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General Questions

E.5 General Questions

E.5.1 How do I get new updates to Red Hat as they happen?

Keep your eye on the Red Hat Linux Errata. (See E.2 (errata).)

Also check the contrib directory on our FTP mirrors for packages that users have contributed. We also make periodic announcements to the redhat-announce-list with updates.

E.5.2 How do I report a bug?

Send email to mailto:bugs@redhat.com.

E.5.3 Does Red Hat Linux include source code?

Yes. We include the exact source that was used to build the distribution. From release 2.0 on, Red Hat Linux is built with a packaging system called RPM that ONLY uses pristine source (the same as what you'd find at the author's site) and possibly a patch by Red Hat.

To install a source RPM, use the following command:

    rpm -iv packagename-n.nn-r.src.rpm

RPM installs sources under the redhat source tree, which is /usr/src/redhat by default (you can configure the directory using the topdir command in /etc/rpmrc). Spec files
(packagename-n.nn.spec) are installed in /usr/src/redhat/SPECS, while source archives and patch files go in /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES.

To unpack the source once it is installed, change to /usr/src/redhat/SPECS and use the following command:

    rpm -bp packagename-n.nn.spec

RPM unpacks the source into /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/packagename-n.nn and applies any
patches listed in the spec file.

For more information, please read the RPM manual page and the complete RPM information at: http://www.rpm.org/.


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