control.tar.gz – What’s inside?

Lets take a look at the contents of control.tar.gz file.In case you are wondering what that is,plz take some time out to see what we are really talking!

In order to access the files inside the .deb file,fire nautilus and open them using archive manager(present in almost all linux editions)

control.tar.gz contains the following files

* control

*md5sums

*postinst

*postrm

*prerm

The most interesting file is control.

the contents are as follows:

i have opened the control file for epiphany browser’s deb package.control essentially gives all the .deb package including architecture and RELATED dependencies.So go through them carefully!

Package: epiphany-erowser
Version: 2.14.3-8
Section: gnome
Priority: optional
Architecture: i386
Depends: libart-2.0-2 (>= 2.3.16), libatk1.0-0 (>= 1.12.2), libaudiofile0 (>= 0.2.3-4), libavahi-client3 (>= 0.6.13), libavahi-common3 (>= 0.6.10), libavahi-glib1 (>= 0.6.12), libbonobo2-0 (>= 2.13.0), libbonoboui2-0 (>= 2.5.4), libc6 (>= 2.3.6-6), libcairo2 (>= 1.2.4), libdbus-1-3 (>= 0.94), libdbus-glib-1-2 (>= 0.71), libesd0 (>= 0.2.35) | libesd-alsa0 (>= 0.2.35), libfontconfig1 (>= 2.4.0), libfreetype6 (>= 2.2), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1-12), libgconf2-4 (>= 2.13.5), libgcrypt11 (>= 1.2.2), libglade2-0 (>= 1:2.5.1), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.12.0), libgnome-desktop-2 (>= 2.11.1), libgnome-keyring0 (>= 0.6.0), libgnome2-0 (>= 2.14.1), libgnomecanvas2-0 (>= 2.11.1), libgnomeprint2.2-0 (>= 2.12.1), libgnomeprintui2.2-0 (>= 2.12.1), libgnomeui-0 (>= 2.13.0), libgnomevfs2-0 (>= 2.13.92), libgnutls13 (>= 1.4.0-0), libgpg-error0 (>= 1.4), libgtk2.0-0 (>= 2.8.0), libice6 (>= 1:1.0.0), libjpeg62, libmozjs0d (>= 1.8.0.13~pre070720), libnspr4-0d (>= 1.8.0.10), liborbit2 (>= 1:2.14.1), libpango1.0-0 (>= 1.14.8), libpng12-0 (>= 1.2.13-4), libpopt0 (>= 1.10), libsm6, libstartup-notification0 (>= 0.8-1), libstdc++6 (>= 4.1.1-12), libtasn1-3 (>= 0.3.4), libx11-6, libxcursor1 (>> 1.1.2), libxext6, libxfixes3 (>= 1:4.0.1), libxi6, libxinerama1, libxml2 (>= 2.6.27), libxrandr2, libxrender1, libxslt1.1 (>= 1.1.18), libxul0d, python2.4 (>= 2.3.90), zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.1), gnome-icon-theme (>= 2.9.90), dbus, iso-codes, xulrunner-gnome-support, gconf2 (>= 2.12.1-1)
Recommends: yelp, epiphany-extensions
Suggests: mozplugger
Conflicts: epiphany-extensions (<< 2.14)
Provides: www-browser, gnome-www-browser
Installed-Size: 9996
Maintainer: Jordi Mallach <jordi@debian.org>
Description: Intuitive GNOME web browser
A simple yet powerful GNOME web browser targeted at
non-technical users. Its principles are simplicity and standards
compliance. Simplicity is achieved by a well designed user interface and
reliance on external applications for performing external tasks (such as
reading email). Simplicity should not mean less powerful.  Standards
compliance is achieved on the HTML side by using the Gecko
rendering engine, as developed for the Mozilla and Firefox browsers; and
on the user interface side by closely following the GNOME Human Interface
Guidelines (HIG) and by close integration with the GNOME desktop.

I’ll continue with the other files in the upcoming posts…

How to view contents of a .deb file

.deb packages can be installed by using dpkg -i .The dpkg installs(in windows terms)the necessary software on your system.But how do you view the contents of a .deb package.If it had been a package comprising of say installation and configuration files,you can always unzip them into a particular folder.What is present inside a .deb package? to find out,do a simple ar tv and you’ll get three files.

1.debian-binary(which contains the version number)

2.control.tar.gz

3.data.tar.gz

I’ll post about the contents of the other two files later…

The Smooth Criminal…No more..

The King of Pop

The ‘Bad’ Boy who was a “Thriller” on stage with his breathtaking music and scintillating movements is no more..”Dangerous”  might not be on everybody’s lips , but Michael Jackson was a man who literally changed POP music.With his patented style(“the gravity lean”) and his trademark moon walk , he was the biggest entertainer of the 80’s and early 90’s.He died last night due to a cardiac arrest.R.I.P THE KING OF POP.

Installing a .tar.gz file

Many of you ,(those who are new to linux) must be wondering how on earth to get the softwares installed?Believe me,even I thought the same.I was actually struggling with my VLC package for Linux.I started off with Open Suse XI with absolutely no prior knowledge and almost screwed up my system.So this tutorial should be able to get you running with respect to installation of .tar.gz files..

What is a .tar.gz file?

.tar.gz file is a format registered under GNU.

.tar represents uncompressed version of packaging,which was used in the earlier days.After applying some compression techniques such as Gzip ,etc. it led to a new format ,which was compressed form of tar and hence the name .tar.gz

Why should I bother about .tar.gz file?

Good Question.But majority of the softwares available in linux,are present in either .rpm format or .tar.gz or .deb . So more or less , you’ll come across this term in the linux circles.

How do I identify a .tar.gz file?

Simple,the file is followed by a .tar.gz extenstion

Eg: dpkg_1.13.25.tar.gz

general form : <filename>.tar.gz

F*** the stories now,take me to the important place!

Alright,chill! So here we go.!

Go to the directory where you have downloaded the .tar.gz file.Suppose it was downloaded to /home/xyz

CODE:

cd xyz

Now extracting the .tar.gz file…Remember this is only the second step,you have just extracted the setup files,you still have to install them!!!

For extracting use the following,

say file name was extractme.tar.gz

CODE:

tar -zxvf extractme.tar.gz

Once you hit this code on your terminal,you’ll get a folder of the same name at /home/xyz,indicating that the file has been extracted.

Now open the folder.

cd extractme

followed by,

ls extractme

Generally, the final 3 stages are as follows:
- Configure the installation
- Compile the software

- Install the binaries

You’ll find two – three key files which are to be used.

1.README , open the same to get instructions on how to install the package.

2.INSTALL

3.CONFIGURE

Last few steps…

code :

./configure

make install

And thats’ it! You have installed your .tar.gz successfully!!