to package or not...

[with.a.twist]

Hello all,

I've only built 4 or 5 linux server systems so I should still be treated like a newbie... But, as I was building my last web / database / J2EE server it dawned on me that I have options as to "how" to get my software.

In the past, I've always just used apt-get or what ever your distro uses to download packages. These seemed to be pretty tight and very efficient. But this time I thought I'd go retrieve the the software from the source... You know, mysql.com, apache (httpd, php), jboss.org, etc... Although it was fun downloading and playing the:: ./configure, make install, make, song, I don't know if I just wasted my time, or did I do myself a service.

On one hand, I can say that I have exaclty the versions I want, but on the other hand the distro packages seem so easy. Here's my question....

What is best for you? Use the distro's packaging system, or roll your own source and "make" it on your own system?

Thanks in advance for the insights,

[sharth]

apt makes me lazy...

[saithan]

it comes down to how much time you wantto spend.

if you wantto learn building from source then it will be a good experience. If your pressed for time and you just want a working server then apt or other suitable package manager would save you a great amount of time.

[with.a.twist]

One advantage that I've found in downloading the source is you can choose (on some software) where on your server you want the files and folders.

Most if not all software uses the standard set of folders (/usr /bin /etc and so on), but if you are feeling like forcing the entire install under a folder you've created like /apps/apache and /apps/mysql you can. I don't think the .rpm or .deb packages allow this (I'm probably wrong and need corrected).

But, time must not be the only reason to do this... is it? Also sharth, if you ever do and PERL programming and read any PERL books by Larry Wall... lazy is good. ;)

Do you see any benefit to rolling sofware into a non standard folder base?

[with.a.twist]

What the heck was I thinking! After manually installing 6 or 7 pieces of software and finding out you have to be a wizard to make them work together.... I've changed my mind.

My new look on life: Use apt-get or some other packaging software. You will save weeks of frustration if you do. After bashing my fingers on the key board for about 30 hours, I gave up and ran dselect (apt-get extension for debian). 1 hour later all my software worked with each other. PHP, Perl, MySQL, GD, Apache 2... I've learned my lesson and will pay my respects to apt-get from now on!



www.apt-get.org (http://www.apt-get.org)


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