ALIEN(1p)						User Contributed Perl Documentation						 ALIEN(1p)

NAME

       alien - Convert or install an alien binary package

SYNOPSIS

	alien [--to-deb] [--to-rpm] [--to-tgz] [--to-slp] [options] file [...]

DESCRIPTION

       alien is a program that converts between Red Hat rpm, Debian deb, Stampede slp, Slackware tgz, and Solaris pkg file formats. If you want to
       use a package from another linux distribution than the one you have installed on your system, you can use alien to convert it to your
       preferred package format and install it. It also supports LSB packages.

WARNING

       alien should not be used to replace important system packages, like init, 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 remove a package without breaking your system, don't try to replace it with an
       alien version.

PACKAGE FORMAT NOTES

       rpm For converting to and from rpm format the Red Hat Package Manager must be installed.

       lsb Unlike the other package formats, alien can handle the depenendencies of lsb packages if the destination package format supports
	   dependencies. Note that this means that the package generated from a lsb package will depend on a package named "lsb" -- your
	   distribution should provide a package by that name, if it is lsb compliant. The scripts in the lsb package will be converted by default
	   as well.

	   To generate lsb packages, the Red Hat Package Manager must be installed, and alien will use by preference a program named lsb-rpm, if
	   it exists.  No guarantees are made that the generated lsb packages will be fully LSB compliant, and it's rather unlikely they will
	   unless you build them in the lsbdev environment.

	   Note that unlike other package formats, converting an LSB package to another format will not cause its minor version number to be
	   changed.

       deb For converting to (but not from) deb format, the gcc, make, debhelper, dpkg-dev, and dpkg packages must be installed.

       tgz Note that when converting from the tgz format, alien will simply generate an output package that has the same files in it as are in the
	   tgz file. This only works well if the tgz file has precompiled binaries in it in a standard linux directory tree. Do NOT run alien on
	   tar files with source code in them, unless you want this source code to be installed in your root directory when you install the
	   package!

	   When using alien to convert a tgz package, all files in /etc in are assumed to be configuration files.

       pkg To manipulate packages in the Solaris pkg format (which is really the SV datastream package format), you will need the Solaris pkginfo
	   and pkgtrans tools.

OPTIONS

       alien will convert all the files you pass into it into all the output types you specify. If no output type is specified, it defaults to
       converting to deb format.

       file [...]
	   The list of package files to convert.

       -d, --to-deb
	   Make debian packages. This is the default.

       -r, --to-rpm
	   Make rpm packages.

       -t, --to-tgz
	   Make tgz packages.

       --to-slp
	   Make slp packages.

       -p, --to-pkg
	   Make Solaris pkg packages.

       -i, --install
	   Automatically install each generated package, and remove the package file after it has been installed.

       -g, --generate
	   Generate a temporary directory suitable for building a package from, but do not actually create the package. This is useful if you want
	   to move files around in the package before building it. The package can be built from this temporary directory by running "debian/rules
	   binary", if you were creating a Debian package, or by running "rpmbuild -bb <packagename>.spec" if you were creating a Red Hat package.

       -s, --single
	   Like -g, but do not generate the packagename.orig directory. This is only useful when you are very low on disk space and are generating
	   a debian package.

       -c, --scripts
	   Try to convert the scripts that are meant to be run when the package is installed and removed. Use this with caution, because these
	   scripts might be designed to work on a system unlike your own, and could cause problems. It is recommended that you examine the scripts
	   by hand and check to see what they do before using this option.

	   This is enabled by default when converting from lsb packages.

       --patch=patch
	   Specify the patch to be used instead of automatically looking the patch up in /var/lib/alien. This has no effect unless a debian
	   package is being built.

       --anypatch
	   Be less strict about which patch file is used, perhaps attempting to use a patch file for an older verson of the package. This is not
	   guaranteed to always work; older patches may not necessarily work with newer packages.

       --nopatch
	   Do not use any patch files.

       --description=desc
	   Specifiy a description for the package. This only has an effect when converting from the tgz package format, which lacks descriptions.

       --version=version
	   Specifiy a version for the package. This only has an effect when converting from the tgz package format, which may lack version
	   information.

	   Note that without an argument, this displays the version of alien instead.

       -T, --test
	   Test the generated packages. Currently this is only supported for debian packages, which, if lintian is installed, will be tested with
	   lintian and lintian's output displayed.

       -k, --keep-version
	   By default, alien adds one to the minor version number of each package it converts. If this option is given, alien will not do this.

       --bump=number
	   Instead of incrementing the version number of the converted package by 1, increment it by the given number.

       --fixperms
	   Sanitize all file owners and permissions when building a deb. This may be useful if the original package is a mess. On the other hand,
	   it may break some things to mess with their permissions and owners to the degree this does, so it defaults to off. This can only be
	   used when converting to debian packages.

       -v, --verbose
	   Be verbose: Display each command alien runs in the process of converting a package.

       --veryverbose
	   Be verbose as with --verbose, but also display the output of each command run. Some commands may generate a lot of output.

       -h, --help
	   Display a short usage summary.

       -V, --version
	   Display the version of alien.

EXAMPLES

       Here are some examples of the use of alien:

       alien --to-deb package.rpm
	   Convert the package.rpm into a package.deb

       alien --to-rpm package.deb
	   Convert the package.deb into a package.rpm

       alien -i package.rpm
	   Convert the package.rpm into a package.deb (converting to a .deb package is default, so you need not specify --to-deb), and install the
	   generated package.

       alien --to-deb --to-rpm --to-tgz --to-slp foo.deb bar.rpm baz.tgz
	   Creates 9 new packages. When it is done, foo bar and baz are available in all 4 package formats.

ENVIRONMENT

       alien recognizes the following environment variables:

       RPMBUILDOPTS
	   Options to pass to rpm when it is building a package.

       RPMINSTALLOPT
	   Options to pass to rpm when it is installing a package.

       EMAIL
	   If set, alien assumes this is your email address. Email addresses are included in generated debian packages.

AUTHOR

       alien was written by Christoph Lameter, <clameter@debian.org>.

       deb to rpm conversion code was taken from the martian program by Randolph Chung, <tausq@debian.org>.

       The Solaris pkg code was written by Mark A. Hershberger <mah@everybody.org>.

       alien has been extensively rewritten (3 times) and is now maintained by Joey Hess, <joeyh@debian.org>.

COPYRIGHT

       alien may be copied and modified under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

perl v5.12.3							    2011-06-20								 ALIEN(1p)