Linux Virtualization and software packages

[Jawsh]

I have two questions today.

First, when I find a software package to install on a linux machine, will that same package work for every linux distribution? Is it OS specific? Is it shell specific?

Second, I know there must be a virtualization solution that can be run in linux, I found a sample here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vfWw...elated&search=
What is the virtualization emulator known as and where can I find something like it?

Thank you

[mhl]

If you install a package from source (the download will be of the form filename.tar.gz or filename.tar.bz2) then it should normally be transferable between distros. But such packages require a bit of command line knowledge in order to install, and you can often run into dependency problems.

It is easier - and therefore more popular with the more user-friendly distros (for example, Ubuntu, Fedora Core, etc) - to use package installation tools which are built into the distro. But in order to benefit from this approach you have to use specific pakages related to the 'parent' distro. For instance, Ubuntu is based on Debian, and requires .deb packages (<filename>.deb), Fedora Core uses .rpm packages, and there are others. If you install, say, Opera as a .deb package in Ubuntu, you would not be able to use that exact same package if you switched to Fedora Core - you would need to get an Opera .rpm package. But there will also be an Opera source package that is distro-independent but which requires you to get your hands dirty to install.

On virtualisation there are also a number of alternatives. It is not a tool that I have played with yet so I have no experience to pass on, only the names of some of the better-known virtualisation solutions. If you want full virtualisation of a complete operating system - running Win XP from inside Linux, or vice versa - then have a look at VMware player or Parallels Workstation . If you simply want to run Windows programs under Linux then try wine.

HTH

[nquest]

mhl gave a great summary of package manager issues.

For virtualization on Linux, we should also mention Xen at
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG...xen/index.html

Xen is supported now by Fedora, SUSE, Debian, and perhaps
other desktop distros.

Have fun!

Dr. David

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[mhl]

I thought about mentioning Xen, having just read a bit about it yesterday in this month's Linux Format. However, the words ".. Xen takes a little effort to get working .. " stuck in my mind

[nquest]

Yep, most good things in life take a little (or more) effort ;-)