On 11/25/05, Gerard Beekmans <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Jeremy's idea of using portions of that hint has merit, but I agree the > hint as-is isn't suitable for the book.
I was going to post something along similar lines. I have it sitting in my Drafts folder, so will just cut-n-paste it. I would like to propose using the DESTDIR approach to install packages in LFS. The installation steps for most packages are as follows: tar -xvzf $pkg-$ver.tar.bz2 && cd $pkg-$ver && ./configure --prefix=/usr && make && make DESTDIR=/var/tmp/$pkg-$ver && cd $pkg-$ver && tar cf - . | (cd / ; tar xf - ) There are multiple advantages that this offers compared to the current way of installing directly into the final destination: * Provides a rudimentary package manager without need for additional tools. * This is how the major distros do it, so it is a well tested alternative. * This will allow users to upgrade packages in place (i.e. even when they are currently in use). * It allows manipulating the installed files before they are relocated to their final destination. This will make the patches that can never be sent upstream (such as coreutils-remove-XXX.patches redundant). * Provide a clear distinction between installation and post-installation configuration. Currently (and this is especially true for GNOME in BLFS), removing packages can leave the system in an inconsistent state. With the DESTDIR based approach, two additional sub-sections can be added: post-install-config and post-removal-config. This is especially useful for folks using the pkg-user approach (an approach that the book recommends) of pkg management. * It teaches folks more about creating a distribution (not just installing packages), which IMO is the purpose of LFS. Disadvantages: * It makes the instructions slightly more complex. * Causes problems for folks who don't want a package manager. What do other LFSers think? -- Tushar Teredesai mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/~tushar/ -- http://linuxfromscratch.org/mailman/listinfo/lfs-dev FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/faq/ Unsubscribe: See the above information page
