On Mon, 14 Sep 1998, Mason Loring Bliss wrote: : On Mon, Sep 14, 1998 at 04:36:13PM -0500, Nathan E Norman wrote: : : > : 1) Once I've got everything installed in a basic way, how do I build and : > : install the world myself? In NetBSD, it's as easy as "cd /usr/src ; make : > : build". What's the Debian equivalent? : > : > There isn't one - most Debian packages come precompiled. This makes it : > easier for new users to install things. : : Um... Okay. I guess what I'm looking for is more of a "core system" sort : of answer. Id est, I'm wondering how I go about configuring a kernel and : building userland. Or, is it the case that in Debian *everything* is a : package? That's sort of an intriguing possibility.
Well, the idea is for everything on a Debian system to be installed from a package, though Debian recognises that you may wish to use local, home-grown, or software from some other source, and this is indeed possible (and tools are available to make the packaging system aware of your additions). Most of "userland" is either part of the "base" package, or a member of a standard or required package. : Is kernel configuration not done through compilation? I'm quite new : to GNU/Linux, as far as real administration and development issues go, so : perhaps my mental model is wrong. Yes, the kernel can and should be recompiled to match your system. Most users grab the kernel sources themselves, untar, configure, and compile. However, Debian has an attractive wrapper for this process - kernel-package. I love this system - I can maintain multiple kernel source trees on my compilation machine and generate kernel-packages for my entire network. The package contains the kernel, appropriate modules, and the proper scripts to ensure everything installs properly. However, as I said, if you want to do it all yourself, Debian won't stop you from doing that either. : Basically, other than Quake and Netscape, everything on my home box was : compiled right there... Kernel, standard programs, X... Everything. I'd : like to start using Debian the same way. I have no particular *need* to : do this, other than the fact that I like playing around with random : sources and customizing things mildly, as desired... Well, I won't stop you from compiling X yourself if you want :) : > If you're using the ftp or nfs methods for dselect [...] it's easy : > to install the latest version of package x. : : So, am I correct in guessing that everything's a package, including kernel : sources and standard things like "vi" and "ls" and "ps," etc? Or, are you : describing things from a non-developer's point of view, with a different : model existing for developers? No, I think you've got it. : My view of what I'm looking for is fairly well described in the following : NetBSD web page: <http://www.netbsd.org/Releases/current.html>. : : BTW: My frequent references to NetBSD things aren't an attempt at trolling... : NetBSD is simply what I'm more familiar with... No problem! I'm trying to gain more experience with BSDish systems since we have a bunch of FreeBSDers in outr Local UNIX users group. [ snip ] : I assume there's an equivalent system for Debian...? You should take a look at the archive. You may browse it via http at http://debian.midco.net/debian (the official archive is at ftp.debian.org, but isn't available via http from there. debian.midco.net is an archive I administrate; there are several others!) -- Nathan Norman MidcoNet 410 South Phillips Avenue Sioux Falls, SD mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.midco.net finger [EMAIL PROTECTED] for PGP Key: (0xA33B86E9)
