Installing a rpm vs. tar.gz

[Zlac]

I'm having a problem installing a rpm file using the built in rpm installer under mandrake 9.1. I click on the icon and it says there is a signature error but I can gohead with the install anyway, so I choose to. It installs but where does it go? How can I find where it installed to. I did a search and comes up blank. Now I have a tar.gz file also for the same program (Vmware 4.0) both of which the company says are supported. In general which should I use? I'm finding that most on the rpm files I try to install using the built-in version do the same thing. If the signature error comes up does this mean that this won't install regardless? If so why would the company claim it is supported.

What is the location of the directory of C header files that match my running
kernel?

[Hayl]

the X (GUI) tool for RPM that comes with Red Hat has an option to show every file that each RPM installs. i haven't run Red Hat for ages so i can't remember what it is called.

PS: it sounds like that RPM is a bad/corrupted download.

[dysharmonic]

I guess that GUI should be Gnorpm or GnoRPM. But have rarely used it.

An rpm command from the command line should equally match that GUI counterpart.

[DMR]

Originally posted by Zlac
I click on the icon and it says there is a signature error but I can gohead with the install anyway, so I choose to. Hayl might be right about the possibility of corruption; the signature error might be indicating such, but I'm not positive.

Originally posted by Zlac
It installs but where does it go? How can I find where it installed to. It probably got installed into /usr or a subdirectory therein. To find the program, try the following two commands:

updatedb
locate VMWare

The first command updates the database of installed programs; it might take a few seconds to complete. Once it does, your command promt will reappear and you can then run the locate command. Linux is case-sensitive, so there's a difference between, say, "VMWare" and "vmware". The locate command will print out the location of all files containing the string "VMWare".


Originally posted by Zlac
What is the location of the directory of C header files that match my running kernel? In subdirectories of /usr/src/your_kernel_version/include.

[motub]

The signature error you're getting is simply because you haven't installed the GPG keys that authenticate software from whatever source you are using.

Most RPM repositories are on servers secure enough that the software isn't going to get hacked and then put back for unsuspecting users to install, so try not to worry too much about the errors. This is an additional layer of security.

Every package is digitally signed by its maintainer, and the public part of the encryption key needed to read that signature is either linked on the site of a private repository, or is actually in the root or near the root of the ftp repository itself.

They are usually called something like GPG-KEY, or maintainer_namekey.asc.

Find them by navigating the upper levels of your source repository using your browser.

In other words, if your source is listed in the Software Sources Manager as ftp://knight.zarb.org/pub/plf/9.1, open that in your browser and click the "Parent Directory" link. On this particular site (the PLF repository), you will then be at the level which has the plf.asc file, which is the plf public key.

Right click on it to download, then open a terminal, su to root, navigate to the directory containing the key(s) and type gpg --import plf.asc. Or, if you don't want to navigate from your current directory, you can also type gpg --import /path/to/plf.asc.

This will install the key, and you won't get any more signature errors from any files you download from the PLF repository unless there really is something wrong with the file.

If the repository is a Mandrake mirror, the single set of Mandrake keys will work for all of them (main, contrib, etc), no matter where the servers are located. I found the Mandrake keys in the /i586 folder of a Mandrake mirror. Texstar keeps his in a directory called gpgkey in the /Mandrake folder of his repository.

Download and install keys for any source you commonly use. Even packages that you download from the creator's site may have gpg keys available for download if they offer RPMs.

And save your keys to a secure backup, so if you ever have to reinstall you won't have to go searching them out again.

It's kind of a PITA, but it's nice to be rid of those warning dialogs.

Hope this helps.

[mdwatts]

There is also a GPG key you can download from http://freshrpms.net/packages/