Working of .Deb Files , Compare with .exe files in Windows

[Paul Schulz]

Hi Jatin,

I have some 'short' answers for you :-) just in case you wanted specifics

On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 12:57 PM, Jatin Davey <daveyjatin at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all
>
> I am new to ubuntu. When i download any apps on the internet to be
> installed on ubuntu i get to download .deb packages. I know that these
> are the files that have the required application. I want to know the
> following:
>
> 1. What are the contents of any .deb pacakage in general ?

If you have the .deb (eg. package-1.2.3_amd64.deb) then you can get a
list of the files that it contains, and where they will be installed,
with:

  dpkg -c package-1.2.3_amd64.deb

> 2. What happens when it is installed ? (Where are the files installed ,
> Directories)

  - These files are copied to your system
  - Some installation scripts are run for the package
    (pre-install, post-install)
  - An index of the installed files in also saved so that a package can be
    removed cleanly as well.

Be aware, that packages are installed using administration privileges.
This means that (in general) anything can be done to to fix/break your
system at this time... hence why packages are digitally signed.

> 3. Any application under linux is launched using a script which is
> similar to an exe file in windows , based on this i want to know whether
> an application can be installed anywhere and in any directory and it can
> be launched from there without having to set environment variables.

Not if it is deb packaged. It is design to do onto you system in a
particular way.
If you want to put it somewhere else, then you have the following options:

  - Complie the program from source yourself.
  - Rebuild the package yourself

> Any pointers to all this would help.

  Good questions.. just filling in some detail that you may (or may
not) be interested in.

Cheers,
Paul

>
> Thanks
> Jatin
>
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