On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 9:31 AM, Whit Blauvelt <whit@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> But seriously, aside from the nice theory about how each package management
> system cures all dependency problems (which isn't 100% true), how many
> people have actually found themselves in trouble from, say, building their
> own LAMP stack on whatever distro, and skipping the package management
> system bottleneck entirely? Maybe I've just had rare good luck with it, but
> for me it's worked without problems, ever. That said, it's become less
> necesary in recent years, as the distro packages have gotten better. Yet I
> don't run a single system without a few programs built from source. Despite
> the theory, it has _never_ been a problem.
It actually counts for probably 20-30% of all the support necessary on
the irc channels with people trying to update php/mysql or similar
from source. Additionally, if you maintain multiple systems, it's far
easier to build it once within package management, and push out the
updates rather than building on each individual machine. Additionally,
when it comes to software audits, it's nice to be able to say "that
file came from this package, and has (not) been modified since install
using this verification method". Additionally, we get a large number
of questions about removing packages, or getting them back to a
default state. There are loads of packages that don't include 'make
uninstall' functionality, so your average user may be screwed if they
don't have a complete grasp of building
Basically it comes down to this. You're free to manage your systems as
you see fit. Source builds may well work just fine for you because you
seem to be aware of the intricacies involved. However recommending
that someone else do this isn't always the safe/smart play. If they
don't have the same grasp you do, and they blow up their system
because they didn't understand it... YOU, and to a lesser degree the
mailing list/distro are going to get the blame because you told them
it was the best way to go.
It may be ivory tower thinking, but to me it doesn't matter if it's
debian, ubuntu, centos, fedora, or whatever else. You use the tools
and package managers specific to your distro. to help keep things sane
for others.
--
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
George Orwell
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