[svlug] tracking down some ppp utilities

[Karen Shaeffer]

On Fri, Jul 14, 2000 at 12:27:58PM -0700, Rick Moen wrote:
> begin Gordon Vrololjak quotation:
> 
> > Would it be possible or feasible to go with source?
> 
> Sure.   It'll also teach the lazy little buggers to stop being afraid
> of configure scripts and Makefiles.
> 
> If you also decide to provde binary-package formats such as RPMs, beware
> that the pitfalls don't stop with those you cited:  You can also damage
> an RPM-based system by installing RPMs for a different RPM-based
> distribution.  I saw this happen when someone installed some XFree86
> RPMs for Intel Red Hat on a SuSE box.  Severely messed up that system.

This is a very good point. If you are pulling things from the internet and
want to package it all up nice and neat, then RPM is a good resource. But
you need to make your own RPM's from sources or individually inspect each
package for incompatiblilities. It's important to realize that RPM is just
a generic packaging format. Any specific RPM must be completely customized
to work with a specific file system architecture and other installation
as well as run-time dependencies. It's actually quite simple to work with.
But Red Hat has never put much effort into providing easy access to good
documentation. They now claim to be updating the outdated book "Maximum
RPM", which was quite informative a few years ago. This book has been
available on the internet for several years, but Red Hat always makes it
almost impossible to find it. Maybe things have changed.

<Insert Debian .deb alternative here. Possibly a better way to go.>


> 
> -- 
> Cheers,                                      Right to keep and bear
> Rick Moen                                  Haiku shall not be abridged

c,
-- 
 Karen Shaeffer
 Neuralscape; Santa Cruz, Ca. 95060
 shaeffer at neuralscape.com  http://www.neuralscape.com