lists Guillot wrote: > [...] > You know, I've always been uncomfortable with building from source for > precisely the reasons you say, but it never occurred to me to build my > own RPMs. I somehow had an idea that it would be a complicated process > that only people who *distribute* software (and not all of them!) > would find worth doing, and that for your home system you just had to > go with "make install".
The "make install" procedure has some obvious drawbacks you might have just observed: uninstalling the software is a problem, the consistency of your system (RPM database) is a problem, etc. When you install software via "make install", then the RPM package manager does not know about it and cannot resolve dependencies or tell you about conflicts with already installed software. Therefore, you're better off installing all your software as RPM packages (if possible). > I'm going to follow your advice. Johannes intimated above that > checkinstall has a bad reputation, and you also don't seem to think > too highly of it with your "(at least)". So what would be a good tool > for this? I see that I have rpmbuild on my system so I'm tempted to > use that, though the man page is not exactly a detailed instructions > manual. checkinstall is a useful tool but has also some drawbacks. I think just give it a try. I would recommend the following order for installing new software (note that this is my personal opinion): 1) Think twice whether you need a new version or new software. New software will not only have new features, but most likely also new bugs. 2) Try and find a ready-to-use RPM with the version you like and built for your system (e.g. SuSE 10.0). You should be able to install this RPM without problems. If the RPM has lots of dependencies, it might be easier to add the corresponding repository as installation source (if a repository is available). 3) If a ready-to-use RPM does not exist, try to get a source-RPM (SRPM) and rebuild it on your system using "rpmbuild". This will create an RPM package on your local system which can then be installed. 4) If neither 2 nor 3 is possible, compile the source code on your local system and a) as an expert create your on .spec file and an RPM package or b) as a "normal" user use checkinstall to create an RPM package. This RPM package can then be installed as usual. You could also "borrow" a .spec file from an older SuSE SRPM and adjust it according to your needs (and for the new version). 5) As a last fallback solution, you can use "make install". However, think twice and note the obvious problems it might cause. If you want to learn more about RPM, have a look at the "Maximum RPM" book: http://www.rpm.org/max-rpm/ - however, it might be a bit tough since it is targeted rather at the developer than a normal user. The checkinstall homepage can be found here: http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/checkinstall/ - but I am sure you also find a SuSE repository that offers checkinstall RPMs. Hope this helps. Th. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
