect. I read through the man rpm but didn't see anything that clicked. > I tried a couple of archive searches but nothing popped up. Am I missing the > obvious? What I have is an rpm built for PCLinuxOS which is a derivative of > Mandriva - I'm told that those rpm's can generally be used in FC4 as there is > a distant relationship in the distros. You know, depending on the application, just installing the RPM has a good chance of working. Linux tends to have good binary compatibility for userland apps. And most RPM dependencies tend to be on files or libraries, not RPM names. Applications which are more stand alone and less tied into a toolkit have a better chance of working than ones that are heavily dependent on other RPMs. Bizaarely, this means that older programs have a better chance of working. (Of course, you may have to hunt down required libraries and the like yourself. But that's not necessarily impossible. The Red Hat series of compat-*.rpm packages can help here). I have several RPMs install that come from old distros. I've never noticed a problem with any of the programs. James. -- E-mail address: james | "This thing is bigger than the both of us!" @westexe.demon.co.uk | "Oh Tom! It's ... it's an elephant!"
