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Solo Ace - Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:40 pm
Post subject: OS: self-compiled vs pre-compiled binaries

Many Linux distros are RPM based or use some other way to get precompiled binaries, some others want you to to compile it all yourself (Gentoo, for example, well, except if you use a binhost).

What I heard was that most professionals (who have to get a server up for, webhosting, for example) actually use a binary version of the distro, get it to run and then replace the software with their own compiled stuff (if there's enough time for this).

For someone just using a box in a LAN for network services, maybe httpd for on the net, and sometimes even a graphical desktop, would it really be worth the compiles?

A friend of mine installed damn small linux to his hard drive, he's just using some expansion packs for C++, Apache, Irssi and PHP.
This is a lot faster (and maybe easier) than letting a box compile for a day, although I'd be worried about updating...

Any comments on this? Gentoo's install scares me, and every time I end up with the feeling the machines are bloated which makes me re-install.

Dr Brain - Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:44 pm
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I like knowing what I've put on the system. That's why I use Gentoo. The compiling makes almost no speed difference in the long run. Having fewer apps running in the background DOES make a difference, though.

Solo Ace - Mon Dec 19, 2005 3:09 pm
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I use Gentoo for the same reason (the dependancies just scare me, but I guess that'd be the case on any distro, I just have to deal with them correctly if I want to remove them, which is great with portage).

What I like about portage and emerge is "emerge <packagename>" and it does what it's supposed to do, no manual untarring/making/installing.

What I don't like about portage is, though:

How it easily refuses things the user wants to do (if I want to modify source, it starts crying my tar is invalid). I know there are workarounds, but it's nasty;
The time-consuming compiles, but that's what I asked for when I chose to use Gentoo...;
How the OS depends on it (well, you could still download packages manually); and
How it forces updates on you (which can be disabled, but makes Gentoo cry again).

The other reasons why I like Gentoo are the documentation and how the installation process teaches the user about how to deal with the distro.
The non-official documentation is crap, like what's on the Wiki, which is offline at the moment, but the official documentation is great and useful.

This makes me reconsider if I really want to use Gentoo, I mean, it's so tempting to just use something like DSL and dump a few binaries on it.

i88gerbils - Mon Dec 19, 2005 5:47 pm
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I use slackware for much of the same reasons. Heck, Java would crash the kernel whenever it invoked sound until I compiled my own kernel.

My process:

1. Read the INSTALL/README, Compile, & Install all dependencies.
2. ./configure --help
3. ./configure [any options]
4. make
5. su; make install; anything else in the instructions
6. cd ..; rm -rf software-ver/
7. Anything you need to do to make the program appear in your WM, /etc/rc.d/rc.*, etc ...

What I really need to do is to make a couple of custom ./configure scripts so i don't have to remember where i want things installed whether they're system libraries, regular programs, applications, etc ... It would make things much easier when I need to update. Oh well, that'll be for whenever i get around to getting a new hard drive.

Mine GO BOOM - Mon Dec 19, 2005 10:39 pm
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Solo Ace wrote:

How it easily refuses things the user wants to do (if I want to modify source, it starts crying my tar is invalid). I know there are workarounds, but it's nasty

You should make .patch files for modified sources. It is very simple to do, and works whenever a newer version is out (as long as the patch can be applied without conflicts). I do this for Nethack and other programs on my Gentoo machine.

If you want a good machine that starts barebones, I'd recommend Ubuntu with the base install (nothing except what is required). This will be light weight, and has Ubuntu behind it. When you first boot from the Ubuntu CD, type in server and it will do the base install. Installation to Low Memory Systems

Solo Ace - Tue Dec 20, 2005 4:23 am
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I think someone was talking about that (IRC) when I asked about modifying source, but as usual my question started a riot in the channel. I downloaded the project files, modified them and used my own version instead.

I'll try Ubuntu this evening, no matter how everyone cries about the slowness.

D1st0rt - Wed Dec 21, 2005 3:54 pm
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I'm still using FC3 with XFCE4 heh