RPM

delir!um delirium at expansionmedia.de
Thu Dec 16 14:59:49 UTC 2004


Hi,

now I have (man ... I'm stupid) installed Java and I had no idea how I
can uninstall it so I just deleted the folder with all Java files (on
Windows that doesn't do the job because of registry file -- seems to be
the same on Linux ;-)). Now I wanted to reinstall it and RPM is saying
that it is already intalled ;-/ If I try to remove it with rpm -U
*mypackage* it tells me that it is not installed ;-)

What should I do now to deinstall it and install it again?

Kind regards,
delirium

On Thu, 2004-12-16 at 09:30 -0500, Temlakos wrote:
> On Thu, 2004-12-16 at 14:59 +0100, delir!um wrote:
> > Hi everybody,
> > 
> > I would like to know what RPM is? I wanted to download Java Console and
> > I had the possibility to choose between RPM packages and normal
> > packages. What is the difference?
> 
> RPM originally stood for Red-Hat Package Management. Now I think it's
> one of those--what do you call 'em--regressive names: "RPM Package
> Management." It is the preferred way to distribute packages of already-
> built programs, or "binaries," in Red Hat-style distros, like Fedora
> Core, RHEL, Mandrake, and a host of others.
> 
> If Java is calling something a "normal" package, they probably mean a
> *tar ball.* That's a package that has a configuration script and a
> *makefile* that uses the "make" command to compile, link, and then
> install the program on your system.
> 
> If you're using Fedora Core--as I assume you are--then RPM packages will
> work. To find out how, open up a terminal window and type "man rpm."
> Typically you run "rpm -U such-and-such.rpm" to install something. (You
> can use the -i flag if you are absolutely sure that no such package
> exists on your system when you start. If you're not sure, or if you know
> you're actually upgrading, use the -U. It works every time. You can also
> add "v" for "verbose" and "h" for "hash marks" if you want an ASCII-
> artful display of how far along you are in the installation. The full
> form of the command would then be "rpm -Uvh such-and-such.rpm".)
> 
> To *remove* an RPM-based package, type "rpm -e such-and-such".
> 
> To ask the system which version of the package you have on board, type
> "rpm -q such-and-such".
> 
> I can't decide, personally, which is better: RPM or tar balls. Tar balls
> require a bit more effort to install, because after you unpack them
> (typically as "tar -xf such-and-such.tar" or "tar -zxf such-and-
> such.tar.gz"), you have to issue three separate commands, and to do it
> you have to change to the new directory that the unpack operation
> creates. These three commands are:
> 
> ./configure (because the current working directory is *not* part of your
> executable path, unlike some other less-secure OS's which shall remain
> nameless). If this command returns any errors, then you need to figure
> out how to address the deficiencies that you see reported. But if it
> doesn't report any errors, then you run these other two commands:
> 
> make
> 
> make install
> 
> And if you want to take a tar-based program off your system, go back to
> this directory (and hope you haven't removed it) and type:
> 
> make clean
> 
> And then you can, in theory, wipe everything out by typing
> 
> make distclean
> 
> The composition of makefiles and configure scripts is not your
> responsibility. The developer needs to do that. I use an IDE that writes
> all those scripts whenever I modify my program in any way.
> 
> > Any idea whether there are drivers for my graphic card - ATI Mobility
> > Radeon 9700? Or any idea where I could find it out, so I can quit
> > bothering you?
> 
> Try my favorite gambit: search Google (http://www.google.com/) with the
> search phrase "ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 Linux" and see what pops up.
> Google is generally pretty good about sorting pages with the most
> relevant finds first. I use Mozilla (haven't switched to Firefox yet),
> and the version I use has a Search function that uses Google for its
> searching. (The Fedora Core I version of Mozilla uses Netscape Search.
> Kudos to the Mozilla Foundation for figuring out when someone else does
> a better job. That's the beauty of open-source development: software
> developed *by* users *for* users. No kickbacks, no sweetheart deals, and
> the bundling, if any, is what makes sense *for you.*)
> 
> FYI, I have an ATI Radeon 7200 on my system, and Fedora Core 2 had the
> drivers for it and installed it straight out-of-the-box. If that's not
> true of the Mobility Radeon 9700, then I return to my previous
> suggestion: search for it. If anyone has a separate driver for that
> card, and they offer it on the Web, Google will find it. That's another
> beauty of Linux: maybe you have to search a hundred places to find the
> drivers for *your* particular components, but at least you *can* find
> them. With Windows, if M$ hasn't signed the appropriate "co-marketing
> agreements" with the vendor of any particular video card, you're out of
> luck. But with Linux--well, if it's not available now, it will become
> available soon enough. Only rarely have I seen this fail.
> -- 
> Temlakos <temlakos at comcast.net>
> 




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