[ILUG] Debian or Fedora?

[Liam Bedford]

Rick Moen wrote:
> Quoting Liam Bedford (lbedford at lbedford.org):
> 
> 
>>Out of interest, what's the recommended way to install a new kernel on 
>>Fedora, if it's not in fedora (say 2.4.24-ck1 or whatever)?
> 
> 
> Fetch it with yum, if it's in a repository.  If not, roll your own.
> 
> 
>>Is there an easy way to get it into the package management system,
>>or do you have to forget about the tripe that is the rpm database and go 
>>back to the slackware way?
> 
> 
> Considering that there aren't dependencies on the kernel, not having it
> in the package database really wouldn't be an issue -- or are you making
> some point I'm missing?
> 
I quite like the way that the kernel packages integrate with the grub 
packages, to add a new line without having to go and edit things by 
hand. I quite like being able to rpm -e kernel-2.5.23-pre4 without 
having to remember which files in /boot and /lib are the right ones.

There are some dependencies on the kernels though.. the new module tools 
for 2.6 for example.

> If you're saying it's necessary and desirable to have a pointy-clicky
> way of running bleeding-edge kernels, I question the premise.
> 
Nope.. I'm saying that despite the apparent complexity of using 
make-kpkg to install a new kernel, there are a few advantages to it 
which you lose by rolling it by hand. On any distro one can compile the 
kernel by hand and drop it into /boot and /lib themselves. Just as much 
as on any distro one can compile any random application and install it 
themselves, without using the package management system. But people seem 
to prefer a file in /var which lists what files are installed, and 
where. Buggered if I know why they like that though.

L.