[TriLUG] Deb vs. RPM (was Icecast.conf and debian)

[Andrew Perrin]

The short answer is: yes, deb like rpm has a source package solution. I
generally don't use it in this situation, though, because I'm concerned
about "polluting" my system with packages from different release
levels; if I build from source, I can install in /usr/local, guaranteeing
that the install is in a separate place from package installs.

Frankly, I'm not sure I really grasp the value of source packages. The
tarball solution is awfully well standardized by now, to the point where I
generally don't even have to read the instructions, just untar, configure,
make, make install. less INSTALL is usually just for when I manage to
break something :)

ap

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew J Perrin - andrew_perrin at unc.edu - http://www.unc.edu/~aperrin
 Assistant Professor of Sociology, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
      269 Hamilton Hall, CB#3210, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3210 USA


On Tue, 16 Oct 2001, Tanner Lovelace wrote:

> Andrew Perrin wrote:
> 
> > Thanks - I'm concerned about moving to testing for my office machine,
> > because I really need it rock-solid. And the 1.3.11 deb package requires a
> > higher libc6 than is in potato. So for now I'm going to stick with the
> > source build.  Once the shift is made and 1.3.11 is in stable, I'll
> > revisit.
> 
> 
> Not to start any flamewars, but... O:-)
> 
> I run into this problem a lot whenever I want to install
> a package from the experimental version of Mandrake (Cooker).
> Since I don't install Cooker on my machine (I usually have
> a stable version installed), very often the newer version
> will be compiled with newer libraries.  As long as they're
> still source compatible, I can just grab the source rpm
> and type
> 
> rpm --rebuild rpmname-version-release.src.rpm
> 
> and it will rebuild the rpm for me (using the libraries
> already installed).  I can then install the rpm and gain
> all the benefits that come with using a package manager.
> 
> I don't know anything about debian, so can someone tell me...
> Is there something equivalent for Debian packages?  Is it
> as easy to use?
> 
> Also, I was curious... The person that volunteered to
> do the presentation on RPM.  Are you planning on focusing
> on the Redhat version of RPM?  The Mandrake version is
> slightly different (whether it's better or not is a
> matter of opinion).  If you'd like some help with the
> presentation, I'd be willing to talk about the Mandrake
> "extras" for RPM....
> 
> Tanner
> -- 
> Tanner Lovelace | lovelace at wayfarer.org | http://wtl.wayfarer.org/
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