May 4th, 2009
Installing the source RPM and build a binary RPM
Binary RPMs and Source RPMs
There are two main types of RPM packages: binary (or applications) and source. A binary RPM has been compiled for a particular architecture.
A source RPM (SRPM) package typically contains a gzipped tar archive with the source files, and an RPM spec file.
To compile and install a source RPM package on redhat system, you can do the following:
Type:
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rpm -ihv elinks.src.rpm
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rpm -ihv elinks.src.rpm
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cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS
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rpm -bb elinks.spec
As root, install the binary RPM. It will be located in the directory- /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386.
* elinks - lynx-like alternative character mode WWW browser.
Working behind the scenes of the package manager is the RPM database, stored in /var/lib/rpm. It consists of a single database (Packages) containing all of the meta information of the installed rpms and multiple databases used for indexing purposes.