run .deb program via command line (software Shelx.rpm force converted to .deb via --force-debian bc alien would not convert

where is the file located and what is it's name, case very sensitive.

Thanks

the file was save to /root/Downloads and its name is shelxtl-2009.9-1.i368.rpm. Also tried saving in /root/Desktop under the same file name. The software has to be installed in root then ran in regular terminal but Ubuntu wants the .deb and the software is .rpm and it seems like when i --force-debian and converted the files to .deb they wouldnt run. Thanks, Rich

also reached a point of "failed dependencies", which I read was common with messing with these rpm files and hard to distinguish whether or not dependencies are actually missing

here is basically what i have been trying. I apologize for my ignorance in regards to using Ubuntu. Today has been my first day using the operating system ever and i have spent a good 18 hours trying to install a .rpm software for the crystallography program xshell used to solve small molecule crystal structures. Thanks for your help everyone...Rich

root@linuxbox:~# man rpm
root@linuxbox:~# no deps
no: command not found
root@linuxbox:~# rpm -i shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm
rpm: please use alien to install rpm packages on Debian, if you are really sure use --force-debian switch. See README.Debian for more details.
root@linuxbox:~# rpm -ivh shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm
rpm: please use alien to install rpm packages on Debian, if you are really sure use --force-debian switch. See README.Debian for more details.
root@linuxbox:~# rpm -Uvh shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm
rpm: please use alien to install rpm packages on Debian, if you are really sure use --force-debian switch. See README.Debian for more details.
root@linuxbox:~# rpm -U shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm
rpm: please use alien to install rpm packages on Debian, if you are really sure use --force-debian switch. See README.Debian for more details.
root@linuxbox:~# cd /root/Downloads
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -i shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm
rpm: please use alien to install rpm packages on Debian, if you are really sure use --force-debian switch. See README.Debian for more details.
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -i shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --force-debian
error: Failed dependencies:
 /bin/bash is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libGL.so.1 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libGLU.so.1 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libICE.so.6 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libSM.so.6 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libX11.so.6 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libXext.so.6 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libXmu.so.6 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libXrender.so.1 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libc.so.6 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.1) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.1.3) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.2) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.2.4) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libdl.so.2 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libdl.so.2(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libdl.so.2(GLIBC_2.1) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libm.so.6 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libm.so.6(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libpthread.so.0 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libpthread.so.0(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libpthread.so.0(GLIBC_2.1) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libpthread.so.0(GLIBC_2.2) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libttf.so.2 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# man rpm
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# --nodeps
--nodeps: command not found
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -i shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --force-debian --nodeps
 package shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386 is already installed
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# man rpm
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -i shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --test
rpm: please use alien to install rpm packages on Debian, if you are really sure use --force-debian switch. See README.Debian for more details.
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# man rpm
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# --test
--test: command not found
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# man rpm
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -i shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --replacepkgs
rpm: please use alien to install rpm packages on Debian, if you are really sure use --force-debian switch. See README.Debian for more details.
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --replacepkgs
shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm: command not found
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# man rpm
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -U shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --upgrade
rpm: please use alien to install rpm packages on Debian, if you are really sure use --force-debian switch. See README.Debian for more details.
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# -U shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --upgrade
-U: command not found
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# man rpm
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --aid
shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm: command not found
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# man rpm
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# --aid
--aid: command not found
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --aid
shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm: command not found
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --allfiles
shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm: command not found
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -i shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --allfiles
rpm: please use alien to install rpm packages on Debian, if you are really sure use --force-debian switch. See README.Debian for more details.
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -i shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --allfiles --force debian
rpm: please use alien to install rpm packages on Debian, if you are really sure use --force-debian switch. See README.Debian for more details.
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -i shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --force debianrpm: please use alien to install rpm packages on Debian, if you are really sure use --force-debian switch. See README.Debian for more details.
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -i shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm
rpm: please use alien to install rpm packages on Debian, if you are really sure use --force-debian switch. See README.Debian for more details.
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -i shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --force-debian
error: Failed dependencies:
 /bin/bash is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libGL.so.1 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libGLU.so.1 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libICE.so.6 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libSM.so.6 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libX11.so.6 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libXext.so.6 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libXmu.so.6 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libXrender.so.1 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libc.so.6 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.1) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.1.3) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.2) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.2.4) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libdl.so.2 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libdl.so.2(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libdl.so.2(GLIBC_2.1) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libm.so.6 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libm.so.6(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libpthread.so.0 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libpthread.so.0(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libpthread.so.0(GLIBC_2.1) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libpthread.so.0(GLIBC_2.2) is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
 libttf.so.2 is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# man rpm
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -rebuildddb
rpm: arguments to --root (-r) must begin with a /
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# /rpm -rebuildddb
bash: /rpm: No such file or directory
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -ivh-replacepkgs shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm
-ivh-replacepkgs: unknown option
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -ivh-replacepkgs /bin/bash is needed by shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386
-ivh-replacepkgs: unknown option
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -ivh-replacepkgs shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --nodeps
-ivh-replacepkgs: unknown option
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# rpm -i shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --force-debian --nodeps
 package shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386 is already installed
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# sudo alien rpm -i shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm --force-debian --nodeps
Unknown option: force-debian
Unknown option: nodeps
Usage: alien [options] file [...]
  file [...] Package file or files to convert.
  -d, --to-deb Generate a Debian deb package (default).
     Enables these options:
       --patch=<patch> Specify patch file to use instead of automatically
                            looking for patch in /var/lib/alien.
       --nopatch Do not use patches.
       --anypatch Use even old version os patches.
       -s, --single Like --generate, but do not create .orig
                            directory.
       --fixperms Munge/fix permissions and owners.
       --test Test generated packages with lintian.
  -r, --to-rpm Generate a Red Hat rpm package.
      --to-slp Generate a Stampede slp package.
  -l, --to-lsb Generate a LSB package.
  -t, --to-tgz Generate a Slackware tgz package.
     Enables these options:
       --description=<desc> Specify package description.
       --version=<version> Specify package version.
  -p, --to-pkg Generate a Solaris pkg package.
  -i, --install Install generated package.
  -g, --generate Generate build tree, but do not build package.
  -c, --scripts Include scripts in package.
  -v, --verbose Display each command alien runs.
      --veryverbose Be verbose, and also display output of run commands.
  -k, --keep-version Do not change version of generated package.
      --bump=number Increment package version by this number.
  -h, --help Display this help message.
  -V, --version Display alien's version number.

root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# sudo alien rpm -i shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm
File "rpm" not found.
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# sudo alien rpm shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm
File "rpm" not found.
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# sudo alien -d shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm
error: incorrect format: unknown tag
Package build failed. Here's the log:
dh_testdir
dh_testdir
dh_testroot
dh_clean -k -d
dh_clean: Compatibility levels before 5 are deprecated.
dh_installdirs
dh_installdirs: Compatibility levels before 5 are deprecated.
dh_installdocs
dh_installdocs: Compatibility levels before 5 are deprecated.
dh_installchangelogs
dh_installchangelogs: Compatibility levels before 5 are deprecated.
find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -not -name debian -print0 | \
  xargs -0 -r -i cp -a {} debian/shelxtl
dh_compress
dh_compress: Compatibility levels before 5 are deprecated.
dh_makeshlibs
dh_makeshlibs: Compatibility levels before 5 are deprecated.
dh_installdeb
dh_installdeb: Compatibility levels before 5 are deprecated.
dh_shlibdeps
dh_shlibdeps: Compatibility levels before 5 are deprecated.
dpkg-shlibdeps: error: couldn't find library libqt-mt.so.3 needed by debian/shelxtl/usr/local/xshell/xshell (ELF format: 'elf32-i386'; RPATH: '/home/evalp4/qt-x11-commercial-3.0.6//lib').
Note: libraries are not searched in other binary packages that do not have any shlibs or symbols file.
To help dpkg-shlibdeps find private libraries, you might need to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
dh_shlibdeps: dpkg-shlibdeps -Tdebian/shelxtl.substvars debian/shelxtl/usr/local/xshell/xshell debian/shelxtl/usr/local/xshell/lib/libqt-mt.so.3 debian/shelxtl/usr/local/xshell/lib/libqt-mt.so.3.0 debian/shelxtl/usr/local/xshell/lib/libgcc_s.so debian/shelxtl/usr/local/xshell/lib/libstdc++.so.5 debian/shelxtl/usr/local/xshell/lib/libstdc++.so.5.0.0 debian/shelxtl/usr/local/xshell/lib/libstdc++.so.5.0 debian/shelxtl/usr/local/xshell/lib/libqt-mt.so.3.0.6 returned exit code 2
make: [binary-arch] Error 9 (ignored)
dh_gencontrol
dh_gencontrol: Compatibility levels before 5 are deprecated.
dpkg-gencontrol: error: current host architecture 'amd64' does not appear in package's architecture list (i386)
dh_gencontrol: dpkg-gencontrol -ldebian/changelog -Tdebian/shelxtl.substvars -Pdebian/shelxtl returned exit code 255
make: *** [binary-arch] Error 9
find: `shelxtl-2009.9': No such file or directory
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads# alien -d shelxtl-2009.9-1.i386.rpm
error: incorrect format: unknown tag
mkdir: cannot create directory `shelxtl-2009.9': File exists
unable to mkdir shelxtl-2009.9: at /usr/share/perl5/Alien/Package.pm line 257.
root@linuxbox:~/Downloads#

maybe Andrew you were asking where is the file located in a different sense.....it was provided to be via an https:// website from which a person uploaded there for me to download and install. The install instructions read, must install software in /root and then use command line to run xshell, the name of the main program, this software has many other features as well, all used as strategies to solve matrix, etc. used in refining a crystal structure

The location of the file is irrelevant, you don't need to copy it to /root to install it, or anything like that. It needs INSTALLING as roo as installing is an admin task, just as applications need installing as Administrator in Windows. It's confusing at first especially for newcomers as there are 3 'roots' in Linux, the account, the mount point and the root account's home.

If you install alien, you can convert the rpm to a deb and it may be installable.

Found a .deb there.
http://sage.ucsc.edu/~wgscott/xtal/wiki/index.php/Crystallography_on_Ubuntu

Assume there will be dependency issues with older packages anyway.

Not sure if that helps, Quantal has shelxle.
http://packages.ubuntu.com/quantal/shelxle
.deb file is there
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/shelxle
and also from debian.
http://packages.debian.org/search?suite=all&section=all&arch=any&searchon=names&keywords=shelxle

Or maybe obtain the ftp link from there.
http://shelx.uni-ac.gwdg.de/SHELX/index.html
Other packages.
http://strucbio.biologie.uni-konstanz.de/ccp4wiki/index.php/Crystallography
http://www.ccp4.ac.uk/problems/ccp4onLINUX.php

Overview of install cmds.
http://martin.ankerl.com/2007/04/19/how-to-install-anything-in-ubuntu-condensed/
http://wiki.debian.org/Alien

> must install software in /root

It probably meant install *as* root, which means again as admin, which in Ubuntu only needs 'sudo'.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallingSoftware