I run Slackware and have been installing from source using checkinstall since I got this computer. My /usr/local/src directory was filling up fast, so I recently deleted everything there to free up space. Later I was hunting around in packages and saw that checkinstall creates two .tgz files in the source directory of whatever it's installing. The first looks like the actual package that in installs, so I don't see why there's any harm in deleting that (you can always redownload and make), but each one also has a backup-foo.tgz. I looked around at some documentation but don't understand exactly what this backup package is. Is it wise to keep these for everything I install, and, if there is a good reason to do this, is there a way to automatically put all these backup packages somewhere else (so I can continue deleting source directories to save space)?

Thanks.

I've been using Checkinstall for over a year now, and check mine:
And the only .tgz file I have from Checkinstall is the Slackpack it created:
those are four examples.

I think you need to read /usr/doc/checkinstall-1.5.3/README and then edit your /etc/checkinstall/checkinstallrc file.

Ok, I've read the file and set up a packages directory, but will the backup packages go there too? What exactly are the backup packages, and should I care about them? Also, I assume you are deleting the .tar.gz and untarred directory manually after installing each package?

Thanks again.

I don't know anything about any backup packages.
I usually keep the source on my server in /downloads just in case, along with the Slackpacks I create in /tarballs

I do read in the documentation
but I don't remember it doing that with my present setup. I believe that is the default if you don't specify a path for the tarball. I'll post my file here on pastebin.com so you can look at it. They delete entries after a period of time, so if you miss it, let me know.

Thanks for the info. Anyone who knows about backup packages care to help with that part?

Grep for 'backup' in /usr/doc/checkinstall. It says something about checkinstall creating a tarball of all overwritten files to allow you to restore if there's a need.

I read that, but, if I'm not mistaken, those backup packages seem to be created for every package I install, even if I'm not overwriting anything I'm aware of. I'd also like to know how important they are (what are the chances of a make install overwriting something important anyway?), and if they get put in the packages directory specificed in the checkinstallrc file.

Checkinstall only does what 'make install' or similar calls for. So, it won't protect you from a script which wipes out previous config files. As far as I know, PAK_DIR is the location for newly created packages, not old files.

Well, I understand that I won't be protected from some malicious/poorly-designed program that does something like wiping out config files, but shouldn't I be safe with the vast majority of things after, say, running the program once to make sure all is well? I can manually move these backup packages to the PAK_DIR if necessary, but I'd like to know why they're created with every installation (even when things aren't being overwritten) and if I'm missing anything before I go deleting them every time.

Checkinstall creates a backup-package when invoked for the second (or any other subsequent time).

Meaning the second time it's ever run or the second time it's run for a particular package name? In either case, why would it do so if you've already removed (or don't have in the first place) any previous versions of the program?

The second time on the same source code.

Does it do that? You should use it a while,
after editing your checkinstallrc file, and see
what it actually does.

Hmm, I'll play with it next time I have something to install, but I believe I've seen those for every package I install.