Re: KDE/Qt Status in Debian dists
J.H.M. Dassen wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 07, 1999 at 05:11:27 -0400, Sean wrote:
> > Just bypass the whole package manager, download the source, compile and
> > install.
>
> Bypassing the package manager is usually a bad idea, unless you compile the
> source to install outside the package manager controlled directories, e.g.
> by --prefix=/usr/local, and if necessary use "equivs" to tell the package
> management system about this software.
When you install compiled source it defaults to installing under /usr/local (99.9% of
the time). And I don't like the idea of telling the package manager about stuff that
I've compiled myself, as I think that is a recipie for disaster. What the package
manager doesn't know won't hurt it.
Currently I'm running Debian 2.1 with a lot of compiled software on it. When I was
using 2.0, I downloaded egcs-1.1.1 and the pgcc patches, built the new
pentium-optimized compilers (I use a dual ppro system), and uninstalled the debian
egcs packages. I also downloaded the qt, kde, windowmaker, gtk-1.2.1, gimp-1.0.4,
and gobs of other sourcecode which I have since compiled with pentium-optimizations
without any problems. It all gets thrown into /usr/local/ be default so it's easy to
see what binaries have been produced from compilation and which ones have come from
packages. I then even used apt-get dist-upgrade to move from 2.0 to 2.1. apt-get
downloaded all the updates for the deb packages that I have installed and left all
the stuff I've compiled alone. Everything still works great.
Personally this is why I like Debian. It lets you use the package manager for as
much of the system as you want, but you can still compile as much or as little
software as you like to suit your particular needs. And for some things, I much
prefer to "update" by downloading a new tarball, and running configure && make
&& make install (after slipping in the pentiumpro optimizations, of course).
Sean
Reply to: