RPM is reading database incorrectly

[Matthew Saltzman]

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004, Polashek, Matthew wrote:

> Excellent!  Thanks!  So the reason that the entire name of the RPM packaged
> file is not contained in the RPM database is that the packaging information
> is unimportant right?

Right, there is no connection between the file name and the package name.
The RPM database gets its information about the name of the package from a
header inside the file.  You could rename the file
xmms-alsa-1.2.8-3.2.fr.i386.rpm to foobar.bazz and then "rpm -i
foobar.bazz".  The result would still be that the xmms-alsa RPM is
installed.

> > ----------
> > From: 	Matthew Saltzman
> >
> > On Tue, 23 Mar 2004, Polashek, Matthew wrote:
> >
> > > Anyone know why this happens?
> > >
> > > [root at localhost RPMs]# rpm -e xmms-alsa-1.2.8-3.2.fr.i386.rpm
> > > error: package xmms-alsa-1.2.8-3.2.fr.i386.rpm is not installed
> > > [root at localhost RPMs]# rpm -i xmms-alsa-1.2.8-3.2.fr.i386.rpm
> > > warning: xmms-alsa-1.2.8-3.2.fr.i386.rpm: V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key
> > > ID e42d547b
> > >         package xmms-alsa-1.2.8-3.2.fr is already installed
> > > [root at localhost RPMs]#
> > >
> > > When I run rpm -q xmms-alsa, the output indicates that xmms-alsa-1.2.8
> > is
> > > installed.  Why does this happen and how do I fix it?  I can't seem to
> > find
> > > this particular problem anywhere in the ether.
> >
> > The answer is contained in the question.
> >
> > "rpm -q xmms-alsa" finds the RPM in the database, but
> > "rpm -e xmms-alsa-1.2.8-3.2.fr.i386.rpm" does not.  Do you see the
> > difference?
> >
> > Hint: What happens if you try "rpm -e xmms-alsa"?
> >
> > Now, "rpm -i xmms-alsa-1.2.8-3.2.fr.i386.rpm" needs the name of the RPM
> > *file* because the RPM isn't in the database before you install it, but
> > "rpm -q xmms-alsa"  and "rpm -e xmms-alsa" need the name of the RPM
> > itself, because they are looking in the database for RPMs that are already
> > there.


-- 
		Matthew Saltzman

Clemson University Math Sciences
mjs AT clemson DOT edu
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs