Greetings.

In the next 2wks I will be installing RHL4.0 Enterprise on my new machine.
It will be an stand alone webserver running MySQL, PHP and Apache.
Basically, I want to make the right decisions now to make it easier for myself later, like being able to use YUM for automatic updates....etc.

If I install Apache/PHP/Mysql using tarball, I can get fasster releases update instead of waiting for someone to release an rpm. Not to mentioned the fact you have a little more control and actually see what's happening. BUT I don't think I will be able to run YUM. Installing with RPM-based distro will allow me to use YUM, right?

Based on my little Experience it seems that RPMs lets you unstall programs easily. I could be wrong on this too.

Given the two choices and assuming that you are new to Linux, which one would be more practical?

I know there is a big disagreement about this topic but can you give me some help me out here?

Tks.

-c

i think it's a better idea to stick with the updates provided by your distributor... especially if all you're doing is LAMP...

sure, by compiling your own binaries using the application manufacturer's sources you'll be able to have the most bleeding-edge stuff - but that's not necessarily a good thing...

if you paid for the distro, then take advantage of the stability you get by sticking to official updates...

if you didn't pay and don't have access to the official updates, i suggest going for a free distro such as fedora core...

my advice:

use official packages whenever you can... compile your own only when you must...

of course if the machine you are working-on isn't that important and stability isn't an issue then by all means compile everything and tinker all you want!!

;-)

BTW, this is all IMHO...

The RPM database will be entirely unaware of anything you compile from source. This will become a problem if you install something by RPM which conflicts with a non-RPM install. But as win32sux says, if the machine and stability aren't a problem .......

I'll be the third - stick with the distributor's stuff. Hopefully you didn't buy an enterprise version so you'd always have the latest greatest thing - you bought it because the support cycle is very long, which leads to the best stability.

Plus, by sticking with the RedHat stuff, you're always able to go back to them for support when something isn't working right. You tell them you're compiling all your own stuff, and they're probably going to tell you you're on your own.

Jon J.

thank you for your input. that helps alot. -c