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