> I know that you can use alien to convert rpm files to deb files. Are there > any disadvantages to downloading the rpm files and installing all software > this way for Debian or is it better to download the deb file for the > program.
If you have a choice between a deb file and a rpm, always install the deb file. Debian packages comply with debian policy, have been tuned to mesh with the other software on a debian system, etc. Also, note this warning from the alien documentation: Warning, alien can be dangerous: Despite the high version number, alien is still (and will probably always be) rather experimental software. It's been under development for over a year now, but there are still many bugs and limitations. Alien should not be used to replace important system packages, like sysvinit, libc, or other things that are essential for the functioning of your system. Many of these packages are set up differently by the different distributions, and packages from the different distributions cannot be used interchangeably. In general, if you can't uninstall the package without breaking your system, don't try to replace it with an alien version. -- see shy jo, alien maintainer