[tehon3299]

What exactly are Linux Red Hat RPM's?? I am installing Red Hat 9 and what should I know about these RPM's? What do they do and what is the need for them?

[Akito]

RPM's are like windows installers. I belive RPM stands for Redhat Package Manager. Anyways, that's basically what they are - I can't give you a whole lot more info as I'm a newbie myself

[lynch]

RPMs are the software packages that are used on Redhat systems,though a good number of other distributions use RPMs,too.(Mandrake and SuSE being the most notable).
The utility for installing,uninstalling,upgrading and even creating RPMs is called rpm .
Here's a little command help for rpm:

• to install an RPM: rpm ivh filename-version.rpm
• to uninstall: rpm -e nameofrpm (this should work if the program is in the default path)
• to upgrade: rpm -Uvh filename-version.rpm(hint:this will work for installing too but removes the older version before installing)
• if you're not sure if there is an earlier version of an RPM installed you can use the freshen option.This will upgrade only if the earlier version is installed.rpm -F filename-version.rpm

Be sure your in the directory where the RPM is that you're working with.Save you from typing the full path.
Most distributions have a graphical package management system:
In Mandrake it's in the Mandrake Control Center
In SuSE it's in YaST2
In Redhat it's called Add/Remove Packages (or type:redhat -config -packages at a console.
Also read the man page for rpm.
HTH
lynch