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MAN PAGE: alien(1L)Contents
alien - Convert or install an alien binary package
alien [--to-deb] [--patch=file] [options] file [...]
alien --to-rpm [options] file [...]
alien --to-tgz [options] file [...]
alien --to-slp [options] file [...]
To build Debian packages, alien is simply called with a
parameter giving the name of the alien package to be con
verted. A look up will then be done in
/var/lib/alien/packagename*.diff.gz and then in
/usr/lib/alien/patches/packagename*.diff.gz . If such a
diff exists then the alien package is unpacked and the
patch is applied to debianize the package. If there is no
such diff then alien will attempt to automatically debian
ize the package. After this, alien will build the debian
binary package, and it will be saved to the current direc
tory.
To build Red Hat packages, alien must be called with the
--to-rpm parameter, and the name of the alien package to
be converted. Alien will then generate a spec file, and
call rpm to build the package.
This tool probably needs to be run as superuser. Make sure
that there is enough room in the current directory since
alien will build the package in that location.
Alien can input and output packages in the Red Hat .rpm
format, the Debian .deb format, the Stampede .slp format,
the Slackware .tgz format and the generic .tar.gz format.
For converting from and to .rpm format the Red Hat Package
Manager must be installed (See rpm (8) ).
For converting to (but not from) .deb format, the gcc,
make, debmake, dpkg-dev, and dpkg packages must be
installed.
Note that for the .tar.gz format, alien will simply gener
ate a .deb or .rpm package that has the same files in it
as are in the tar file. This only works well if the tar
file has precompiled binaries in it in a standard linux
directory tree. Do NOT run alien on tar files with source
code in them, unless you want this source code to be
installed in your root directory when you install the
package!
file [...]
The list of files to convert.
-d, --to-deb
The output package will be a debian package. This
is the default.
-r, --to-rpm
The output package will be a rpm package.
-t, --to-tgz
The output will be a slackware tgz package.
--to-slp
The output will be a stampede slp package.
-i, --install
Automatically install the output package, and
remove the package file after it has been
installed.
-g, --generate
Generate a temporary directory suitable for build
ing a package from, but do not actually create the
package. This is useful if you want to move files
around in the package before building it. The pack
age can be built from this temporary directory by
running "debian/rules binary", if you were creating
a Debian package, or by running "rpm -bb <package
name>.spec" if you were creating a Red Hat package.
-s, --single
Like -g, but do not generate the packagename.orig
directory. This is only useful when you are very
low on disk space and are generating a debian pack
age.
--patch=patch
Specify the patch to be used instead of automati
cally looking the patch up in /var/lib/alien/ .
This is only allowed with --to-deb.
--nopatch
Do not use any patch files.
--description=desc
Specifiy a description for the package. This can
only be used when converting from slackware tgz
packages, which lack descriptions. If it is not
used when converting from slackware tgz packages, a
generic description is used.
-c, --scripts
Try to convert the scripts that are meant to be run
when the package is installed and removed. Use this
with caution, becuase these scripts might be
designed to work on a system unlike your own, and
could cause problems. It is reccommended that you
examine the scripts by hand and check to see what
they do before using this option.
-k, --keep-version
By default, alien adds one to the minor version
number. If this option is given, alien will not do
this.
-h, --help
Display a short usage summary.
Here are some examples of the use of alien:
alien --to-deb package.rpm
Convert the package.rpm into a package.deb
alien --to-rpm package.deb
Convert the package.deb into a package.rpm
alien -i package.rpm
Convert the package.rpm into a package.deb (con
verting to a .deb package is default, so you need
not specify --to-deb), and install the generated
package.
Alien recognizes the following environemnt variables:
RPMBUILDOPT
Options to pass to rpm when it is building a pack
age.
RPMINSTALLOPT
Options to pass to rpm when it is installing a
package.
When running alien on a tar file, all files in /etc in are
assumed to be configuration files.
Alien does not account for differences in configuration
between different linux distributions. So don't use it to
replace something essential like sysvinit. You could
destroy your system by doing so. In general, if you can't
uninstall the package without breaking your system, don't
try to replace it with an alien version.
If alien is not run as root, the files in the generated
package will have incorrect owners and permissions. Alien was written by Christoph Lameter.
<clameter@debian.org>
Deb to rpm conversion code was taken from the Martian pro
gram by Randolph Chung.
<rc42@cornell.edu>
Alien has been extensively rewritten and is now maintained
by Joey Hess.
<joeyh@debian.org>
DEBIAN Debian Utilities 4 |
