[ILUG] rpm V's src.rpm

[Harry Duncan]

Brian Foster wrote:
>   | Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2006 15:54:53 +0100
>   | From: Pádraig Brady <P at draigBrady.com>
>   |[ ... ]
>   | Never ever do `make install` on a distro that supports package
>   | management.  You're just making an unmaintainable system and
>   | loosing the benefits of package management.  [ ... ]
>
>  "never" is a bit too strong, albeit for the OP's situation,
>  it probably is extremely good advice.

I'd be with Brian on this one....

If you rely on packages, your first port of call is going to be with
your distro's packages. Some won't be the latest version which may
cause issues for you, and some applications you are looking for simply
won't exist, try getting a package for cyrus for x64.

So, if the package doesn't exist, then you end up trawling the net to
find one built by someone else. Then the stability and maintainability
of yoru system depends on their competency and their willingness to
release a new package when the maintenance updates happen, or you'll
need their notes to see where the package put what in order to do it
yourself.

If you are working with your distro's packages, your system has a
limited lifespan, eventually the distro maintainer will drop support
for your version.

If you then try to move to third party packages, you've got to hope
that they use the same paths etc or else be very careful in package
removal.

I think the best approach really is to learn how to build your own
packages, build from source, make a package, and keep notes on it. At
least then, you'll be able to maintain your base installation without
hoping it doesn't go out of flavour with the package maintainers at
your distro, and when things go wrong, you'll actually have the first
clue where to look.

A difference could be that I'm mainly concerned with servers and not
desktops, which could greatly influence your decision wrt above.

Harry.