Hi,

I just can’t get my printer (Dell 3330dn) to work properly under Linux with the generic drivers. That’s why I went for a hunt to find the PPD files. The Dell webpage even has a section offering downloads for Linux. But when I unpacked the .zip, there was no PPD file, even when it was stated in the description. Am I blind? Or are the files in a format I don’t recognize?

  • AllYourSmurf@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    1 month ago

    So you’ll need 2 commands: rpm2cpio and cpio.

    For example:

    rpm2cpio mypackage.rpm | cpio -idmv

    For reference, I found this by searching for “unpack RPM”. That led me to this NixCraft article. Several other links had similar info.

    • RubanskiOPEnglish
      3·
      1 month ago

      Thank you! I’ve never heard of rpm packages. I will try this out

        • hallettj@leminal.spaceEnglish
          2·
          1 month ago

          An application package is a compressed file with extra conventions. I think rpm packages are usually compressed with xz, but might use a different compression program. If I’m understanding what I’m reading correctly, rpm2cpio does some introspection to determine with extraction program to use. Maybe 7zip does the same thing, or maybe it works if the rpm was compressed with a compatible program.

        • lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
          1·
          1 month ago

          So I tested around and, in fact, 7zip can not immediately decompress rpms. Sorta the same with debs, it decompresses them into an intermediary format which seems to just be a tarfile but still 7zip can’t do it “recursively”.