alien - Convert or install an alien binary package
SYNOPSIS
alien [--to-deb] [--to-rpm] [--to-tgz] [--to-slp] [options] file [...]
DESCRIPTION
alien is a program that converts between Redhat rpm,
Debian deb, Stampede slp and Slackware tgz file formats.
If you want to use a package from another linux distribu
tion than the one you have installed on your system, you
can use alien to convert it to your preferred package for
mat and install it.
WARNING
Despite the high version number, alien is still (and will
probably always be) rather experimental software. It's
been under development for many years now, but there are
still many bugs and limitations.
Alien should not be used to replace important system pack
ages, like init, libc, or other things that are essential
for the functioning of your system. Many of these packages
are set up differently by the different distributions, and
packages from the different distributions cannot be used
interchangeably. In general, if you can't remove a package
without breaking your system, don't try to replace it with
an alien version.
PACKAGE FORMAT NOTES
rpm For converting to and from rpm format the Red Hat
Package Manager must be installed.
deb For converting to (but not from) deb format, the gcc,
make, debmake, dpkg-dev, and dpkg packages must be
installed.
tgz Note that when converting from the tgz format, alien
will simply generate an output package that has the
same files in it as are in the tgz file. This only
works well if the tgz file has precompiled binaries in
it in a standard linux directory tree. Do NOT run
alien on tar files with source code in them, unless
you want this source code to be installed in your root
directory when you install the package!
OPTIONS
Alien will convert all the files you pass into it into all
the output types you specify. If no output type is speci
fied, it defaults to converting to deb format.
file [...]
The list of package files to convert.
Make debian packages. This is the default.
-r, --to-rpm
Make rpm packages.
-t, --to-tgz
Make tgz packages.
--to-slp
Make slp packages.
-i, --install
Automatically install each generated package, and
remove the package file after it has been installed.
-g, --generate
Generate a temporary directory suitable for building a
package from, but do not actually create the package.
This is useful if you want to move files around in the
package before building it. The package can be built
from this temporary directory by running "debian/rules
binary", if you were creating a Debian package, or by
running "rpm -bb <packagename>.spec" if you were cre
ating a Red Hat package.
-s, --single
Like -g, but do not generate the packagename.orig
directory. This is only useful when you are very low
on disk space and are generating a debian package.
--patch=patch
Specify the patch to be used instead of automatically
looking the patch up in /var/lib/alien. This has no
effect unless a debian package is being built.
--nopatch
Do not use any patch files.
--description=desc
Specifiy a description for the package. This only has
an effect when converting from the tgz package format,
which lacks descriptions.
-c, --scripts
Try to convert the scripts that are meant to be run
when the package is installed and removed. Use this
with caution, becuase these scripts might be designed
to work on a system unlike your own, and could cause
problems. It is recommended that you examine the
scripts by hand and check to see what they do before
using this option.
By default, alien adds one to the minor version number
of each package it converts. If this option is given,
alien will not do this.
-h, --help
Display a short usage summary.
EXAMPLES
Here are some examples of the use of alien:
alien --to-deb package.rpm
Convert the package.rpm into a package.deb
alien --to-rpm package.deb
Convert the package.deb into a package.rpm
alien -i package.rpm
Convert the package.rpm into a package.deb (converting
to a .deb package is default, so you need not specify
--to-deb), and install the generated package.
alien --to-deb --to-rpm --to-tgz --to-slp foo.deb bar.rpm
baz.tgz
Creates 9 new packages. When it is done, foo bar and
baz are available in all 4 package formats.
ENVIRONMENT
Alien recognizes the following environemnt variables:
RPMBUILDOPT
Options to pass to rpm when it is building a package.
RPMINSTALLOPT
Options to pass to rpm when it is installing a pack
age.
NOTES
When using alien to convert a tgz package, all files in
/etc in are assumed to be configuration files.
If alien is not run as root, the files in the generated
package will have incorrect owners and permissions.
AUTHOR
Alien was written by Christoph Lameter, <clame
ter@debian.org>.
deb to rpm conversion code was taken from the Martian pro
gram by Randolph Chung, <tausq@debian.org>.
Alien has been extensively rewritten (3 times) and is now
maintained by Joey Hess, <joeyh@debian.org>.
Alien may be copied amd modified under the terms of the
GNU General Public License.
Man(1) output converted with
man2html