Re: Installing software without a package manager

[Casey Boone <caseyboone@gmail.com>]

i am with koree on this one, it all depends upon what you are
installing, there is a package for it, if you have that package
installed, and how you install it from tarball

i have set up boxes using fcX as a base (minimal install + yum update +
developer tools) and then never use the packages again except to update
the kernel or to install some development lib. on these boxes all public
facing services get built from source.

i also have some boxes that have services installed which dont have
packages from mainline, always install them somewhere under
/usr/local/servicename so as to interfere as little as possible with
anything installed from packages.  these boxes are pretty much installed
only from packages except for stuff i needed a tarball build for.  i
suppose i could bother learning to properly build a .spec and make a
proper .rpm but usually it isnt something important enough or popular
enough to bother with that.

while i agree that having 3rd party stuff installed can make debugging a
problem harder, i dont submit bug requests when i am using a product out
of spec either.

Casey


Koree A. Smith wrote:
> I would have to slightly disagree.  But, I will admit that it's a
> slippery slope.  Especially if you're installing source or other
> versions of software that your system's package management already
> has.  For example, I have installed spamassassin from source.  The
> reason is to keep up with newer versions, as RHEL 3 is horribly
> behind, but, I can no longer use up2date to update that package, and
> everyone's bayesian filter data is locked into the version I have now.
>  It would be a pain to roll it back.
>
> However, I've installed Undernet ircd from source, and it's not an
> issue.  RHEL3 doesn't have an ircd package.
>
> I would agree that installing drivers or libraries, and not using your
> package management is a bad idea.  Unless you *really* know what
> you're doing.
>
> This is just my opinion, of course.
>
> Koree
>
> On 2/23/06, Steven Pritchard <steve@silug.org> wrote:
>   
>> On Thu, Feb 23, 2006 at 08:55:36AM -0600, NZG wrote:
>>     
>>> On Tuesday 21 February 2006 7:04 pm, Steven Pritchard wrote:
>>>       
>>>> On Tue, Feb 21, 2006 at 06:16:45PM -0600, hbrhodes wrote:
>>>>         
>>>>> i went to nvidia.com, and downloaded the appropriate shell script (or
>>>>> whatever it was).
>>>>>           
>>>> *DO NOT* install the nvidia drivers direct from nvidia.com unless you
>>>> want to royally screw up your Fedora system.
>>>>         
>>> Really? I admit that I don't know much about Fedora specifically, but this
>>> works wonderfully on Debian systems, which are certainly less popular than RH
>>> I'm suprised if NVIDIA doesn't release RPM's.
>>>       
>> I think you missed my point.  Installing *any* software without using
>> your distribution's package management system is a Bad Idea.  Once
>> you've installed something, nvidia drivers, perl modules straight from
>> CPAN, anything using autopackage, whatever, you've compromised the
>> integrity of your system.  Sooner or later, you *will* have problems
>> as a result.
>>
>> Package managers are one of the things that make modern Linux (and
>> some other Unix) systems so wonderfully managable.  In this case, I
>> also think it is a lot easier to install the nvidia stuff from
>> rpm.livna.org instead of straight from nvidia.com, but that's just a
>> bonus...
>>
>> Steve
>> --
>> steve@silug.org           | Southern Illinois Linux Users Group
>> (618)398-3000             | See web site for meeting details.
>> Steven Pritchard          | http://www.silug.org/
>>
>> -
>> To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@silug.org with
>> "unsubscribe silug-discuss" in the body.
>>
>>
>>     
>
>
> --
> Koree A. Smith
> --
> koreesmith@gmail.com
>
> -
> To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@silug.org with
> "unsubscribe silug-discuss" in the body.
>
>   


-
To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@silug.org with
"unsubscribe silug-discuss" in the body.