On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 5:36 PM, Mohan R <[email protected]> wrote: > Is there any particular need for compiling Softwares from the source?? is > it not enough to get the packages and install them? >
Few reasons- * To link against local libraries. The configure scripts are intelligent enough to find out what is present and what is not. For example, the BlueZ Bluetooth utils package (Debian 4.x) leaves certain parts like the pass key agent to be compiled locally (the C version) * Extreme cases - In a very security sensitive installation, you can audit the entire or portions of the source code before deployment. * If the software is dependent on hardware, in most cases, you will have to compile it yourself. * In some cases the binary package, for general usage might not have compiled in special features of the software (which can be selected in the configure script) The greatest way to learn 'all about' Linux is to build it from scratch. Compile every package, including compiling GCC itself through boot strapping! Search for "Linux From Scratch". < A recommendation for every student and people with lots of time. Arun -- Arun Venkataswamy http://arun289.wordpress.com _______________________________________________ ILUGC Mailing List: http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc
