What is a good practice?? Is it to install programs from source or RPM?
It depends (no pun intended) on a number of things, such as your level of expertise, the amount of time you have, whether you are installing a package designed for the distro and version you are using and so on. I install from RPMs when I can, and from source if there is no RPM or I run into trouble.
A couple of tips:
1. When installing from a binary RPM, use the urpmi command (not "rpm -i"), as this will try to install any dependencies. Usually it does a pretty good job.
2. When installing from source, use a source RPM rather than a tarball if possible. Compling a source RPM will give you a binary RPM which you install, and this will make sure that things go in the right places and can be uninstalled easily.
3. If you want to install a package for which there is no RPM, you have some time on your hands, and you feel like contributing to the community, make an RPM from it. It's not as easy as just doing configure-make-make install, but it's not rocket science either.
Sir Robin
--
"I'm very into Britney Spears' early work, before she sold out, so mostly her, um, finger painting and macaroni art."
Dawn - BtVS
Robin Turner IDMYO Bilkent Universitesi Ankara 06533 Turkey
www.bilkent.edu.tr/~robin
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