1ALIEN(1) User Contributed Perl Documentation ALIEN(1)
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6 alien - Convert or install an alien binary package
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9 alien [--to-deb] [--to-rpm] [--to-tgz] [--to-slp] [options] file [...]
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12 alien is a program that converts between Red Hat rpm, Debian deb,
13 Stampede slp, Slackware tgz, and Solaris pkg file formats. If you want
14 to use a package from another linux distribution than the one you have
15 installed on your system, you can use alien to convert it to your
16 preferred package format and install it. It also supports LSB packages.
17
19 alien should not be used to replace important system packages, like
20 init, libc, or other things that are essential for the functioning of
21 your system. Many of these packages are set up differently by the
22 different distributions, and packages from the different distributions
23 cannot be used interchangeably. In general, if you can't remove a
24 package without breaking your system, don't try to replace it with an
25 alien version.
26
28 rpm For converting to and from rpm format the Red Hat Package Manager
29 must be installed.
30 lsb Unlike the other package formats, alien can handle the
32 depenendencies of lsb packages if the destination package format
33 supports dependencies. Note that this means that the package
34 generated from a lsb package will depend on a package named "lsb"
35 -- your distribution should provide a package by that name, if it
36 is lsb compliant. The scripts in the lsb package will be converted
37 by default as well.
38 To generate lsb packages, the Red Hat Package Manager must be
40 installed, and alien will use by preference a program named lsb-
41 rpm, if it exists. No guarantees are made that the generated lsb
42 packages will be fully LSB compliant, and it's rather unlikely they
43 will unless you build them in the lsbdev environment.
44 Note that unlike other package formats, converting an LSB package
46 to another format will not cause its minor version number to be
47 changed.
48 deb For converting to (but not from) deb format, the gcc, make,
50 debhelper, dpkg-dev, and dpkg packages must be installed.
51 tgz Note that when converting from the tgz format, alien will simply
53 generate an output package that has the same files in it as are in
54 the tgz file. This only works well if the tgz file has precompiled
55 binaries in it in a standard linux directory tree. Do NOT run alien
56 on tar files with source code in them, unless you want this source
57 code to be installed in your root directory when you install the
58 package!
59 When using alien to convert a tgz package, all files in /etc in are
61 assumed to be configuration files.
62 pkg To manipulate packages in the Solaris pkg format (which is really
64 the SV datastream package format), you will need the Solaris
65 pkginfo and pkgtrans tools.
66
68 alien will convert all the files you pass into it into all the output
69 types you specify. If no output type is specified, it defaults to
70 converting to deb format.
71 file [...]
73 The list of package files to convert.
74 -d, --to-deb
76 Make debian packages. This is the default.
77 -r, --to-rpm
79 Make rpm packages.
80 -t, --to-tgz
82 Make tgz packages.
83 --to-slp
85 Make slp packages.
86 -p, --to-pkg
88 Make Solaris pkg packages.
89 -i, --install
91 Automatically install each generated package, and remove the
92 package file after it has been installed.
93 -g, --generate
95 Generate a temporary directory suitable for building a package
96 from, but do not actually create the package. This is useful if you
97 want to move files around in the package before building it. The
98 package can be built from this temporary directory by running
99 "debian/rules binary", if you were creating a Debian package, or by
100 running "rpmbuild -bb <packagename>.spec" if you were creating a
101 Red Hat package.
102 -s, --single
104 Like -g, but do not generate the packagename.orig directory. This
105 is only useful when you are very low on disk space and are
106 generating a debian package.
107 -c, --scripts
109 Try to convert the scripts that are meant to be run when the
110 package is installed and removed. Use this with caution, because
111 these scripts might be designed to work on a system unlike your
112 own, and could cause problems. It is recommended that you examine
113 the scripts by hand and check to see what they do before using this
114 option.
115 This is enabled by default when converting from lsb packages.
117 --patch=patch
119 Specify the patch to be used instead of automatically looking the
120 patch up in /var/lib/alien. This has no effect unless a debian
121 package is being built.
122 --anypatch
124 Be less strict about which patch file is used, perhaps attempting
125 to use a patch file for an older version of the package. This is
126 not guaranteed to always work; older patches may not necessarily
127 work with newer packages.
128 --nopatch
130 Do not use any patch files.
131 --description=desc
133 Specifiy a description for the package. This only has an effect
134 when converting from the tgz package format, which lacks
135 descriptions.
136 --version=version
138 Specifiy a version for the package. This only has an effect when
139 converting from the tgz package format, which may lack version
140 information.
141 Note that without an argument, this displays the version of alien
143 instead.
144 -T, --test
146 Test the generated packages. Currently this is only supported for
147 debian packages, which, if lintian is installed, will be tested
148 with lintian and lintian's output displayed.
149 -k, --keep-version
151 By default, alien adds one to the minor version number of each
152 package it converts. If this option is given, alien will not do
153 this.
154 --bump=number
156 Instead of incrementing the version number of the converted package
157 by 1, increment it by the given number.
158 --fixperms
160 Sanitize all file owners and permissions when building a deb. This
161 may be useful if the original package is a mess. On the other hand,
162 it may break some things to mess with their permissions and owners
163 to the degree this does, so it defaults to off. This can only be
164 used when converting to debian packages.
165 --target=architecture
167 Force the architecture of the generated package to the given
168 string.
169 -v, --verbose
171 Be verbose: Display each command alien runs in the process of
172 converting a package.
173 --veryverbose
175 Be verbose as with --verbose, but also display the output of each
176 command run. Some commands may generate a lot of output.
177 -h, --help
179 Display a short usage summary.
180 -V, --version
182 Display the version of alien.
183
185 Here are some examples of the use of alien:
186 alien --to-deb package.rpm
188 Convert the package.rpm into a package.deb
189 alien --to-rpm package.deb
191 Convert the package.deb into a package.rpm
192 alien -i package.rpm
194 Convert the package.rpm into a package.deb (converting to a .deb
195 package is default, so you need not specify --to-deb), and install
196 the generated package.
197 alien --to-deb --to-rpm --to-tgz --to-slp foo.deb bar.rpm baz.tgz
199 Creates 9 new packages. When it is done, foo bar and baz are
200 available in all 4 package formats.
201
203 alien recognizes the following environment variables:
204 RPMBUILDOPT
206 Options to pass to rpm when it is building a package.
207 RPMINSTALLOPT
209 Options to pass to rpm when it is installing a package.
210 EMAIL
212 If set, alien assumes this is your email address. Email addresses
213 are included in generated debian packages.
214
216 alien was written by Christoph Lameter, <clameter@debian.org>.
217 deb to rpm conversion code was taken from the martian program by
219 Randolph Chung, <tausq@debian.org>.
220 The Solaris pkg code was written by Mark A. Hershberger
222 <mah@everybody.org>.
223 alien has been extensively rewritten (3 times) and is now maintained by
225 Joey Hess, <joeyh@debian.org>.
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228 alien may be copied and modified under the terms of the GNU General
229 Public License.
230perl v5.38.0 2023-07-19 ALIEN(1)