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NAME="INTRO">1. Introduction</H1
><P
> RPM is the <EM
>R</EM
>PM <EM
>P</EM
>ackage
<EM
>M</EM
>anager. It is an open packaging system available
for anyone to use. It allows users to take source code for new software
and package it into source and binary form such that binaries can be
easily installed and tracked and source can be rebuilt easily. It also
maintains a database of all packages and their files that can be used
for verifying packages and querying for information about files and/or
packages.
</P
><P
> Red Hat, Inc. encourages other distribution vendors to take the time
to look at RPM and use it for their own distributions. RPM is quite
flexible and easy to use, though it provides the base for a very
extensive system. It is also completely open and available, though we
would appreciate bug reports and fixes. Permission is granted to use
and distribute RPM royalty free under the GPL.
</P
><P
> More complete documentation is available on RPM in the book by Ed Bailey,
<EM
>Maximum RPM</EM
>. That book is available for download or
purchase at <A
HREF="http://www.redhat.com"
TARGET="_top"
>www.redhat.com</A
>.
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