RE: make install over the Debian package
> Is there any danger in overwriting the files of the Debian "hurd"
> package by doing "make install" in a Hurd build tree?
>
Generally this should not be a problem. However, there are a few
potential pitfalls that you should be aware of:
1. If you are installing libraries (and even executables) that
are not part of the standard Debian package, the uninstall features
of dselect/apt will not know to remove them. This is most likely
not going to be a big issue for you (if you know how to build
your own programs, you can most likely figure out what belongs
and what can be removed later).
2. If any executables or scripts installed by your new version
have different interfaces (need different command line flags, etc.),
this may have an impact on the ability of dselect to install or
update because it will expect some set of inputs to be valid. If
the program dies or does something unexpected, dselect will view
it as an error and barf on you. Again, this can be worked around
without much effort.
So, for an able person like yourself, I can't think of any real
danger in doing a 'make install' over the running Hurd.
> It installs executables and libraries with debug information; I
> consider that an advantage. It also installs profiling libraries
> which don't exist in the Debian package; those might cause
> problems later if I install a newer Debian package and they are
> left on the disk. Anything else?
>
I've been wondering about this myself. Since the Hurd is in such
a changing state, I wonder if there is any advantage is building
all of our libraries and executables with debug information
present so that we can easily get useful information about a
failure without first having to rebuild all the components
in question.
Anyone have an opinion?
-Brent
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