Easy way to install rpm packages?

[hiro]

I have been using Kubuntu for a while now and quite like using synaptic to install packages. However i wanted to try the AVG free antivirus for Linux so i downloaded the rpm from the AVG website and tried to install it and got the following failed dependencies:
pygtk2 >= 2.0.0 is needed by avg71flr-r30-a0791.i386
pygtk2-libglade >= 2.0.0 is needed by avg71flr-r30-a0791.i386
python >= 2.2.2 is needed by avg71flr-r30-a0791.i386
/bin/sh is needed by avg71flr-r30-a0791.i386
None of these appeared in synaptic,even though i have all the repositories that are usually advised listed. I searched for these files on the net and found a rpm for pygtk2-libglade but that had he following dependencies:

libatk-1.0.so.0 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libc.so.6 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.1.3) is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.2) is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libdl.so.2 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libglade-2.0.so.0 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libglib-2.0.so.0 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libgmodule-2.0.so.0 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libgobject-2.0.so.0 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libm.so.6 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libpango-1.0.so.0 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libpangox-1.0.so.0 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libpangoxft-1.0.so.0 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libpthread.so.0 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libxml2.so.2 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
libz.so.1 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
pygtk2 = 2.4.0 is needed by pygtk2-libglade-2.4.0-1.i386
Again very few of these seem to appear in synaptic.
The question is then, is there an easy way to do this? Do i need more repostiories? I have been advised against having too many. Is there a way to search whether or not a repository holds the files you want without putting it in your repositories list?
Could someone also explain what the dependency for /bin/sh means please as i'm not sure this is a file to install.
Many thanks Hiro.

[hiro]

Re: Easy way to install rpm packages?

Finally managed to get AVG installed by following these instructions:
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/install-av...u-desktop.html
This tells you how to convert to a .deb package using alien, then, when installed using dpkg there are no dependency errors. Can anyone explain this? Does dpkg automatically handle dependencies, the installation was too quick for it to have gone online and downloaded any extra files.
I may have got the answer but would still like to know how it did it.

[Rog131]

Re: Easy way to install rpm packages?

Hmm - apt-cache show rpm tells:

Description: Red Hat package manager
If you want to install Red Hat Packages then please use the alien
package. Using rpm directly will bypass the Debian packaging system!

Info
Software distributions based on Debian
http://www.debian.org/misc/children-distros

Ubuntu

Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntulinux.org/) is a Linux distribution that starts with the breadth of Debian and adds regular releases (every six months), a clear focus on the user and usability...

dpkg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dpkg

dpkg is the base of the Debian package management system. It was created by Ian Jackson in 1993. dpkg is similar to RPM, as it is used to install, remove, and provide information about .deb packages...

RPM Package Manager
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPM_Package_Manager

RPM Package Manager (originally Red Hat Package Manager, abbreviated RPM) is a package management system. The name RPM refers to two things: a software package file format, and a free software tool which installs, updates, uninstalls, verifies and queries software packaged in this format....

Note
There is also gui (kommander script) for alien.
http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=35802