Convert RPM Files to DEB in Ubuntu

You may come across software that is only available in .RPM format, which you cannot install in Ubuntu as it uses .deb format. There is however a tool called Alien, which can convert RPM files to DEB files.

"Alien is a program that converts between the rpm, dpkg, stampede slp, and slackware tgz file formats. If you want to use a package from another distribution than the one you have installed on your system, you can use alien to convert it to your preferred package format and install it.

Despite the large version number, alien is still (and will probably always be) rather experimental software. It has been used by many people for many years, but there are still many bugs and limitations.

Alien should not be used to replace important system packages, like sysvinit, shared libraries, or other things that are essential for the functioning of your system. Many of these packages are set up differently by Debian and Red Hat, and packages from the different distributions cannot be used interchangeably. In general, if you can't uninstall the package without breaking your system, don't try to replace it with an alien version."

To install the Alien package, make sure the 'Universe' repository is enabled and then enter the following commands into your terminal:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install alien

Now, to install a .rpm file, you need to convert it to .deb. To keep things simple, place your RPM file in your 'Home' folder, otherwise you will have to CD into the directory of the .rpm file. Conversion is done using this command:

sudo alien -k name_of_rpm_file.rpm

Finally, you can install your newly created .deb file:

sudo dpkg -i name_of_deb_file.deb

Link:
Alien