[CentOS] using centos for linux appliance

[mike.redan at bell.ca]

> Thinking of using CentOS as a host for a Linux Appliance.  
> 
> 
> 1)Use the binrary rpms and install to a directory on a development
> machine  using the rpm --prefix option.   Not sure yet how to 
> specify to
> create and use an rpm database on the development machine as 
> opposed to a database on the development machine.


I use rpmstrap (http://rpmstrap.pimpscript.net/) to do this, works
pretty well. (hrm, weird, I just noticed that the maintainer abandoned
the project :O

Rpmstrap can be a little finnicky to get going at first, but after a
little bit, it works great.

> 
> Is this really a sensible approach or just using something 
> like Kickstart?
> 
> 2) There might be some packages that I want to build from 
> source. Then I am thinking I would need the exact compiler 
> used to compile the binary rpms. How would I obtain the 
> compiler and environment used to build the CentOS binary rpms?

Any compiler will do from what I have seen, for building your own
.rpm's, or for re-building/modifying centOS's .rpm's.