Installing the Driver: RPM Methods

Use one of the following procedures to install the Linux RealPort driver.

Note: The procedures in this topic should be used only in Linux environments that support the installation and building of packages from an RPM repository. The procedures require that the following RPM directories exist and are used by RPM on your Linux system.

Installation Methods

There are three methods of installing with RPM:

Package Version and Revision

Certain commands used in the following procedures need to be entered with the correct package version and revision number.

Note: To determine package version and revision numbers, use this command:
         
rpm -qp filename

Example:  

If the package version of the Linux driver is 1.0 and the revision is 2, then:

Installing with digirpm

Use this procedure to install the RealPort Linux driver with digirpm.

1. Download the RPM package as well as the digirpm tool. The RPM package and digirpm tool can be found on Digi's web site, www.digi.com, or Digi's ftp site, ftp.digi.com/support/drivers/linux.
2. Copy the RPM file and digirpm to a directory on the Linux system. Create a new directory for the two files if you wish.
3. In the same directory as the RPM and digirpm files, execute the following command to extract the source from the source RPM package, build a binary RPM native to your system, and to install the package:

   sh digirpm filename

   where filename is the name of the driver file.

   Note: For more information about how to use the digirpm tool, execute the command, sh digirpm -h.

Standard Installation Procedure

Use this procedure to install the RealPort Linux driver without digirpm. See Package Version and Revision for important information on entering commands in this procedure.

1. Download the source RPM package. The RPM package can be found on Digi's web site, www.digi.com, or Digi's ftp site, ftp.digi.com/support/drivers/linux. For consistency, you might consider downloading the source RPM to the directory /usr/src/redhat/SRPMS.
2. Install the source code in the SOURCES directory used by RPM (/usr/src/redhat/SOURCES) with this command:

rpm -ivv realport-version-revision.src.rpm

This command also copies the specification file (/usr/src/redhat/SPECS/realport-v.v.spec) to the SPECS directory.

3. Create an RPM specific to your platform by executing the following commands:

cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS
rpm -bb realport-version.spec

4. Install the RPM which was just created by the previous step using the following commands.

cd /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/arch
rpm -ivv realport-version-revision.arch.rpm

The arch value should be replaced with a string representing your architecture, such as i386 or alpha. This value is system dependent, and is chosen by your system when the RPM is built.

Note: To install the RealPort driver on another system of the same architecture and Linux version, copy the following binary to the same location on the other system and execute the rpm command in this step:

/usr/src/redhat/RPMS/arch/realport-version-revision. arch.rpm

5. Use the following commands to verify that all files are installed correctly:

cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS
rpm -bl realport-version.spec

Custom Installation Procedure

Important: This custom installation procedure is reserved for those users that need to change a portion of the installation procedure or its contents in their specific environment. Reasons might include a need to change the directory where files are installed, or to modify the source code. Modifications to the source package may cause Digi to refuse support for that package in that environment.

See Package Version and Revision for important information on entering commands in this procedure.

1. Download the RPM package. The RPM package can be found on Digi's web site, www.digi.com, or Digi's ftp site, ftp.digi.com/support/drivers/linux. For consistency, you might consider downloading the source RPM to the directory /usr/src/redhat/SRPMS.
2. Install the source code in the SOURCES directory used by RPM (/usr/src/redhat/SOURCES) with this command:

   rpm -ivv realport-version-revision.src.rpm

   This command also copies the specification file (/usr/src/redhat/SPECS/realport-version.spec) to the SPECS directory.

3. Use the RPM tools to open the source archive:

   cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS

   rpm -bp realport-version.spec

   The -bp option specifies that only the preparation section (%prep) of the specification file should be executed. This might result in the source files being uncompressed, removed from the archive, and placed in the following directory:

   /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/realport-version

4. Modifications can now be made to the source files and/or the specification file. The source files are found in the directory

   /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/realport-version

   The specification file is named:

   /usr/src/redhat/SPECS/realport-version.spec

   Important: You should save the original version of any file that you change, plus the final version of the files after you make and test your changes. These backup copies should be placed somewhere other than in the /usr/src/redhat tree.

   Important: If you change the final location of any of the files in the package, you must also update the %file list in the specification file. Otherwise, you will get a message that the installation was incomplete, because some files were not found.

   Recommended: It is recommended that you document your changes in the %description section of the specification file.

5. The easiest method for building and installing the modified package is to first replace the Digi TGZ archive with a new one including your changes. Replace the archive by doing the following:
   1. Change to the appropriate directory:

      cd /usr/src/redhat/BUILD

   2. Create a compressed archive of the source files: (note that the following command should be entered on a single line)

      tar -cvzf ../SOURCES/realport-version.tgz realport-version/*

      Once the TGZ file has been replaced, you can proceed with step 3 of the Standard Installation Procedure.