Subject: Re: rpms and tarballs
From: Patrick Callahan (pac1@tiac.net)
Date: Wed Dec 06 2000 - 04:49:16 MST
I've used the "only from sources" approach in order to gain some knowledge of
the basics of what is required to create and maintain linux software. I
don't want to make a religion of the approach. Hollis' and Charles'
responses on this topic have shown me that there's another layer to this
particular onion.
Of course when you're peeling an onion, tears are a possiblity. When you
apply the command Hollis gave above to the xfce tarball, I got an error
message "Unable to open temp file". I tried the command in /usr/src. after
building xfce manually with the commands ./configure; make; make install;
I have built and installed from sources: rpm-3.0.6.tar.gz
Is there a particular directory on a YDL installed machine the rpm -tb
command should be done in?
Is there some directory that has to be created before using rpm -tb?
Is there another package or rpm that must be installed before using rpm -tb?
running as root:
$ rpm --version
RPM version 3.0.6
# pwd
/usr/src
# ls xfce-3.6.3.tar.gz
xfce-3.6.3.tar.gz
# rpm -tb xfce-3.6.3.tar.gz && rpm -ivh
Unable to open temp file.
figuring that the previous manual build might be interfering, i switched to
the redhat directory but found the same error message
# pwd
/usr/local/src/redhat
# ls /downloads/xfce-3.6.3.tar.gz
/downloads/xfce-3.6.3.tar.gz
#rpm -tb /downloads/xfce-3.6.3.tar.gz && rpm -ivh
Unable to open temp file.
The problem does not appear to be lack of disk space:
$ df
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda8 99136 37938 56078 40% /
/dev/hda10 253823 82216 158500 34% /home
/dev/sda11 59487 42756 13659 76% /root1
/dev/sda9 59487 11804 44611 21% /var1
/dev/hda9 99136 34135 59881 36% /var
/dev/sda12 991124 784940 154984 84% /usr1
/dev/hda12 2551925 1633679 786290 68% /usr
/dev/sda14 3982053 801989 2977740 21% /downloads
/dev/hda6 262134 8172 253962 3% /exchange
Dual boot? Heck why not Triple boot?
Quadruple Boot? The challenge: Macos, MacOsX, Ydl CS 1.2, Linuxppc2000
Hollis R Blanchard wrote:
> On Tue, 5 Dec 2000, Patrick Callahan wrote:
>
> > Charles Stevenson wrote:
> >
> > > The best way to do this with YDL is to use RPMS not tarballs... RPM
> > > will put the files where they need to go and set the permissions
> > > correctly.
> >
> > This strategy works extremely well for anything Terrasoft puts out. I
> > use it on anything that is available from them directly. But since not
> > all RPMS are created by Terrasoft, wouldn't there be differences that
> > rpm couldn't handle?
>
> Yes, this does happen sometimes. For example, you wouldn't want to try to
> install SuSE's initscripts (or "isxk1.ppc.rpm" or whatever they call
> it... ;).
>
> > What would happen if someone with required files
> > in /opt created an rpm and I tried to install it on my machine. Would
> > the files land in /opt correctly? Would the /opt directory get created
> > by rpm if it did not exist?
>
> /usr/lib/yup does not exist until you install the yup rpm...
>
> > Also what happens if I've upgraded a
> > library and the rpm insists on a version that is no longer current?
>
> If you need an older library then you need it. rpm enforces dependancies
> as a feature. If you really don't care and are willing to risk
> incompatibilities, that's what --nodeps is for. Expect binaries to break
> when you force install incompatible libararies.
>
> > While I have not built a large number of packages, I have been able to
> > build a few things from sources. I prefer building from sources to
> > asking "Where can I find an rpm for..." in one or another mailing list,
> > and then waiting for someone to produce one compatible with the pretty
> > much stock CS 1.2.1 system I have.
>
> In most cases you can build an rpm as easily as a tarball. In fact, most
> packages worth something include a spec file, so all you have to do is
> type 'rpm -tb file.tar.gz && rpm -ivh /usr/src/rpm/RPMS/ppc/file*.rpm'.
> Less typing than 'tar zxvf file.tar.gz && cd file* && ./configure && make
> && make install', PLUS you get automatic dependancy-checking,
> verification, uninstall, and more...
>
> There are certainly reasons for building things from source, but "I don't
> want to ask where a .ppc.rpm is and wait for the answer" isn't really one
> of them.
>
> > Sometimes it is a struggle to get things built this way, but some things
> > just build right the first time using the standard ./configure; make;
> > make install; commands. Sometimes you have to add a soft link to get the
> > configure or build to work correctly. In a few cases a patch must be
> > applied to get the build to work.
>
> And if you're not familiar with rpm you might find that frustrating.
>
> But IMHO rpm's conveniences far outweigh its inconveniences. Look at it
> this way: if rpm were so bad then no one would have ever switched from
> tarballs. :)
>
> -Hollis
This archive was generated by hypermail 2a24 : Wed Dec 06 2000 - 04:50:20 MST