Re: make vs rpm vs srpm vs yum : questions about package management in Linux.
- From: Dan Espen <daneNO@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 23:33:35 GMT
Rahul <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Having been recently exposed to the arcana of software installation on
Linux (RHEL in particular) I have a few nagging questions:
Hi again Rahul.
(1) What's the difference between an rpm and an srpm (source rpm)? I did
google around before I posted and got the impression that an srpm was
more "customizable" with respect to architecture etc. I was referred to
the rpm --rebuild option several times in the past when Fedora had a
package I wanted as a rpm but not RHEL.
In general rpms are binaries, srpms are source code.
But if its customizable what's the difference between that and a "from
source" install.
srpms are more customizable because you can run configure and
change options.
(2) RPM's from what I read ( http://www.rpm.org/max-rpm/index.html ) were
an abstraction designed to shield the user from the hassles of package
installation. So, what additional utility does the "yum" layer (or apt /
ebuild etc.) provide?
Yum and apt check dependencies and automatically install
additional packages if needed.
(3) Other than the default repo from where my RHEL yum pulls software off
I believe there are other repos. I've heard DAG
(http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/) been mentioned. Fedora too has its own repo.
Is it advisable to point to these too in a quest to have access to a
greater range of packages? Or is that plain stupid?
Last time I checked DAG it wasn't being actively updated.
I've been using Livna on my FC8 system.
(4) Is there no elegant way of having multiple versions of a code on a
Linux system? Say I have Packages A B and C that need Python2 and X Y Z
that need Python3. How can I satisfy this requirement. I've been often
chided for having multiple versions of a code on my system (or installing
software outside of yum / rpm) but isn't this a practical issue that
other people face too?
No, most people just install current packages.
If you really need to you can install from source.
Usually a configure for source will go to /usr/local.
Most configure scripts accept the --prefix option so you can
run configure like this:
../configure --prefix=/home/my/packages
That's easy and simple for some packages and can get
really complex for others.
(5) Is it advisable to *never* do a configure;make;make install; I can
always do a rpmbuild and then rpm -ihv right? That way all the packages I
install will be registered with the rpm package manager. Or not? What are
the pitfalls?
The pitfall is lots of things depend on lots of other things.
You're build a web of interrelationships that can easily get out of hand.
A few isolated packages might not be a big problem.
All of KDE, for example, would be a big problem.
.
- Prev by Date: Re: yum installs Tkinter in a way visible to only one python installation
- Next by Date: Re: make vs rpm vs srpm vs yum : questions about package management in Linux.
- Previous by thread: Re: yum installs Tkinter in a way visible to only one python installation
- Next by thread: Re: make vs rpm vs srpm vs yum : questions about package management in Linux.
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
