[arch-general] RPM Question

[Jakob Gruber]

  On 10/03/2010 02:41 AM, Lew Wolfgang wrote:
>  Hi Folks,
>
> New Arch user here.   I really like it!  Another Arch user recommended 
> it to me after I started noticing quality issues with another of the 
> main distributions.
>
> I'm currently working on a test install to see if Arch will function 
> in a very restricted environment.  So far I've successfully installed 
> KDE and configured for a true IPv6 network.  Yet to be done is support 
> for Common Access Cards and their USB readers.  I've been having 
> issues with pcscd but I'm not ready to ask for help yet.  I also tried 
> fake-raid but gave up in favor of the much simpler JBOD (two disks) 
> config.
>
> But I ran into a problem installing something called HBSS from 
> McAfee.   This is a package for Windows that is nothing more than a 
> root-kit that allows remote administrators to set policy, remove/block 
> programs, report versions, etc.  Unfortunately management mandates 
> that non-Windows systems also run it.  So McAfee labored mightily and 
> emitted a Java port of the Windows package that gives minimal 
> reporting capabilities for Linux installs.  It works on all the major 
> distros but fails to install on Arch due to an RPM dependency.  Their 
> install script just fails saying it can't find rpm.  The script 
> contains much ugliness and is McAfee proprietary, so I doubt hacking 
> it will be productive.
>
> So the question is:  can Arch be configured/tricked into an rpm install?
>
> Thanks for a great distro, and your wiki is amazing!  It's a little 
> light on IPv6 info, but I might be able to help there later.
>
> Regards,
> Lew Wolfgang
>

I think nobody has mentioned rpmextract yet? Might be possible to use 
that to create a native arch package.
AFAIK it's the usual solution when an application exists only in rpm form.