[Gllug] Compiling/rpms

[Bruce Richardson]

On Wed, Jul 11, 2001 at 03:35:46PM +0100, Paul Brazier wrote:
> What do people think are the relative merits of compiling from tar.gz
> source code against installing from an rpm (or debian equivalent)?
> Are srpms a middle ground that gives the dependency-checking benefits of
> rpm's with the machine optimization or tar.gz's?

Yes;)

Packaging tools make life much easier for sysadmins, with the
book-keeping and automated install/uninstall scripts.  If your
distribution makes it's packages according to a coherent and sensible
policy it also makes for a consistent and well-integrated set-up.  Where
a package has a diligent and intelligent maintainer, the time saved in
not having to track down patches and experiment to see what works with
what is well worth it.  So packages let you concentrate your energies on
the areas where your attention is really needed.

Where I do need to customise, if I can get the source package to do what
I want then I compile from the source package.  Then I get the benefits
of both worlds (tarball flexibility and package tool accounting).  It
isn't always possible to get the source rpm to do what you want -
sometimes because of the limitations of the packaging tool but mostly
because dipshit package maintainers have written their package-building
scripts short-sightedly, so that they fail if you don't choose the same
options they did (duh!).  It is perfectly possible to create source
packages which build their file-lists dynamically - a message I would
like to wrap round a brick and throw through the windows of certain
package maintainers.

Compiling source tarballs gives you the ultimate flexibility but
installing them can quickly make a real mess of /usr/local.  My solution
to that is to use Stow - a GNU tool which keeps /usr/local tidy by
installing each app entirely into it's own directory tree and then
creating symlinks in /usr/local.  Stow is a really simple and elegant
solution - I liked it so much I wrote an article about it.

Which reminds me, I have an editor to chase...

You can find stow in the GNU software pages on http://www.gnu.org/ and
download it from ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/stow/

-- 
Bruce

Remember you're a Womble.
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