WHAT ARE THESE FILES?

A Package is simply a piece of software, sometime with libraries and scripts included. RPMs and Debs are the most common packaging formats, and between them can be used on most Linux distros. There will often be two or three files in a coverdisc directory covering different types of linux, different architectures and usually source and binary versions. The profusion of files and extensions can be confusing - to identify the file that you should be installing, look at the filename or just type the file extension:

myapp-1.0.1.i386.rpm
This is a binary RPM package, designed to run on x86 systems( for SUSE, fedora and mandriva installs).



myapp-1.0.1.i386.deb
The same but a debian package( for Debian, Ubuntu and Mepis).

myapp-1.0.1.tar.gz
or myapp-1.0.1.tgz
This is usually source code.

myapp1.0.1.tar.bz2
Same but uses Bzip2 instead of Gzip.


myapp-1.0.1.src.rpm
This is also source code, but supplied as RPM to make it easier to install.

myapp-1.0.1.i386.FC5.rpm
A binary, x86 RPM designed specifically for Fedora Core 5.

myapp-1.0.1.ppc.Suse10.1.rpm
An RPM just for SUSE 10.1 PPC linux.

myapp-devel-1.0.1.i386.rpm 
Headers and libs for development.