Mistake installing app - will retrying from different directory mess things up?
 

Hi. Tried to install an app following a YouTube video. Apparently created a directory named /usr/src/ and downloaded the gzipped file in there. Un-tarred it and executed the make commands, and successfully installed the app. Just noticed that the video did all that from the /usr/local/src/ directory. I want to follow the directions in the video so I'm thinking about reinstalling the app.

Will it mess up the app, or my Debian 7.5 server install, if I go back and re-do the installation from the "proper" directory w/o uninstalling the first installation? (I haven't looked up how to un-install an app from the CLI.)

Thanks.

Gary

what are you trying to install ?
99 % of the time you should be installing from the online repository.

Scneids

Hi. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! OpenSIPS 1.10.1.

Regards,

Gary

Installing from *.deb repository vs. from source
 

Hi all!

What Schneidz said - "99% of the time you should be installing from online repository" - makes a lot of sense.

But it seems that when I install from a repository, the installation goes really fast. LOL - can I be sure that the repository is also compiling/installing the many dependencies that the app may require when downloading/building/installing all of the app's dependencies as well as installing the app itself?

A friend (who rarely uses Linux) said that, as far as he knew, installing the app repository only installed the app itself but *not* the dependencies that are needed to make the app work.

I followed Schneidz's advice. But, based on how quickly OpenSIPS 1.10.1 installed when I used the Debian repository, it seems that my friend might be correct.

LOL - or should I get new friends who are regular Linux users?

Thanks.

Regards

Gary

If you used apt-get or aptitude, it installed any required dependencies for you.

Almost all Linux distributions have package management systems that do automatic resolving of dependencies by default, so there is no need to compile software yourself unless you have to use a program not present in the repositories or if you have to compile with uncommon options. Even then it is recommended to create proper packages for your distribution instead of installing directly from source, so that the package manager is aware of the installed software.

You are here already, aren't you?

Alucard and TobiSGD:

Thanks for your clarifications. I'm now sure that installing from my distro's repositories definitely is the way to go!

As for friends, LQ is full of so many helpful people that I'm really glad I registered. I was intimidated by users' vast knowledge and was afraid to post. I thought people would find my questions silly - or worst, stupid. I've learned so much just by browsing the many forums.

Again, thanks to you and to everyone else on LQ!

Regards

Gary