Re: to install or not to install
QBA <jakbyto@kki.net.pl> writes:
QBA> I've been browsing through this list contents and learned that
QBA> Debian has tools letting me make deb packages from tarballs or
QBA> rpms (and source packages too of course).
(Probably 'alien', no?)
QBA> But I don't know if it's really useful and needed.
I've found that the software selection available as part of Debian is
very good.
QBA> I must say that I have a bad experience with rpms. Installing
QBA> them is trivial but configuring program after installation is a
QBA> mission impossible. So when I have a choice to install tarball
QBA> or rpm package I always choose tarball. Following instructions
QBA> included in INSTALL file gives me certainty that the program will
QBA> be well installed and configured.
Debian packages tend to be pretty good about being configurable. A
well-behaved package will preserve your existing configuration when
upgraded; failure to do so is a bug, and these tend to get taken care
of pretty well. Also, Debian packages are much better than random Red
Hat packages about not spewing things all over your disk; most
configuration files live somewhere under /etc.
QBA> And there is also a second reason to install tarballs - some cool
QBA> programs are available only in this format (e.g. w3mir).
See http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages; you can search for a
particular package there.
QBA> And here's my question: is it a bad idea to install tarballz on
QBA> Debian?
It's fine, if (a) you install under /usr/local, and (b) you don't
expect the packaging system to know about it. IME, installing things
from source is far less maintainable than letting the packaging system
do its thing.
QBA> I read that APT (mostly apt-cache) needs 2-3GB /var partition.
QBA> BTW, what does this program need so many bytes for?
It mostly needs the space to keep downloaded packages before it
installs them. 2-3GB seems excessive to me. You don't need much
space for this at all if you're installing the stable distribution off
of CDs.
--
David Maze dmaze@mit.edu http://www.mit.edu/~dmaze/
"Theoretical politics is interesting. Politicking should be illegal."
-- Abra Mitchell
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