[CentOS] Best way to install non-official packages?

[Michael A. Peters]

Thorsten Kampe wrote:
> Sooner or later everyone needs to install a package that is not 
> included on the official installation CDs/DVD. Until now I just used 
> rpmseek.com and Rpmfind.Net but of course this is far from optimal for 
> security and compatibility to reasons.
> 
> So what is the recommended way to get and install "non official" 
> packages that are not part of the repository?!

There are some 3rd party repositories I trust - such as EPEL.
I add their repo and yum install.

However - there are other packages not available.

I tend to grab the src.rpm - I then install the src.rpm in my local user 
directory and inspect the spec file. Often they need adjustment - 
especially if they use distro specific macros.

If I'm paranoid (don't trust the packager) I skim every patch and 
redownload the source from upstream.

Then I rebuild the src.rpm from my modified spec file - and then feed 
the rebuilt src.rpm through mock.