# urpmi alien
Pour satisfaire les dépendances, les paquetages suivants vont être installés :
  Paquetage                      Version      Révision      Arch    
(média « Core Release (distrib1) »)
  alien                          8.95.1       1.mga8        noarch  
  debconf                        1.5.74       1.mga8        noarch  (recommandé)
  debhelper                      13.2         1.mga8        noarch  (recommandé)
  dpkg                           1.20.5       4.mga8        x86_64  
  dpkg-dev                       1.20.5       4.mga8        noarch  (recommandé)
  html2text                      1.3.2a       16.mga8       x86_64  (recommandé)
  intltool                       0.51.0       6.mga8        noarch  (recommandé)
  perl-CGI                       4.510.0      1.mga8        noarch  (recommandé)
  perl-Convert-ASN1              0.270.0      8.mga8        noarch  (recommandé)
  perl-Dpkg                      1.20.5       4.mga8        noarch  (recommandé)
  perl-Time-Piece                1.340.0      2.mga8        x86_64  (recommandé)
  perl-XML-Filter-BufferText     1.10.0       10.mga8       noarch  (recommandé)
  perl-XML-SAX-Writer            0.570.0      4.mga8        noarch  (recommandé)
  perl-ldap                      0.660.0      2.mga8        noarch  (recommandé)
  po-debconf                     1.0.21       3.mga8        noarch  (recommandé)

$ fakeroot alien --to-deb ./CairoSVG-2.5.1-1.mga8.noarch.rpm 
Package build failed. Here's the log:
dh 
dh: error: specify a sequence to run
make: *** [debian/rules:7 : binary] Erreur 25

This is also reproduced with other rpm.
Upstream site: https://sourceforge.net/projects/alien/
seems rather dead...

Cauldron also affected?? Seems there is 8.95.3 there, done by David G.

Thanks for reporting this bug.
As there is no maintainer for this package I added the committers in CC.

(Please set the status to 'assigned' if you are working on it)

Version: 8 => Cauldron
CC: (none) => dan, geiger.david68210, ouaurelien
Source RPM: (none) => alien-8.95.1-1.mga8.src.rpm
Whiteboard: (none) => MGA8TOO

(In reply to Aurelien Oudelet from comment #1)
... 
> Cauldron also affected?? Seems there is 8.95.3 there, done by David G.

Hi, Aurelien. The result with the "alien-8.95.3-1.mga9.noarch.rpm" package from Cauldron installed in Mageia-8 also negative.

su/password
mkdir /111 && cd /111
wget https://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia/distrib/cauldron/x86_64/media/core/release/alien-8.95.3-1.mga9.noarch.rpm
urpmi --auto ./*.rpm
 
rpm -qi alien
Name        : alien
Version     : 8.95.3
Release     : 1.mga9
Architecture: noarch
Install Date: Чт 18 мар 2021 18:18:48
Group       : System/Packaging
Size        : 108182
License     : GPLv2+
Signature   : RSA/SHA256, Чт 04 мар 2021 19:16:20, Key ID b742fa8b80420f66
Source RPM  : alien-8.95.3-1.mga9.src.rpm
Build Date  : Чт 04 мар 2021 19:04:42
Build Host  : localhost
Packager    : daviddavid <daviddavid>
Vendor      : Mageia.Org
URL         : https://sourceforge.net/projects/alien/
Summary     : Install Debian and Slackware Packages with RPM
Description :
Alien is a program that converts between the rpm (Mageia, Mandriva,
Redhat), dpkg (Debian), slp (Stampede), and tgz (Slackware) file formats.
If you want to use a package from another distribution than the one
you have installed on your system, you can use alien to convert
it to your preferred package format and install it.

alien --to-deb alien-8.95.3-1.mga9.noarch.rpm
Package build failed. Here's the log:
dh 
dh: error: specify a sequence to run
make: *** [debian/rules:7: binary] Error 25

@Aurelien

I had a little time and took the liberty of comparing the working package from Mageia-7 (alien-8.95-5.mga7.noarch.rpm) with the non-working one from Mageia-8 (alien-8.95.1-1.mga8.noarch.rpm). I poked at individual files and found that alien normally converts from RPM to DEB after replacement:
/usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/Alien/Package/Deb.pm

Then I opened the non-working alien-8.95.1-1.mgu8.src.rpm package and found a link to the patch in alien.spec that changed the above file. However, this patch looks outdated (perhaps). Then I made a fresh patch based on the original file from the *.src.rpm archive and from Deb.pm from Mageia-7 + raised him by one release for new package. In general, in this form, I have a package earned.

The Deb.pm.patch - patch is just about these "du" that is written in the conversion errors... :)

See attachments:
---
1. alien-8.95.1-2.mga8.tar.gz - contains fixed packages alien-8.95.1-2.mga8.src.rpm and alien-8.95.1-2.mga8.noarch.rpm
2. DIFF.tar.gz - catalog of patch manufacturing Deb.pm.patch
3. Deb.pm.patch - the difference between the original file Deb.pm from the package source archive (Mageia-8) and from the working package from Mageia-7.1

I'm not quite sure I did everything right with the patched package. It would probably be better if someone from experienced maintainers looked at it. However, it works. Thanks.

p.s. Recently made a GUI for alien: https://github.com/AKotov-dev/PConverter
Maybe it will be useful to someone...

Sincerely,
Alex

Created attachment 12474 [details]
alien-8.95.1-2.mga8.tar.gz

Created attachment 12475 [details]
DIFF.tar.gz

Created attachment 12476 [details]
Deb.pm.patch

Thanks for reporting this.
As there is no maintainer for this package I added the committers in CC.

(Please set the status to 'assigned' if you are working on it)

Status comment: alien-8.95.3-1.mga9.src.rpm affected? Not tested. => alien-8.95.3-1.mga9.src.rpm too
Assignee: bugsquad => pkg-bugs

Thanks again Alex
Hope some packager can give it a go.

Ping.

CC: (none) => fri

*** Bug 29774 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

CC: (none) => heiko

That duplicate bug (worth a look) has a reference to an upstream fix:
 http://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?id=4160

I am upping the importance of this bug because the current package does not work, and a solution is available. 'alien' is a well-known application.

Priority: Normal => High
Severity: normal => major
URL: (none) => http://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?id=4160

Ping!

(In reply to Morgan Leijström from comment #11)
> Ping!
64 bytes from Alex: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.037 ms
64 bytes from Alex: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.031 ms
64 bytes from Alex: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.039 ms

Hello, Morgan. ;)

By the way, I checked alien-8.95.5-2.mga9.noarch.rpm from Mageia-9 (Cauldron). It also does not convert RPM to DEB. :(

> fakeroot alien --to-deb mc-4.8.27-1.mga9.x86_64.rpm
Package build failed. Here's the log:
dh binary
   dh_update_autotools_config
   dh_autoreconf
   create-stamp debian/debhelper-build-stamp
   dh_testroot
   dh_prep
   debian/rules override_dh_auto_install
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/marsik/Downloads/mc-4.8.27'
mkdir -p debian/mc
# Copy the packages's files.
find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -not -name debian -print0 | \
	sed -e s#'./'##g | \
	xargs -0 -r -i cp -a ./{} debian/mc/{}
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/marsik/Downloads/mc-4.8.27'
   dh_installdocs
   dh_installchangelogs
   dh_installman
dh_installman: warning: man is not available.  Skipping re-encode of UTF-8 manpages
   dh_perl
   debian/rules override_dh_usrlocal
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/marsik/Downloads/mc-4.8.27'
dh_usrlocal || printf "Your package seems to be installing files into /usr/local/, which could be buggy. Will continue anyway.\n"
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/marsik/Downloads/mc-4.8.27'
   dh_link
   dh_strip_nondeterminism
Can't exec "dh_strip_nondeterminism": No such file or directory at /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/Debian/Debhelper/SequencerUtil.pm line 523.
make: *** [debian/rules:7: binary] Error 255


The version I corrected above for Mageia-8 still works. Let me remind you that everything is solved by replacing the file /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/Alien/Package/Deb.pm. Including in Mageia-9.

> fakeroot alien --to-deb mc-4.8.27-1.mga9.x86_64.rpm
mc_4.8.27-2_amd64.deb generated

Sincerely,
Alex

Hi Alex,
I see that there is a new release http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/a/alien/alien_8.95.6.tar.xz
Could you apply your patch and test it ?
In the mean time, I will publish this release on cauldron.

CC: (none) => yves.brungard_mageia

With alien from cauldron. alien-8.95.6-1.mga9.noarch
There is now another error
fakeroot alien --to-deb mc-4.8.28-2.mga9.x86_64.rpm 
Package build failed. Here's the log:
dh binary
   dh_update_autotools_config
   dh_autoreconf
   create-stamp debian/debhelper-build-stamp
   dh_testroot
   dh_prep
   debian/rules override_dh_auto_install
make[1] : on entre dans le répertoire « /home/yves/tmp/mc-4.8.28 »
mkdir -p debian/mc
# Copy the packages's files.
find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -not -name debian -print0 | \
        sed -e s#'./'##g | \
        xargs -0 -r -i cp -a ./{} debian/mc/{}
make[1] : on quitte le répertoire « /home/yves/tmp/mc-4.8.28 »
   dh_installdocs
   dh_installchangelogs
   dh_installman
dh_installman: error: mv debian/mc/usr/share/man/es/man1/mc.1.xz.dh-new debian/mc/usr/share/man/es/man1/mc.1.xz: No such file or directory
dh_installman: error: Aborting due to earlier error
make: *** [debian/rules:7 : binary] Erreur 25

Any progress?

Per links above it seems Debian had it working in 2021.
Maybe check if it still works by them and if they have patched it further.

Alien seem dead upstream since 10 years
 https://sourceforge.net/projects/alien/

https://joeyh.name/code/alien/ tell a new maintainer produce alien-pkg-convert,
 at https://sourceforge.net/projects/alien-pkg-convert/
- but it seem abandoned since 7 years.

Anyway, maybe better luck trying to make the latter work?

Or another app or procedure to recommend for this task of converting packages?

Whiteboard: MGA8TOO => MGA8TOO, MGA9TOO

(In reply to Morgan Leijström from comment #16)
> Per links above it seems Debian had it working in 2021.
> Maybe check if it still works by them and if they have patched it further.
> 
> Alien seem dead upstream since 10 years
>  https://sourceforge.net/projects/alien/
> 
> https://joeyh.name/code/alien/ tell a new maintainer produce
> alien-pkg-convert,
>  at https://sourceforge.net/projects/alien-pkg-convert/
> - but it seem abandoned since 7 years.
> 
> Anyway, maybe better luck trying to make the latter work?
> 
> Or another app or procedure to recommend for this task of converting
> packages?

You can make a spec that extract the files from the deb https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-to-extract-a-deb-file-without-opening-it-on-debian-or-ubuntu-linux/

I use this trick some times

Thanks everybody for your input and work. The situation is confused. Alien is/was more than just decoding deb packages:
"Alien is a program that converts between the rpm (Mageia, Mandriva, Redhat), dpkg (Debian), slp (Stampede), and tgz (Slackware) file formats"
but the current summary is more realistic and relevant to Mageia users:
"Install Debian and Slackware Packages with RPM".

Passing this very late to packagers.

Source RPM: alien-8.95.1-1.mga8.src.rpm, alien-8.95.3-1.mga9.src.rpm => alien-8.95.6-1.mga9.src.rpm
Assignee: bugsquad => pkg-bugs

Hello

No fix on this yet?.


Still not working on mga10 cauldron

CC: (none) => ezequiel_partida

Time to try with the 8.95.8 version?
https://github.com/OpenMandrivaAssociation/alien/blob/master/alien.spec

I build 8.95.8, I'll test an report

After install some package by hand
The behavior is the same as in papoteur's test in comment#14

using the -s switch, I think the issue is the process extract the original man files

using fakeroot alien --to-deb  mc-4.8.29-1.mga9.x86_64.rpm -s
cd mc-4.8.29
fakeroot dh binary

I find this in the buildroot

mc-4.8.29/debian/mc/usr/share/man/es/man1/mc.1.dh-new
mc-4.8.29/debian/mc/usr/share/man/es/man1/mc.1.xz

BTW the deb to rpm conversion not works out-of-the-box

LC_ALL=C fakeroot alien --to-rpm schildichat-desktop-alpha_1.11.97-sc.0.test.0_amd64.deb -v
        dpkg-deb --info 'schildichat-desktop-alpha_1.11.97-sc.0.test.0_amd64.deb' control 2>/dev/null
        dpkg-deb --info 'schildichat-desktop-alpha_1.11.97-sc.0.test.0_amd64.deb' control 2>/dev/null
        dpkg-deb --info 'schildichat-desktop-alpha_1.11.97-sc.0.test.0_amd64.deb' conffiles 2>/dev/null
        dpkg-deb --fsys-tarfile 'schildichat-desktop-alpha_1.11.97-sc.0.test.0_amd64.deb' | tar tf -
        dpkg-deb --info 'schildichat-desktop-alpha_1.11.97-sc.0.test.0_amd64.deb' postinst 2>/dev/null
        dpkg-deb --info 'schildichat-desktop-alpha_1.11.97-sc.0.test.0_amd64.deb' postrm 2>/dev/null
        dpkg-deb --info 'schildichat-desktop-alpha_1.11.97-sc.0.test.0_amd64.deb' preinst 2>/dev/null
        dpkg-deb --info 'schildichat-desktop-alpha_1.11.97-sc.0.test.0_amd64.deb' prerm 2>/dev/null
Warning: Skipping conversion of scripts in package schildichat-desktop-alpha: postinst postrm
Warning: Use the --scripts parameter to include the scripts.
        mkdir schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0
        chmod 755 schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0
        dpkg-deb -x schildichat-desktop-alpha_1.11.97-sc.0.test.0_amd64.deb schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0
        rpm --showrc
        cd schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0; rpmbuild --buildroot='/home/katnatek/tmp/schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0' -bb --target x86_64 'schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0-2.spec' 2>&1
Package build failed. Here's the log of the command (cd schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0; rpmbuild --buildroot='/home/katnatek/tmp/schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0' -bb --target x86_64 'schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0-2.spec'):
error: line 5: Empty tag: Summary:
Building target platforms: x86_64
Building for target x86_64
        find schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0 -type d -exec chmod 755 {} ;
        rm -rf schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0


And with some debs like https://github.com/arduino/lab-micropython-package-installer/releases/ not works at all


fakeroot alien --to-rpm micropython-package-installer_1.0.1_Linux.deb -v
        dpkg-deb --info 'micropython-package-installer_1.0.1_Linux.deb' control 2>/dev/null
Control file couldn't be read! at /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/Alien/Package/Deb.pm line 234.

Summary: "alien" does not convert rpm-packages to deb-packages => "alien" deb to rpm and rpm to deb is broken

Some advance I get a deb file

fakeroot alien --to-deb  mc-4.8.29-1.mga9.x86_64.rpm -s
cd mc-4.8.29
edit debian/rules

#
# If you need to move files around in debian/$(PACKAGE) or do some
# binary patching, do it here
#
#Add this Line here
override_dh_installman:
#Not perform default action

Unless somebody want to provide a patch that make the line be added to rules file
I'll send to 9/core/updates_testing , the alien package will be alien-8.95.8-2.mga10
in cauldron

RPM:
alien-8.95.8-1.mga9

SRPM:
alien-8.95.8-1.mga9

Procedure to test

Install/Update alien from 9/core/updates_testing

Change to a folder to work (my case ~/tmp)
Download or copy a rpm by example
https://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/mageia/distrib/9/x86_64/media/core/release/mc-4.8.29-1.mga9.x86_64.rpm

Download a deb file, by example from https://github.com/SchildiChat/schildichat-desktop/releases

Note the direct rpm to deb adn deb to rpm conversion still not works Out of the box

Convert rpm to deb

fakeroot alien --to-deb  mc-4.8.29-1.mga9.x86_64.rpm -s
Directory mc-4.8.29 prepared.

Change to created mc-4.8.29/debian and edit the rules file
In the line 26 add

override_dh_installman:

Save the change and up one level or chnage in terminal to mc-4.8.29

Example
pwd
/home/katnatek/tmp/mc-4.8.29

LC_ALL=C fakeroot dh binary

After all the process, you will see

dpkg-gencontrol: warning: Depends field of package mc: substitution variable ${shlibs:Depends} used, but is not defined
dpkg-gencontrol: warning: package mc: substitution variable ${perl:Depends} unused, but is defined
   dh_md5sums
   dh_builddeb
dpkg-deb: building package 'mc' in '../mc_4.8.29-2_amd64.deb'.

In my case I find the deb file in /home/katnatek/tmp

Convert deb to rpm

fakeroot alien --to-rpm schildichat-desktop-alpha_1.11.97-sc.0.test.0_amd64.deb -s
Warning: Skipping conversion of scripts in package schildichat-desktop-alpha: postinst postrm
Warning: Use the --scripts parameter to include the scripts.
Directory schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0 prepared.


cd to schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0
Edit the spec file, put some information in summary, save the change

LC_ALL=C rpmbuild -bb schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0-2.spec --define "_topdir $(pwd)"

This will produce lot of errors like
File not found: /home/katnatek/tmp/schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0/BUILDROOT/schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0-2.x86_64/opt/SchildiChatAlpha/v8_context_snapshot.bin

Create the BUILDROOT
mkdir -p BUILDROOT/schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0-2.x86_64

Move the folder that not belong to the rpm build (BUILD,BUILDROOT,SRPMS) to
BUILDROOT/schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0-2.x86_64
In this case opt and usr

Run again

LC_ALL=C rpmbuild -bb schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0-2.spec --define "_topdir $(pwd)"

The rpm will be created in the original working directory in my case

/home/katnatek/tmp

The deb to rpm case as you see is the complex to fix by hand as we have to learn and adapt the steps for each conversion 

I'll create a wiki page with this procedures, Note still fail with deb files that have internal files compresed with ztd

Status comment: Fix in comment 10 => (none)
Source RPM: alien-8.95.6-1.mga9.src.rpm => alien-8.95.6-1.mga9
Keywords: (none) => has_procedure
Whiteboard: MGA9TOO => (none)
Version: Cauldron => 9

Conversion deb to rpm looks fixed in cauldron with alien-8.95.8-3 even with zstd compressed files, but rpm to deb still need manual action

I send the fix for deb files with zstd compressed files, but that depend on bug#34270

Direct deb to rpm still not works, I assume some of the required packages updated in cauldron fix that issue, but I don't know what could be

RPM:

alien-8.95.8-1.1.mga9

SRPM:

alien-8.95.8-1.1.mga9

The test procedure will be the same as in comment#26
And once bug#34270 is fixed, we can test with deb file from
https://github.com/arduino/lab-micropython-package-installer/releases/

RH x86_64

rpm -q alien
alien-8.95.6-1.mga9

Install by hand fakeroot

fakeroot alien --to-rpm micropython-package-installer_1.0.1_Linux.deb -v
        dpkg-deb --info 'micropython-package-installer_1.0.1_Linux.deb' control 2>/dev/null
Control file couldn't be read! at /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/Alien/Package/Deb.pm line 234.

fakeroot alien --to-rpm bash_5.2.15-2+b7_amd64.deb -v

ends with       

bash-5.2.15-3.x86_64.rpm generated

fakeroot alien --to-deb mc-4.8.29-1.mga9.x86_64.rpm

fails with
dh_installman: error: mv debian/mc/usr/share/man/es/man1/mc.1.xz.dh-new debian/mc/usr/share/man/es/man1/mc.1.xz: No such file or directory
dh_installman: error: Aborting due to earlier error

make: *** [debian/rules:7: binary] Error 25

Looks like something is rotten in schildichat deb as requires the manual fix described in comment#26

LC_ALL=C fakeroot alien --to-rpm schildichat-desktop-alpha_1.11.97-sc.0.test.0_amd64.deb 
Warning: Skipping conversion of scripts in package schildichat-desktop-alpha: postinst postrm
Warning: Use the --scripts parameter to include the scripts.
Package build failed. Here's the log of the command (cd schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0; rpmbuild --buildroot='/home/katnatek/tmp/schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0' -bb --target x86_64 'schildichat-desktop-alpha-1.11.97~sc.0.test.0-2.spec'):
error: line 5: Empty tag: Summary:
Building target platforms: x86_64
Building for target x86_64


Updating with packages from bug#34270

installing //home/katnatek/qa-testing/x86_64/dpkg-1.22.11-1.mga9.x86_64.rpm                                                         
/var/cache/urpmi/rpms/perl-File-StripNondeterminism-1.1.2-3.mga9.noarch.rpm
//home/katnatek/qa-testing/x86_64/alien-8.95.8-1.1.mga9.noarch.rpm
/var/cache/urpmi/rpms/dh-strip-nondeterminism-1.1.2-3.mga9.noarch.rpm
//home/katnatek/qa-testing/x86_64/dpkg-dev-1.22.11-1.mga9.x86_64.rpm
/var/cache/urpmi/rpms/perl-Archive-Zip-1.680.0-2.mga9.noarch.rpm
//home/katnatek/qa-testing/x86_64/perl-Dpkg-1.22.11-1.mga9.noarch.rpm
Preparing...                     ##################################################################################################
      1/7: perl-Dpkg             ##################################################################################################
      2/7: dpkg                  ##################################################################################################
      3/7: dpkg-dev              ##################################################################################################
      4/7: perl-Archive-Zip      ##################################################################################################
      5/7: perl-File-StripNondeterminism
                                 ##################################################################################################
      6/7: dh-strip-nondeterminism
                                 ##################################################################################################
      7/7: alien                 ##################################################################################################
      1/4: removing alien-8.95.6-1.mga9.noarch
                                 ##################################################################################################
      2/4: removing dpkg-dev-1.21.9-1.mga9.x86_64
                                 ##################################################################################################
      3/4: removing perl-Dpkg-1.21.9-1.mga9.noarch
                                 ##################################################################################################
      4/4: removing dpkg-1.21.9-1.mga9.x86_64
                                 ##################################################################################################

fakeroot alien --to-rpm micropython-package-installer_1.0.1_Linux.deb -v
ends with

micropython-package-installer-1.0.1-2.x86_64.rpm generated

rpm to deb still not works out of the box but the workaround is easy, and is as good as we get for now

CC: (none) => andrewsfarm
Whiteboard: (none) => MGA9-64-OK

A couple of years ago my VPN provider offered a "Linux" app, but it was for .deb distros only. I tried to use this to convert to an rpm, and of course it failed. I found a workaround, and went on with my life. Maybe I should look into trying again.

Validating.

CC: (none) => sysadmin-bugs
Keywords: (none) => validated_update

I create the page https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Alien
Feel free to improve

Status comment: Have to create wiki page => Wiki page created

An update for this issue has been pushed to the Mageia Updates repository.

https://advisories.mageia.org/MGAA-2025-0050.html

Status: NEW => RESOLVED
Resolution: (none) => FIXED