Re: theory: binary vs. source
On Fri, Dec 21, 2001 at 01:13:47AM +0100, Timo --Blazko-- Boewing wrote:
> i got a somewhat theoretical question: in /etc/apt/sources.list there is
> a destinction between deb abd deb-src packages. Are the deb-src packs
> "make'able" packages?
In the sense that debian/rules is (almost always) a Makefile, yes. You
usually build them with dpkg-buildpackage, though.
> *** core question *** :^)
> But the question of interest: on nowadays PCs - assuming a "every user"
> system with e.g. X-Window w/ GNOME etc. - may there be a noticeable
> performance (e.g. > 5%-20%) between i386 binaries or optimized
> self-comiled apps?
> *** /core question *** :^)
The rumours I've heard and the very occasional experience I've had
suggest that it isn't worth it for most applications, but it may be
worth it for core libraries and probably worth it for the kernel. I find
the management burden of compiling everything myself to be too great - I
maintain over two dozen Debian packages myself, and having to
effectively co-maintain many more than that would eat up far more than
the free time I have available.
> Btw.: assuming i only would use deb-src, will it get the source archives
> including all dependencies so that i can comfortably compile all the
> stuff myself?
Assuming you're running apt >= 0.5 (woody or sid), 'apt-get build-dep
<package>' will get build-dependencies. Of course, this assumes the
build-dependencies in the source package are correct; this is much more
the case these days than it used to be, but it isn't universally so.
--
Colin Watson [cjwatson@flatline.org.uk]
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