Re: Package manager & tar.gz apps
Alphonse Ogulla <ogulla@uonbi.ac.ke> writes:
> Just wondering, what happens to the system when you remove an
> installed package or component of a package and replace/update with
> a tar.gz compiled From source application? Can this break the system
> -- leading to dependancy issues?
"Don't do that." :-) If you're going to install things from source,
do it in a place not controlled by the package manager, such as
/usr/local or $HOME. In some cases you can leave the Debian version
installed but just not use it; in other cases (MTAs come to mind) you
can use the equivs package to create an empty package that causes dpkg
to believe that a package is installed.
You definitely should NOT './configure --prefix=/usr; make install' a
random source package, especially one that exists as a Debian
package. If dpkg or APT decides the package should be upgraded, it'll
blindly overwrite your version, which it has no idea exists.
> I'm asking because I had to install module-init-tools, e2fsprogs and
> procps (requisite for kernel 2.6.0) from source simply because I
> couldn't find the respective deb package or probably the deb package
> failed on my system.
All of those are in unstable, and rumor is that you can run 2.6.0
kernels under unstable without too much trouble. If you're brave
enough to run a Linux kernel that young, you're probably brave enough
to run unstable too. :-)
--
David Maze dmaze@debian.org http://people.debian.org/~dmaze/
"Theoretical politics is interesting. Politicking should be illegal."
-- Abra Mitchell
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