Member Avatar for Alaa_6

Hey everyone. I need to use apt-get and ipkg in my CentOS. I have tried many tutorials about installing apt-get but non of them worked for me. Also I haven't found anything regarding installing ipkg. Can anyone help?

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On CentOS 6.5 you should use yum/rpm for system packages; apt-get is for Debian-family systems and does not integrate with CentOS repos or dependency metadata. Red Hat’s docs cover the supported workflow in detail at Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6: Using yum.

About .ipk: ipkg is legacy; most .ipk packages today are built for opkg on OpenWrt/embedded targets and are usually compiled for non-x86 architectures and different C libraries. Installing them system-wide on CentOS generally will not work. The package you installed, ipkgbuild, is a build helper, not the package manager, which is why the ipkg command is missing. The error “not in gzip format” often occurs because newer .ipk files contain data.tar.xz, not data.tar.gz.

If you only need to inspect or extract an .ipk:

file package.ipk
ar t package.ipk
ar x package.ipk
tar -tf data.tar.gz    # or: tar -tf data.tar.xz
tar -xOf control.tar.gz control

Check the Architecture field; if it is not x86_64/i386, the binaries will not run on CentOS. The practical path is to find an RPM or source for the same software (often via EPEL, see https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL) and build/install natively. For background on .ipk/opkg, see OpenWrt’s docs at https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/additional-software/opkg.

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Member Avatar for cristian.rudi.9

Unfortunately, the Linux world is full of untryed paths. So is a bunch types of distro's. Amongst them, your CentOS. And the worst is yet to come: there is a little support available for this distro too. Regardind the similarities with other OS's from the family, you will find many problems with that distro. Still unsolved. Maybe in the future... In your place, I'd try some other distro. I tryed since now, severals... Mint was great (but some audio problems make me move forward with sadness, not necessary your case/your machine could be other structure with no problems on that matter), Netrunner OS was other option that captivates me (unfortunately other problems occured, even the OS was gourgeous) Xubuntu amazes me with the stability and low resources needed (also the versatility), Lubuntu was great too, but finnaly I reach here, where I am standing: Zorin OS 6. Great for lazy users, amazing support from Ubuntu community, versatility as I never find on anything else and wonderfull when you come from Windows world. Friendly with the most stupid user if necessary, he will never let you down in any circumstances. Got a great looking interface, similar to Windows, but without idiotic Microsoft brand instabilities and resources waiste. Wanna try some zero troubles OS? Zorin is my recomandation!

Member Avatar for mike_2000_17

I beg to differ, CentOS is a very well-established distro of Linux. It is one of the main free alternatives to the big names in server distributions of Linux (RHEL and SLES). If you want a stable server-grade Linux distribution for free (no support plan costs), then CentOS is really good option, so are the up-stream distributions like Fedora (ahead of RHEL) and OpenSUSE (ahead of SLES).

I need to use apt-get and ipkg in my CentOS.

I don't understand why you want to install a Debian package system on a Red Hat system. What's wrong with the Red Hat package system (rpm and yum)? The apt-get command is equivalent to yum, but the latter is for distros that use Debian packages (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, etc..), while the former is for distros that use Red Hat packages (Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, SLES, OpenSUSE, etc..). Similarly with ipkg / dpkg versus rpm.

Is there a really good reason why you want to rip out the Red Hat package manager from your OS, and transplant the Debian package manager instead? I don't think this is really possible without some crazy amount of work.

And what are you going to do once you have installed Debian package managers, which repository will you connect to? Debian repos? Are you gonna translate your own packages (take rpm packages, convert them to deb packages, upload them to a private repository, and the install them with apt-get)? Seems like a lot of trouble.

If you want a Debian-based distribution, get a Debian-based distribution.

Member Avatar for rubberman

As Mike2k said, apt-get/aptitude/synaptic/dpkg are package management tools for Debian-based distributions such as Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, et al. For RedHat-based distributions you can use yum, or rpm. That said, yum is the current preferred package manager for RH distributions as it deals with dependencies much better than rpm, whereas with rpm you are pretty much on your own. There are rare occasions where using rpm is called for, but only in rare, and advanced situations, and then it is a case of caveat developer (developer beware!)... :-)

FYI, Suse distributions use yast, which is also an rpm-based package manager. So, if you want to install an rpm meant for a RedHat system, it may also work on a Suse/OpenSuse system (and vice-versa). Again, caveat developer/user!

Member Avatar for Alaa_6

Thanks a lot for the responses . I have to use centOS becuase of the kernel version I need a 2.6 kernel. I can give up on apt-get but I need ipkg to install . ipk packages. What is the alternative of ipkg to install .ipk?

Member Avatar for rubberman

Re. ipkg for installing .ipk packages. Let me do some research and get back to you on that. I've been running RHEL/CentOS/SL systems for about 8 years now and never ran into that requirement! :-)

Ok. Here is a link to an RPM that will install the ipkg installer on Red Hat 6.x or compatible (such as CentOS) systems: http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3/stat/4/idpl/21706162/dir/redhat_el_6/com/ipkgbuild-0.8.0-1.el6.pp.noarch.rpm.html

Edited by rubberman
Member Avatar for Alaa_6

Thanks a lot now I have tried to do this to install it

rpm -Uvh ipkgbuild-0.8.0-1.el6.pp.noarch.rpm

it gave me the package already installed. When I tried to run the command ipkg it says there is no such command. Can you please help to install it

Member Avatar for Alaa_6

I have noticed that it installed ipkgbuild. I searched about it and then I used

ipkgbuild --install somepackge.ipk

but it gave me the following error:
not int gzip format. Why this is happeneing ?

Member Avatar for rubberman

Don't know - never used it before. I found it with a Google search. FWIW, you should have installed the rpm with yum, not rpm since the rpm command won't deal with dependencies. I would suggest that you remove it, and then reinstall it with yum. That may help. No promises though. You are treading in mostly uncharted territory. Also, you might want to post the output of "ipkgbuild --help" and the man page for ipkgbuild (man ipkgbuild). We may see something that will help you sort out your problems.

Edited by rubberman
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