Re: Installing Non-Debian Programs w/out Apt -- what effect?
On Thu, Feb 06, 2003 at 06:48:47PM -0000, Colin Ellis wrote:
> General Rule - anything not part of the distribution, compile from source
> and use the installation prefix of /usr/local/
>
> This will keep your custom installation separate from the distribution and
> give you an easy upgrade route later on.
>
> If the program needs it's own shared libraries then don't forget to add the
> /usr/local/lib path to /etc/ld.so.conf.
I like to take this a step further; I prefer to install anything that
isn't in a Debian package within my home directory. I have
~/ports/usr, ~/ports/bin, ~/ports/var etc.
This makes it utterly impossible for a bad port to break my system,
and the worst I ever have to do in order to roll back is to wipe out
these directories and restore from a backup.
This also eases my backup strategy. I don't bother with /usr, /bin or
other directories which can be reconstructed entirely by reinstalling
the same set of packages. Since /home is backed up completely, the
software I'd have to track down and reconfigure is fully backed up.
Of course, YMMV -- this won't work so well if you're installing for
multiple users on a single system.
Brian McGroarty
http://www.mcgroarty.net
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