Rational Software Architect

[Mocha]

Hello all, I'm new to the forums and new to Linux mint and Linux OS's in general. I tried it once before but didn't find any use for it. Now I have started a studying software development in university and decided to try Linux mint for it, so almost a month now, so far it's going well.

However on Monday we need to install some IBM software called "Rational Software Architect". It says it supports Linux but only: SUSE Desktop 10, Red Hat Desktop 5, Red Hat Desktop 4. Will I be able to install this? I am using Mint 7.

Thank you in advance

[Aging Technogeek]

Mocha,

Suse and the Red Hat distros use a package scheme called .rpm. It is not compatible with Debian based OS such as Ubuntu and Mint, which use the .deb package scheme. You may be able to install the software you need by using a program called "Alien" to convert the .rpm packages to .deb packages. Alien is available from Synaptic Package Manager.

[emorrp1]

also, you could install these distros into virtual machines just to run the software if the alien trick doesn't work.

[Mocha]

well thanks for the advice but it seems it's different than i thought. It is installed through the IBM installation manager.
I have downloaded the IBM installation manager which came in a zip file.
I have extracted everything and have got 4 folders and a file called "repository.config"
1 of the folders just has some .xml files.
Another has some zip files that seems to contain .exe files and some also have .so files, these are named similar to "org.eclipse.executable.gtk.linux.ia64_3.2.1.v3236.zip" with only the "gtk.linux.ia64_3" part changing. Other names include things like "org.eclipse.executable.carbon.macosx.ppc_3.2.1.v3236.zip". The folder is called "native"
Then the other 2 folders have have .jar files but these are called "offerings" and "plugins".

But I can't see any .rpm files or anything like that.

[emorrp1]

Well, I was browsing through http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=Rational+Softw ... ect+Ubuntu and apparently the linux installer they provide (the IBM installation manager is their recommended method, but not required) assumes bash is located at /bin/sh (which is very stupid). Anyway, you can apparently make the linux installer work on Ubuntu/Mint by running this command first:

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sudo unlink /bin/sh && sudo ln -s /bin/bash /bin/sh

And if you're really paranoid, you can correct it after installation by running:

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sudo unlink /bin/sh && sudo ln -s /bin/dash /bin/sh

[Mocha]

i tried your suggestion today and it's ended badly.
i ran

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sudo unlink /bin/sh && sudo ln -s /bin/bash /bin/sh

and i couldn't install it, it started acting a bit odd, not opening some programs and similar things like that.
i then tried to run

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sudo unlink /bin/sh && sudo ln -s /bin/dash /bin/sh

but it could not do it so i decided to reboot to see if that helped.
It didn't, i now can't even boot up into linux mint. Luckily i have Ubuntu also ont he laptop, so i am now in that and backing up the data i need.
Is there anyway to fix this or am i going to need a complete reinstall?

[emorrp1]

well that is really odd. What happened when you say "it could not do it", what was the error message? If you mount the Mint partition from within Ubuntu, then create the link from /bin/sh to /bin/dash, it *should* all be ok again.

[Mocha]

i can't remember the exact error it gave. it was similar to what is says when i try to boot i think which is:
"Unable to execute "/bin/sh" for rc-default: no such file or directory"

How would i create the link from ubuntu?

thanks

[emorrp1]

In the same way as before, with the mount point preceding all the /bin's e.g. /media/disk/bin/sh use the line with "dash" in it, and report back any errors it gives.

[Mocha]

ok i've tried that and i get
"unlink: cannot unlink `/media/disk/bin/sh': No such file or directory"

i guess the file has somehow got deleted?

[emorrp1]

assuming /media/disk is indeed your mount point, you could just skip the unlink bit.

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sudo ln -s /media/disk/bin/dash /media/disk/bin/sh

On the other hand, I'm starting to think this isn't worth diagnosing, since a reinstall takes less than half an hour, sorry about the confusion, I guess the info I got was pretty bad.

[Mocha]

That didn't work either. I think you're right time for a reinstall, I've been planning it any as i wanted to set the home on a separate partition and also been tempted to try KDE. Thanks for your help anyway.
I'll try to install RSA through the installation manager if i can get it working. I think i'm missing some files though since on the installation guide it says
"Run install from the InstallerImage_linux folder" and i have no folder called InstallerImage_linux, or any other installer image for that matter.