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Installing Non-RPM ProgramsSummary:
IntroductionSome major companies distribute their programs not as RPMs but in 'tar.gz' archives ('tarballs'). Such programs are for example the Adobe Acrobat reader, the Netscape browser suite, Macromedia's Flash plug-in or Real Networks's Real Player. Getting And Unpacking The PackageDownload the package from the company's web site to your home directory. Unpack the archive with tar xzf file_name (in this case tar xzf linux-505.tar.gz). In GNOME's or KDE's file manager just clicking on the package file should work, too. ./ This tells you that the archive will be extracted into the current directory, so it might a good idea to put that archive into a directory of its own and extract it there. Some companies do not even provide archives, but just one huge file (e.g. 'rp7_redhat6.bin'). These files are just giant self-extracting and -installing executables. To install them, just put a './' in front of the filename and hit the 'Enter' key (e.g. ./rp7_redhat6.bin). If you get an error like bash: permission denied, run chmod +x filename to make the file executable and then execute it again. InstallationIf you have a previous version of the program installed, be it RPM or otherwise, backup changed files (e.g. 'bookmarks.html' in '~/.netscape') and uninstall it. Before going on to installing the software, switch to the 'root' account with su. Now start the installation with ./INSTALL. Use the SPACE key to get through the license blob, type 'accept'. Now Adobe prompts you for an installation directory. Hint: Most commercial programs tend to suggest paths like '/usr/local/program', which means you will end up with lots of program related directories in '/usr/local'. If you don't care about that, go with the default, it makes no functional difference. You can now delete the directory you've installed the application from, but you should keep the original package in case you want to / have to re-install the program later. CustomizationSo, the program is installed. But how to run it? If this were a Mandrake Linux RPM, chances were the application icon would show up automatically in the menu. Since it isn't, you have to do configure that for yourself, e.g. with ~MenuDrake. All you need to know is the full path to the executable which starts the program. The friendly README file from the Acrobat archive mentions it, it's '/usr/local/Acrobat5/bin/acroread' if you went with the default installation path. Hint 1: If you don't know the name of the executable and it's mentioned nowhere, let Linux find it for you: find . -perm -700 -type f This command will find all executable ('-perm -700') files ('-type f') in the current directory and subdirectories ('.'). Of course, chances are you get more than one hit, but it usually reduces the number of files to try out quite a bit. Hint 2: Non-RPM archives usually do not install their executables in the standard Linux directories for executables (/usr/bin/, /usr/local/bin). If you want to start these from a console, you will have to provide the full path to the executable. ln -s /usr/local/opt/Acrobat5/bin/acroread /usr/local/bin puts a symbolic link called 'acroread' into '/usr/local/bin'. Now you can start the program by just typing acroread. With newest Mandrakelinux releases (from 9.1), you should put the symbolic link into the '/usr/bin' directory. Related Resources:Installing The Real G2 Player Revision / Modified: May 21, 2002 Legal: This page is covered by the GNU Free Documentation License . Standard disclaimers of warranty apply. Copyright LSTB and Mandrakesoft. |