[PLUG] APT-RPM

[Eric Harrison]

On 1 Dec 2002, Jim Webb wrote:

>Eric,
>
>Do you only use up2date when RH notifies you that there is an errata,
>bug fix, or security fix?  I believe that is the only time that it is of
>value to utilize up2date.  Am I correct in this assumption?
>
>I've noticed that up2date addresses dependency issues well.

I primarily use up2date for errata, but it is also useful for installing
new packages & fixing dependancies.

If I wanted to install zsh, for example, I could run "up2date -i zsh" and
it would install the zsh package plus any missing dependancies.

If I tried to install a third-party rpm and it complained about a missing
dependancy, let's say it wants liblwres.so.1, I could use up2date to 
resolve the dependancy: "up2date --solvedeps liblwres.so.1"

Also note that up2date is just one part of the Red Hat Network. RHN lets
you push updates to multiple servers, document your configurations/changes,
and other such "enterprise-friendly" activities. This is very useful if you
have a big farm of servers to manage.

-Eric