Cant install GAIM in Redhat 9

[THE V_I_R_U_S]

Ok. I am very very, very, very, very new to linux. I know almost nothing about its filesystem, file extentions, and basically no idea how programs are installed and removed. However despite all this, i've managed to learn enough to get online (i'm typing from my linux machine now) and setup email, and install a couple of devices. Now from what i can gather, a .rpm file is just a self installing package??? Anyway, I wanted to install GAIM, so i went to sourceforge, and downloaded:

gaim-0.72-1rh9.i386.rpm


Is this the correct file?

Anyway, its runs, and halfway through the "preparing system update" phase it crashes. It does it over and over. I thought it was a corrupt download, so i downloaded it again. Same result. What am I doing wrong?

[S.D.Willie]

how exactly are you trying to install the file? here
is where you can find all the packages for shrike (redhat 9) since gaim came with redhat 9 i would go into the add/remove packages and select it in there.

to install rpm's

( as root) rpm -Uvh filename.rpm

to remove rpm's

rpm -e filename

Now from what i can gather, a .rpm file is just a self installing package

basically. rpm's (redhat package management) are files that require dependencies(other files) in order to install them. sometimes rpms are great, sometimes not. definitely install synaptic for redhat as it will help settle issues like that when installing rpm's.