RPM - Perl interface to the API for the RPM Package Man­
       ager


DESCRIPTION

       The Perl-RPM package is an extension for natively linking
       the functionality of the RPM Package Manager with the
       extension facility of Perl. The aim is to offer all the
       functionality made available via the C API in the form of
       Perl object classes.

       At present, the package-manipulation functionality is not
       yet implemented.  The RPM::Database and RPM::Header pack­
       ages do provide access to the information contained within
       the database of installed packages, and individual package
       headers, respectively. The RPM::Error package is avail­
       able, which provides support routines for signaling and
       catching errors. Additionally, there is the RPM::Constants
       package which provides a number of values from the rpm
       library, referred to by the same name used at the C level.


UTILITY FUNCTIONS

       The following utility functions are exported by default
       from RPM:

       rpm_osname
           Returns the text name of the O/S, as derived from the
           rpm configuration files. This is the O/S token that
           rpm will use to refer to the running system.

       rpm_archname
           As above, but returns the architecture string instead.
           Again, this may not directly match the running system,
           but rather is the value that rpm is using. rpm will
           use the lowest-matching architecture whenever possi­
           ble, for maximum cross-platform compatibility.

       The following utility function may be explicitly requested
       via use or import:

       Allows RPM-style comparison of version/release pairs with­
       out having the full RPM::Header objects in memory. This
       enables programs to compare versions without having to
       worry about how RPM handles the mixture of alphanumeric
       cases that are supported internally. The return value is
       -1, 0 or 1, as with any comparison operator. This is pur­
       posefully named differently from the cmpver method in
       RPM::Header so as to avoid confusion.


DIAGNOSTICS

       When an error occurs in either the C-level rpm library or
       internally within these libraries, it is made available
       via a special dual-nature variable $RPM::err. When evalu­
       ated in a numeric context, it returns the integer code

       returns the text message associated with the error. This
       is intended to closely mimic the behavior of the special
       Perl variable "`$!'".


CAVEATS

       This is currently regarded as alpha-quality software. The
       interface is subject to change in future releases.


SEE ALSO

       the RPM::Constants manpage, the RPM::Database manpage, the
       RPM::Error manpage, the RPM::Header manpage, the perl man­
       page, the rpm manpage


AUTHOR

       Randy J. Ray <rjray@blackperl.com>


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