On Thu, Jun 29, 2006 at 09:20:11AM +0100, tim hall wrote: > actually compiling it from source shouldn't be particularly > complicated. I know there is a psychological brick wall around package > building Problems with users trying to compile source code (on debian): - It is often necessary to install certain -dev packages first. At the same time, it is rarely obvious to a user that a missing -dev package is the reason for it not compiling. - Mixing package-managed programs and manually-compiled programs gets messy. E.g. If the user compiles/installs from source, and then finally a proper package becomes available. It is not straightforward to cleanly upgrade from the self-compiled version to the packaged version. Problems with developers trying to maintain packages: - Too many package formats. - Too complicated package formats. But developers should (I think) take on the responsibility to make things easier for users. -- Ryan Heise http://www.ryanheise.com/
