rpm installation error in fedora

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I have the newest version of fedora downloaded, installed and working just fine but I am having trouble installing rpm packages. I use the rpmbuild command and get the following error:

error: source package expected, binary found

Can anyone help me with this?
Thank you very much.

[starfish]

Generally there are 2 types of RPMs, "regular" ones and "source" RPMs. Source RPMs actually contain the original source code for the package you are installing. The "rpmbuild" command first compiles the source files and then installs the resulting executable files in the correct directories. Most source RPMs have ".src." in the filename and can only be installed using the "rpmbuild" command. See the example below.

Sample source RPM filename = tac_plus-4.0.3-2.src.rpm

Regular RPM files can only be installed with the "rpm" command. Regular RPMs don't have the ".src." in their filenames and contain pre-compiled executable files. The rpm command just installes them in the correct directories.

Sample regular RPM filename = tac_plus-4.0.3-2.i386.rpm


You are most likely getting the error because you are attempting to install a regular RPM with the "rpmbuild" command instead of the "rpm" command.

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Ok thanks I'll try rpm command and tell ya what happens

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Ok I used the rpm command and go the following (sorry its so large):

[root@x1-6-00-04-5a-84-21-42 root]# rpm fprot.rpm
RPM version 4.3.1
Copyright (C) 1998-2002 - Red Hat, Inc.
This program may be freely redistributed under the terms of the GNU GPL

Usage: rpm [-aKfgpqV] [-aKfgpqVcdils] [-aKfgpqVcdilsaKfgpqV] [-aKfgpqVcdilsaKfgpqV] [-aKfgpqVcdilsaKfgpqVK] [-aKfgpqVcdilsaKfgpqVK] [-aKfgpqVcdilsaKfgpqVKi] [-aKfgpqVcdilsaKfgpqVKiv] [-aKfgpqVcdilsaKfgpqVKiv] [-aKfgpqVcdilsaKfgpqVKiv?] [-a|--all] [-f|--file] [-g|--group]
[-p|--package] [--specfile] [--whatrequires] [--whatprovides]
[-c|--configfiles] [-d|--docfiles] [--dump] [-l|--list]
[--queryformat=QUERYFORMAT] [-s|--state] [--nomd5] [--nofiles]
...this went on for several more lines
No clue what I could be doing wrong. Oh and Iam Ilogged in as root.
Any help would be really appreciated, thank you.

[starfish]

Try

# rpm -Uvh fprot.rpm

or

# rpm -ivh fprot.rpm

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Ok looks like -Uvh worked I go tthe following:
[root@x1-6-00-04-5a-84-21-42 root]# rpm -Uvh fprot.rpm
Preparing... ########################################### [100%]
package fp-linux-ws-4.4.2-1 is installed

Now what? I cant find anywhere...any suggestions? thanks

[starfish]

I'm not familiar with that package.

Read the configuration documentation on the site from which you downloaded it.

The "man" pages that came with it may give you a clue on how to configure it.

# man fprot

or

# man fp

may give you a better idea of what to do.


You also can use the "rpm -ql" command to get an idea of the files that came with the original rpm file.

# rpm -ql fp-linux-ws

That may help a little too.

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Ok thanks a bunch starfish i appreciate all your help I really do, I'm anaxious to get away from M$ products for good. So, thanks.

[paleogryph]

I have had intermittent problems with the rpm command in both Redhat and Fedora. It seems like sometimes it works and sometimes not. The problem is probably the packages and not the command though.

However, after starting to use Yum a while back, it appears to work flawlessly. I highly recommend this program to query, install, remove or upgrade packages, and it comes with Fedora.