How do I use ipkg terminal installer?

[toadatrix]

I have a C860 running the new Cacko ROM (v1.20 released March 5).  As everyone knows (even me), some ipk packages don\'t show up in the Add/Remove Programs window.  I want to try to install such a package from the terminal using the ipkg command.  I have a couple of questions:

1)  Some of the tutorials I have seen give directions like this:

      ipkg -force-depends -d ram install libpcre3_4.3-4_arm.ipk
      ln -s /mnt/ram/usr/lib/libpcre* /usr/lib/

     The problem with this is that when I enter \"ram\" as the destination
     I get an error telling me that I must enter either a directory or \"root\".
     Should I be entering \"root\"?  If I don\'t enter \"root\" what directory
     would I enter?  Also, if I enter a directory what would I put in the
     second line instead of \"ram\"?

2)  When you use the ipkg terminal command is it always necessary to
     to enter the dependicies, or is the package smart enough to do this
     for me?

3)  What if my binary is a tar file?  What directory do I untar it to before
     trying to install it?

4)  Finally, is there any problem uninstalling using this method if things
     don\'t go right?  What would the command to uninstall be?

Thanks for your help to a linux newbie.

[doseas]

If a .pkg doesn\'t show up in Add/Remove Programs, then chances are that installing it from the command line won\'t work either.  Not showing up is usually caused by either a corrupt .pkg file or a newer (Opie style) .pkg format. The command line is good for those packages that give a \"something went wrong\" message.  

1) by default, ipkg (at least the version that comes with the Sharp ROM) only understands two \"aliases\" for destination: root and tmpinst.  However, you can add your own aliases for frequently used paths.  You need to edit /home/etc/ipkg.conf to do so.  I have added these two aliases to mine:
dest sd /mnt/card
dest cf /mnt/cf

That way, I can use -d sd or -d cf.  If you don\'t use the -d option, you can specify a path with the -dest option.

2) If you use the -force-depends option, it just issues a warning for unresolved dependencies; without this option, it produces an error.

3) Typically, with a tar file, you need to put it in a temp directory, untar it, then move the files to appropriate directories by hand.  If you\'re lucky enough to have one designed to install on a Zaurus (rare), you might be able to put the tar file at the root of the install & simply untar it into place.

4) Usually, to uninstall a file that was installed with #3, you need to delete the files by hand.  Again, if you\'re very lucky, perhaps the author of the package will have provided an install/uninstall shell script to do it, but I haven\'t seen one yet on any Zaurus package.