I just learned this here recently. Specifically I learned it from a podcast I listen to called Going Linux (Episode #12) so I have to give the credit to the narrator Larry Bushey. I highly recommend his podcast especially for new users. Having said that, lets get into this thing.In Windows we used exe and msi files to install software. There was a certain comfort there when we simply double-clicked a downloaded file to begin an install. Well--Linux has the same thing believe it or not. The two most common are .rpm and .deb. There is a catch though. Certain versions of Linux can only use certain package files natively. Rpm is generally linked to RedHat and its spin-offs (Fedora, CentOS ....). The deb packages are generally linked to Debian (go figure it makes sense lol), and its spin-offs (Ubuntu, Knoppix ...). With these packages in the correct Linux version, the installation of software is a breeze.
What if you want to install a kick but app that is in the wrong package for the Linux OS you are in?? In my case I was in Ubuntu, and there was a game that was a rpm. What to do...what to do?? Well thanks to Larry I found out about a program called Alien. Now the cool thing is Alien is probably in your Synaptic Package manager already. But if not you can get it from the this link. Now I am going to warn you that Alien is command line driven. I know I'm sorry but you have use this tool from the console. Once you have installed it and opened the console (terminal for you Fedora users) you can type:
/usr/bin/alien -d package.rpm
or if you want to go to rpm
/usr/bin/alien --to-rpm package.deb
Once it is complete you can double click on the new package and boom-bam your program will install.
Now I also want to throw in there that Alien can convert to a bunch of other packages like Stampede .slp, and Slackware .tgz file formats. Alien can also handle Solaris' .pkg.
So there you go ... happy hunt-and-pecking!!
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