dkphoto wrote: > > >You can find out how robust (and picky) debs are by packaging > >something. A couple weeks and a couple hundred pages of > >developer docs later, you'll appreciate what goes into a deb. > >The alien command will convert between rpms and debs and > >you can compare the results. > > Would someone mind explaining to me just what a "deb" is? > > TIA > > David Kachel
A "deb" is a Debian package file (filename ends in ".deb"). It contains the program(s) you're installing, along with instructions to dpkg about how to install it and where to install it and how to configure it and what questions to ask of the sys admin, etc. An "RPM" is a Redhat package file (filename ends in ".rpm"). It does more-or-less the same for Redhat that a deb does for Debian, but not as cleanly/well-implemented.