RPMS? (was Re: [TriLUG] What's the Fairest Distro of All?)

[Alan Porter]

 > Now, an interesting sidenote here is that this is
 > actually one area where source based distributions
 > have a huge advantage.  By definition, something
 > built for source is built for your distribution...

I would not go that far.

When a package manager releases a package for a specific
distribution, he makes sure that the package adheres to
some distibution-specific rules:

  - Does the package access any files in distro-specific
    places (like the /etc/sysconfig/networking example)?

  - Does the package adhere to distro-specific coding
    standards?

  - Does the package use distro-specific user id's or
    group id's?

  - Does the package make another package obsolete
    (example: inetd replaces inetd)?

Take a look at packages.debian.org.  Each package contains
an original tarball and a "diff" file.  That shows what
the package maintainer has changed to make it work with
that specific distribution.

Granted, most vanilla packages will not require any
diffs.  But packages that have lots of interactions or
system requirements will be customized for each distro.

So don't assume that "built from source" means
"compatible with my system".


Alan