Cannot install application on a virtual dedicated server

[waydown]

Hi,
I’m new to Linux so please bear with me. I’m trying to install an application “antiword-0.37-3.rh9.rf.i386.rpm” on a Fedora (I think) virtual dedicated server. When I use the command: rpm -i antiword-0.37-3.rh9.rf.i386.rpm to install and run the application I get the following errors:
error: cannot open Packages index using db3 - Permission denied (13)
error: cannot open Packages database in /var/lib/rpm
warning: antiword-0.37-3.rh9.rf.i386.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 6b8d79e6
error: cannot open Packages database in /var/lib/rpm

I don’t know what these errors mean and how to overcome them. I wonder if anyone has any suggestions? I would be very grateful.

 

[IRudebwoy]

Make sure you are logged in as root. Installing packages requires it.

BTW, it looks like a Red Hat 9 package. Try

yum install antiword

instead. It might be available in the repositories.

 

[RhythmAce]

I don't have a clue either. Are you at the command shell such as bash or sh? It looks like you may be in the command mode of a database server. Yu also need t be in the same directory as the .rpm file for the command to work as you have written it. If none of this is the case, then your file associations are messed up. If you have an rpm based distro, you may be able to use yum which is a front-end for rpm. To use it, you'd simply type 'yum install antiword' and it will check for any dependencies as well and download any that are needed. To see if you have yum, type "rpm -q yum".