alien

For system administrators or software developers who work in environments using different Linux distributions, compatibility issues often arise. Software packages designed for one distribution are not always readily usable on another due to differing package management systems and library dependencies. This is especially true for those who primarily use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) but need software packaged for Debian-based distributions. Fortunately, a tool named alien can help to bridge this gap. In this blog, we'll explore how to use alien to convert Debian packages for use on RHEL, and provide instructions for handling these packages across different Linux distributions.

Switching between different Linux distributions can sometimes be like moving between two different worlds, especially when you come across the package format impasse. Debian-based systems use .deb files, and Red Hat-based systems use .rpm files. This can pose a problem when you want to install a software that is only available in a format not native to your distribution. Thankfully, a handy tool named alien can help bridge this gap. In this blog post, we'll explore how to use alien to convert packages between DEB and RPM formats and provide operating instructions for using the converted packages with different package managers like apt, dnf, and zypper.