fnqkristo

Hi all,
I am fairly new to the Linux world although I have installed a few different distros over the years and "dabbled". The latest Suse 11.0 (64 bit) is quite impressive I must say and I have been having a great time setting it all up using Gnome desktop ( I found KDE 4.0 a little unstable).
Problem I have now is with some software I located from sources other than the usual repositories and consequently they are not available as .rpm packages. One of the programs is called "GrabAndBurn" from Rocket software and comes as a .tar.gz file which I have unpacked using FileRoller to reveal a folder titled "rocket-html" and 3 other files (libcdb.so - libcdb.so.1 - RocketGrabAndBurn) the RocketGrabANdBurn file is an executable but I cannot find any extension on it to show exactly what it is. The rocket-html folder is just full of .htm and graphic files etc. I assume I need to run the executable file as root but I have no idea of the command line code I should use. The program is for dvd ripping/burning and looks as though it could be very good if I can actually get it installed and running.
The other program I am having difficulties with is XMule (yes, I already have AMule, but I would like to try XMule as well) and comes in the form of a .package file called "xmule-1.12.2-wx262.x86.package". I need help with installing this one also.
I have read TechieMoe's excellent instructions on how to install various files in Gnu/Linux but it doesn't appear to cover the type of programs I have mentioned.
Any help with these programs or installing unusual file types into Linux generally would be appreciated.
Regards.................Kristo

techieMoe

Linux doesn't use file types to determine whether or not something is executable. In fact, with a few exceptions Linux doesn't really pay attention to file extensions at all.

I'm not familiar with the GrabAndBurn software but it's possible that the program was pre-compiled and all you have to do is run it. To run an executable file from the command line, simply navigate to its directory and type:

Obviously, replace "nameofyourexecutable" with the actual file name.

I would advise against using software that wasn't downloaded from a reputable repository. Ubuntu has very large repositories and I'm sure there's an officially-supported DVD ripper in there somewhere. It will be much easier to install/uninstall if you get it through Synaptic or Add/Remove Programs as well.

.package files are a format used by an alternative package manager called AutoPackage:

Autopackage : Easy Linux Software Installation

It's not very popular in comparison to RPM and DEB, particularly due to the fact that it doesn't come standard on most distributions of Linux. If you can't find a DEB package for XMule, you can learn more about AutoPackage at the site above.

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