Alien help for newbie.

[Bob Nielsen]

On Fri, Jan 28, 2005 at 02:55:21AM +0100, Brian Durant wrote:
>  --- Bob Nielsen <nielsen at oz.net> skrev: 
> > Sorry, somehow in my mind I merged --dry-run with
> > --no-act.
> > 
> > On Thu, Jan 27, 2005 at 01:46:00PM +0100, Brian
> > Durant wrote:
> > >  --- Bob Nielsen <nielsen at oz.net> skrev: 
> > > > On Thu, Jan 27, 2005 at 09:45:54AM +0100, Brian
> > > > Durant wrote:
> > > > > I would like to install
> > stardict-2.4.4-1.i386.rpm
> > > > and
> > > > > some noarch.rpm dictionary files into my Warty
> > > > 4.10,
> > > > > but I haven't been able to find any
> > documentation
> > > > that
> > > > > I would understand as a newbie. I get the sudo
> > > > alien
> > > > > -i stardict*, but how do I check if an install
> > of
> > > > > stardict-2.4.4-1.i386.rpm will even work
> > before I
> > > > do a
> > > > > real install that would also include the
> > > > noarch.rpm
> > > > > files. Am I just nervous and making this out
> > to be
> > > > a
> > > > > bigger problem than it is? I just don't want
> > to
> > > > break
> > > > > anything in the system.
> > > > 
> > > > It would probably be better to run alien without
> > the
> > > > -i option and
> > > > convert each of them to a .deb package, then run
> > > > dpkg -i to install
> > > > them. You could run 'dpkg --no-run -i
> > > > <filename.deb>' to simulate
> > > > the installation.  
> > > 
> > > OK, I got the .RPMs converted to .deb packages,
> > but
> > > dpkg returned the following:
> > > 
> > > /stardict $ dpkg --no-run -i
> > stardict_2.4.4-2_i386.deb
> > > dpkg: unknown option --no-run
> > > 
> > > dpkg help suggests: --no-act|--dry-run|--simulate
> > Just
> > > say what we would do - don't do it 
> > > 
> > > that returned:
> > > 
> > > /stardict $ dpkg --no-act|--dry-run|--simulate
> > > stardict_2.4.4-2_i386.deb
> > > dpkg: need an action option
> > > 
> > > Options marked [*] produce a lot of output - pipe
> > it
> > > through `less' or `more' !
> > > bash: --dry-run: command not found
> > > bash: --simulate: command not found
> > > 
> > > Cheers,
> 
> Sa right. Does the following that was in my last
> posting look as if the package would be installed
> correctly onto my system?
> 
> /stardict $ sudo dpkg --dry-run -i
> stardict_2.4.4-2_i386.deb
> Password:
> Selecting previously deselected package stardict.
> (Reading database ... 72623 files and directories
> currently installed.)
> Unpacking stardict (from stardict_2.4.4-2_i386.deb)
> 

Well it doesn't indicate any errors.  Unless there is something (like a
busted postinstall script) which alien didn't detect, it should install
correctly.