[ale] appology

[Dow Hurst]

It is okay to rant and rave about problems in my opinion.  The file 
you've gotten for your plugin may have a problem.  Try "gunzip -c 
yourfile > yourunzippedfile" to see if that works.  You can try "file 
yourfile" to get info about what the file is.  Should tell you it is a 
zipped file and not tell you it is garbage.  I have used "gunzip -c 
myfile | tar xvf - " to unzip a tarred gzipped file.  By the way, tar is 
"tape archive format" and gzip is a compression program.  The windows 
equivalent is zip and can be manipulated using the Linux zip  and unzip 
programs.

Your Xine problem should be fixable once you get a file you can gunzip 
and untar.  You might have to redownload it.  Your right about the 
/usr/local in that the locations of files from one rpm to the next might 
be different.  SRPMs are magic though since much of that can be 
specified when you build it to an RPM for your system.  Because Linux 
comes from the "server" background, there is a lot of work to initially 
set a program up right, however, once done it is done forever.  As a 
user you don't have permissions to change the program, only use it, so 
programs aren't screwed up by casual use.  I personally like the newest 
distros that are stable and working well since alot of that is taken 
care of.  Unfortunately, we have the big media moguls breathing down the 
necks of people and trying to lock up DVD technology legally for their 
own profit.  Many companies aren't sure of what will happen so won't 
commit to shipping a truly completely functional DVD suite of programs. 
 We lose unless we put in the work to read up on the source, man pages, 
and guides on the web to installing, compiling, and using our peers 
solutions to the problems.

I think on the Windows usage issue, I have found that the people who 
stick with Windows because they wish to "get work done" usually have to 
do the same point and click operations over and over.  It is amazing how 
much hands on work you have to do with Windows repetitively and that you 
can't break free of that fact.  Some commercial utilities help but then 
your spending money again.  Once you get over the hump and into the open 
source world, you will find everyday a way to cut short those same 
repetitive tasks relating to point and click only operations.  It is 
incredible how much "work waste" as I call it in the Windows world 
weighs down users.

What you should probably do at this point is download the SRPMs for 
every part of Xine you want to use.  Read the man page on rpm about 
building an srpm (really isn't bad, something like rpm -b, but better 
check).  Build and install everything yourself.  You'll know where it is 
and what you have.  Now, if the RPM you got was specifically for RedHat 
7.3 then just install it and don't worry about where the files go.  But 
read any docs that come with the rpm after you untar and gunzip it.
Dow

PS.  Been a long day working here on a grant renewal that won't go away. 
 Only about 10 posts to ALE to give me breaks.  All the ALE'rs are out 
having fun...
  

ChangingLINKS.com wrote:

>Sorry for the rant. I am having a very baaaaad week. And, then everything that 
>I ever didn't like about converting Linux hit me today. I appologize for 
>being unprofessional and posting the rant. 
>  
>


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