Q0101

Q0101

Question

I'm having a problem with an Exim RPM.

Answer

Normally the thing to do if you have a problem with an RPM package is to contact the person who built the package first, not the person who made the software that's in the package. You can usually find out who made a package using the following command:

rpm --query --package --queryformat '%{PACKAGER}\n' <rpm-package-file>

where rpm-package-file is the actual file, e.g. exim-3.03-2.i386.rpm. Or, if the package is installed on your system:

rpm --query --queryformat '%{PACKAGER}\n' <package-name>

where package-name is the name component of the package, e.g. exim. If the packager is unable or unwilling to help, only then should you contact the actual author or associated mailing list of the software. If you discover through the querying process that you can't tell who the person (or company or group) is who built the package, or that they no longer exist at the given address, then you should reconsider whether you want a package from an unknown source on your system. If you discover through the querying process that you yourself are the person who built the package, then you should either (a) contact the author or associated mailing list, or (b) reconsider whether you ought to be building and distributing RPM packages of software you don't understand. Similar rules of thumb govern other binary package formats, including debs, tarballs, and POSIX packages.

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