[CentOS] Compile vs. RPM

[Mickael Maddison]

Monday, January 9, 2006, 8:32:07 AM, you wrote:

> On Mon, 2006-01-09 at 14:35 +0000, Karanbir Singh wrote:
>> Eduardo Grosclaude wrote:
>> > 
>> > 
>> > 2006/1/9, Peter Farrow <peter at farrows.org <mailto:peter at farrows.org>>:
>> > 
>> >     You can reduce still further the chances of no rpms being available by
>> >     adding the DAG repository to your yum.conf file.  This adds a lot of
>> >     stuff that would otherwise take a bit of finding....
>> > 
>> >     Becareful though, you should be aware of the possible consequences and
>> >     pitfalls of updating from multiple repositories....generally I use dag
>> >     to get stuff that isn't available from the standard yum repos... but not
>> >     for an os update...
>> > 
>> > 
>> > Is EVERY package intended  for RHEL (DAG or otherwise) just CentOS 
>> > compatible right out of the box?
>> 
>> yes - as long as you match the release and update cycle ( if required )
>> 
>> if you come across something that isnt compatible - let the packager 
>> know and let us know as well.
>> 
> right ... everything that is written for RHEL should work on CentOS too.

> The only issue might be things that look specifically for something
> in /etc/redhat-release.

> Obviously, we can't put the same line that RH puts in their product, so
> some installers (like Oracle) that specifically look for a string from
> upstream will not initially work with CentOS.

> It is usually very easy to get these to work .. look at this example and
> search for redhat-release on the page:

> http://www.puschitz.com/InstallingOracle10g.shtml

> And it will tell you how to change your /etc/redhat-release file to
> allow there installers to function.

> Thanks,
> Johnny Hughes


Ok.  So basically, every response on this list feels that RPM's are
sufficiently stable, are created fast enough to address security
concerns that come up, and have all the 'normal' functionality that
pretty much anyone needs... is that a fair statement?

My reasons over the years for compiling stem from starting on Solaris,
then Solaris for Intel, then to RedHat 7-9, to WBEL and now CentOS.
While there have been a lot of changes to the OS's, the compiling and
installing has remained pretty much the same throughout.  I have had
some problems at times getting dependancies worked out, but at the end
of the day have always acheived the desired result eventually.

The one thing I've always liked about installing from tarball
distributions is that I prefix everything into /usr/local -- so it's
easy to find all the pieces.  This is perhaps the one thing that I
find most annoying about RPM; spreading things all over the place.  Of
course, being able to custom compile modules etc. has worked well.

QUESTION:  Do most of you cron the yum updates, or do you watch for
new RPMs and update "manually"?

Thanks.
Mickael