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The Red Hat Package Manager (RPM), is an open packaging
system available for anyone to use, and works on both Red Hat Linux as well
as other Linux and UNIX systems. Red Hat Software encourages other vendors
to take the time to look at RPM and use it for their own products. RPM is
distributable under the terms of the GPL.

For the end user, RPM provides many features that make maintaining a system
far easier than it has ever been. Installing, uninstalling, and upgrading
RPM packages are all one line commands, and all the messy details are taken
care of for you. RPM maintains a database of installed packages and their
files, which allows you to perform powerful queries and verification of
your system. During upgrades RPM handles configuration files specially, so
that you never lose your customizations -- a feature that is impossible
with straight .tar.gz files.

For the developer, RPM allows you to take source code for software and
package it into source and binary packages for end users. This process is
quite simple and is driven from a single file and optional patches that you
create. This clear delineation of ``pristine'' sources and your patches
and build instructions eases the maintenance of the package as new versions
of the software are released.

8.1 RPM Design Goals8.2 Using RPM8.3 Impressing Your Friends with RPM8.4 Other RPM Resources

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