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That the real problem, it's not getting stuff to work, is getting rid of it when it's not needed anymore.

Then use Checkinstall to build packages from source for your distribution.

I know it can build .deb, .rpm, and .tgz files. The process is simple on slackware:

• ./configure
• make
• checkinstall --newslack

I imagine the process is almost identical on other systems. Afterwards, you can just use your package manager to remove unwanted packages. No one has to chuck files all over their systems anymore. ;)

Although there a other opinions, I still manage to compile most programs with the simple

./configure
make
checkinstall make install

But, hey, this tutorial is free and certainly useful for new users (who don't know how to handle tar- or gzip/bzip2-files). I think the chapter on what problems may occur and how to solve them could be a bit longer than just one page...

BTW, I don't know why they skipped the part on how to edit the Makefile by hand. It's much more fun :) And while they are at it, they can add a section on how to analyse core dumps, too! (SCNR)

Personally, I find managing all my packages with RPM useful (things like rpm -e, rpm --verify, rpm --checksig, rpm -qif `which foo` - I have 1321 packages on my workstation which I would hate to have to manage without RPM or dpkg), and so I take a few minutes to build my own RPMs of packages, rather than just doing 'make install'. Even using something like checkinstall is better than nothing (it supports Slackware tgzs and Debian dpkgs as well as RPM, BTW).

--

> Cause, I'm damn sure not upgrading to RH 8. You may think it's buggy, but you don't know the half of it. Try running it
> on a server sometime - it CAN'T be done in a sane manner. The default install installed apache 2, but then tried
> to install a version of mod_perl that is incompatable with 2.0, so then it also installed 1.3.19, but
> then mod_php wouldn't work, no SSL support, etc. Good grief. RH 8 was buggy beyond belief.

That doesn't sound like fun. Is this the RH network update thing? Does it attempt to satisfy dependencies by downloading stuff and auto-installing them? Does it require user intervention?

Couldn't you have installed Apache 1.3x instead? I can sort of see how this happened (I believe mod_perl and mod_php took some time updating for Apache2, so a recent enough version of mod_perl may not have been available at the time *sigh*)

When I'm building a server based on RH I often do the following, especially if the versions of the services aren't the ones I want, or I want to customise further. I hope this helps:

1. Remove/ Don't install the RPM version of the service (eg. Apache)
2. Download CheckInstall
3. Download the service's source.
4. Compile the software and use "CheckInstall" to install it as an RPM for simple version tracking and simple uninstall facility. If the package uses autoconf, it's simply: ./configure && make && checkinstall.

I don't rely on some auto-updater thingie. Perhaps that's one way I'm avoiding the problems you describe.

Cheers
Stor

This will do the trick.

domc

Checkinstall automatically produces native packages (rpm, deb, slackware tgz) from a standard make install. I've found this gives the best of both worlds - easy, consistent package management coupled with flexible/optimized source configuration.

Amen brother, especially since this nice little tool is available you don't even need to build the RPMs yourself. Let 'checkinstall' handle this.

Disclaimer: I am not involved in this project and receive neither money nor sexual favours for endorsing it.

If you like to keep your RPM database up to date, and also would like to get a program patched immediately without waiting for the released packages, you might want to check out Checkinstall. It is a program that will automatically generate a package from the source files.

Install of a source tarball as a package is easy. Once you've extracted it...

./configure
make
checkinstall

This will install a package of your choice and a package will also be created. I've tested it on a Redhat 7.3 system to create rpms. It also supports Slackware and debian packages.

From the readme: 'Installs a compiled program from the program's source directory using "make install" or any other command supplied on checkinstall's command line. checkinstall will create a Slackware, RPM or Debian compatible package and install it using your distribution's standard package administration utilities.'

I find it to be extremely useful for programs I'd like to test out that do not provide a package.

> the first thing I'll learn is how to turn tarballs
> into .debs, then use those .debs to install the
> software.

Check out CheckInstall on how to easily make debs/rpms/slackware tgz's from source packages.