distributions and app. compatability

[polymorph]

another very newbie question:

with all of these different distributions, are they each individual enough that you can only say, run Debian oriented apps on Debian OS and Red Hat oriented apps on Red Hat OS. Are none, some, or all apps limited to running on only one specific distribution?

thanks again.

[Timothy L. Miller]

If you get .rpm files, they will just about universally work. Because of the proliferation, almost every distributions contains a program to allow you to install .rpm's. Of course, if your distribution isn't rpm -based, it's best to try to use the proper method. If you use precompiled installable binaries(.bin) (opera, sun's java runtime), then they will work in any distro of linux. Also, if you have the correct compiling packages, if you download source (.tar.gz) and install that way it will work with any distro.