On Thu, 3 Aug 2000, Paul Smith wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Is it better to pull down source packages(.tar) or rpm packages?
> Recently I've been installing new programs on my Redhat machine (mysql,
> php, and such) and have found it easier to pull down the source
> packages, compile it, and configure. But most of these packages (incl.
> Apache), according to their documentation get installed under
> /usr/local/"program". The rpm seems to install them elsewhere. Is this
> for security? Which would be the preferred and safest method to use rpm
> or source? I realize you can customize the rpm packages as well.
>
I guess you're better off by installing RPMs, mainly because that is the
default package management system in Red Hat and you may run into some
interesting situations if you install from tarballs all the time. For
example, not so long ago someone explained in the RPM list how he could
not install a certain program because it required a given version of the
kernel. It turned out he installed the kernel from the source code
available at kernel.org instead of using the RPM file. Whenever he tried
to install the new program using the RPM file, it would check the RPM
database and wouldn't not recognize the new kernel as being installed at
all.
I hope all this makes sense. I sort of ranted a bit. :-)
In any case, if you're worried about performance issues, make sure you
compile and install from RPM source files (src.rpm). Also, if you have a
hard time finding the files go to http://www.filewatcher.org and do a
search for whateverapp*src.rpm. You may also find http://www.rpmfind.org
quite useful in that sense.
------------------------------
Nitebirdz
http://www.linuxnovice.org
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