[wplug] Which Red Hat version is best?

Mike Griffin mike at dmrnetworks.com
Wed Apr 23 14:46:28 EDT 2003


rebuilding an rpm is like building from a tar.gz, it recompiles the 
code against your particular system and puts it back into the rpm 
package for ease of installation.

I won't get into exactly how this process works, but if you are 
curious...  check out the spec files (this is what the tar.gz/tar.bz2 
is compiled against.. it's a configured file telling the package what 
options to compile with, and what to put where.)
when you install an RPM, it's a generalized package that *should* work 
on any system that it's built for.  I.E. RH 7.3. but that's it. it's 
generalized.

Yes, everything is put into /usr/src/redhat/  so you can review it 
later.. make changes if you want, you can even make changes to the 
authors specfile, find the package source in BUILD and recompile the 
package from the source (which defeats the purpose of using the rpm) or 
recompile the package against the specfile with your own specs creating 
an rpm.

Mike

On Wednesday, April 23, 2003, at 02:20 PM, Vanco, Donald wrote:

> Mike Griffin wrote:
>> You can upgrade the packages manually.  Download newer packages, i
>> recommend source packages which can be identified by .src.rpm. To
>>    install an rpm: rpm -Uvh packagename.rpm
>>
>> For a .src.rpm:
>>    rpmbuild --rebuild packagename.rpm
>>    cd /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386
>>    rpm -Uvh packagename.rpm
>
> 	I'm curious - why would you recommend that someone build the
> binaries from source rather than simply installing the source binaries
> available from RH?  Seems like a whole lot of work for nothing 
> additional.
> Further - other than the binaries doesn't this also rebuild the source 
> RPMS,
> etc?? I haven't done too much with building from source RPMS (other 
> than all
> of the AS updates) and my experiences were that TONS (i.e. ALL) 
> development
> packages had to be installed and there was a slew of garbage left on my
> system (albeit in the usr/src/redhat tree) that I had to clean sweep 
> later.
>
> 	So what's the point of working with sources when the (signed)
> binaries already exist??
>
> Don
>
>
>> On Wednesday, April 23, 2003, at 01:57 PM, Sal Mangiapane wrote:
>>
>>> I never upgraded before.  Do I just download the rpm and then what?
>>>
>>> Thanks and God bless,
>>>
>>> sal
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: wplug-admin at wplug.org
>> [mailto:wplug-admin at wplug.org]On Behalf Of
>>>> Mike Griffin
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2003 1:45 PM
>>>> To: wplug at wplug.org
>>>> Subject: Re: [wplug] Which Red Hat version is best?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> RH 7.3 is pretty stable. Last I heard, 8 had some bugs and 9 is
>>>> experimental.
>>>>
>>>> But, why not just update the packages in question? beats
>>>> reinstalling the OS.
>>>>
>>>> Mike
>>>>
>>>> On Wednesday, April 23, 2003, at 01:35 PM, Sal Mangiapane wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>
>>>>> I am currently running Red Hat 7.2 and I want to upgrade.
>>  Should I
>>>>> upgrade to 7.3, 8, or 9?
>>>>>
>>>>> All I really need are an updated gcc and vi.  I exclusively use SSH
>>>>> and command line interfaces.  But, I want to stay current
>>>>> without getting bleeding edge.
>>>>>
>>>>> sal
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> wplug mailing list
>>>>> wplug at wplug.org
>>>>> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> wplug mailing list
>>>> wplug at wplug.org
>>>> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> wplug mailing list
>>> wplug at wplug.org
>>> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
>>>
>>>
>> Mike Griffin
>> Director of Network Services
>> DMR Networks
>> 412.798.2525 x117
>> mike at dmrnetworks.com
>> http://www.dmrnetworks.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> wplug mailing list
>> wplug at wplug.org
>> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
> _______________________________________________
> wplug mailing list
> wplug at wplug.org
> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
>
>
Mike Griffin
Director of Network Services
DMR Networks
412.798.2525 x117
mike at dmrnetworks.com
http://www.dmrnetworks.com




More information about the wplug mailing list