LinuxQuestions.org - slackbuild vrs configure-make-make install

- Slackware (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/)

- - slackbuild vrs configure-make-make install (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/slackbuild-vrs-configure-make-make-install-691941/)

slackbuild vrs configure-make-make install

What kinds of problems can be caused by installing some software using slackbuilds and packages; and installing from source with configure/make/make-install?

how can the differences in locations of software components installed with slackbuilds/packages and installed from source?

I have run into problems with this when installing some apps with no slackbuilds/packages that have as requirements apps previously installed using slackbuilds/packages.

Any comments are appreciated.

Gary

Hello,

Slackbuilds are used to build packages. So I assume that you would like to compare packages versus manual "configure/make/make-install"

One big advantage of packages: packages are the official way of managing your applications (install/upgrade/remove) :-)

You take benefit of Slackware package management tools to keep track and control on what is installed in your system.

With slackpkg now in official Slackware (it was only in /extra before 12.2), you can easily find to which package a file belongs to:

Code:

slackpkg search filename

Of course, if you want to install software not available in the official Slackware, you would like to make sure the package you'll find on the internet is of good quality. Fortunately, there are sites that provide such packages (it's a question of trust).

That's where Slackbuilds come in handy. Here's an extract from the home page of Slackbuilds.org. I pesonally consider this site as the reference for Slackbuilds.

Quote:

One of the frequent criticisms of Slackware is the lack of official packages available. While the official package set provides a good, stable, and flexible operating system (and is quite adequate for many individuals), the fact remains that many users want/need quite a few additional applications in order for it to meet their needs. There are a few well-known third party package repositories, but many users justifiably do not want to install untrusted packages on their systems. For those users, the traditional solution has been to download the source code for desired applications and compile them manually. This works, but introduces another set of problems associated with managing those applications; version updates and such require more of the admin's time than precompiled packages, and lack of notes will often mean that the admin forgot which configure flags were used earlier (as well as any other special issues encountered).

In our opinion, the best solution to this problem is for the admin to automate the compile process using a SlackBuild script. Patrick Volkerding, the maintainer of Slackware, uses SlackBuild scripts to compile the official packages, so it makes sense for us to use the same idea for extra applications we want to add.

Thank you for the reply.

I do use SBo's and slack packages to install things. But some software is not available as an SBo or slack package; there in lies my problem.

I should have thought about this a little more before posting this.
What I need to do is take a look at the actual slackbuild scripts
and see what kind of parameters they pass to the ./configure process.Then attempt to come up with a "standard" set of configure parms that I use for all of the software that I install by means other than slack packages.

Gary

slackbuilds v make install

I have found that with the ./configure,make make install procedure,that the files are usually placed in /usr/local where with a slackbuild it would place them in /usr which is the correct place for slackware.Other programs that depend on things you already have installed may not find them if they are in /usr/local.So if you want to build from source always have ./configure --prefix=/usr so that it goes in the right place.If you can get slackbuilds for programs that you want use them but remember that you can edit the slackbuild to add things such as, make -j3 if you have a dual core processor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by garyg007 (Post 3382496)

I do use SBo's and slack packages to install things. But some software is not available as an SBo or slack package; there in lies my problem.

That's a good reason to learn to write a slackbuild and share it with everybody else at slackbuilds.org :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by garyg007 (Post 3382496)

What I need to do is take a look at the actual slackbuild scripts
and see what kind of parameters they pass to the ./configure process.Then attempt to come up with a "standard" set of configure parms that I use for all of the software that I install by means other than slack packages.

Yes, helpful urls are:
slackbuilds guidelines
template.SlackBuild

A good read (imo) is Linux From Scratch's 6.3. Package Management where they also point to the seemingly endless ways of package management

Once you try LFS you really start to appreciate how good slackware's package management is.
Good luck!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MannyNix
That's a good reason to learn to write a slackbuild and share it with everybody else at slackbuilds.org

MannyNix, I appreciate your comments, and, yes, thats what I should do. B U T
I did things like that in an mvs systems support environment for over 30 years; I've written in every language from SOAPII on the IBM 650 to Rex in a S-390 system. I've modified system software to meet local business requirements and de-bugged IBM application code ----- I am retired, I Am TIRED; I am burned out. The fire to develop new things is gone.

Gary

I understand. I would be too if I had done that much work. Most people do it for fun or as a hobbyist. You can probably post a request for what you need.
Greetings

If you can't find what you want at slackbuilds.org. You can find pre-compiled binary packages for Slackware at http://slacky.eu/. The slack-build scripts for their packages are usually available also.
And then there is http://linuxpackages.net/.

Packages at these sites are not always up to the same standards as those from slackbuilds.org according to many knowledgeable Slackers around here though. But you are free to modify their slack-build scripts to suit your needs.

If you can't find a builscript there is always Gnashely's src2pkg program.

Quote:

Originally Posted by garyg007 (Post 3382425)

What kinds of problems can be caused by installing some software using slackbuilds and packages; and installing from source with configure/make/make-install?

configure/make/make-install will create a lot of clutter, so your system will become unmanageable after some time, because "make uninstall" is often unsupported, you'll have to keep sources, and it might be difficult to find out what did you install.

Instead of using "configure/make/makeinstall" you should learn how to make packages yourself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MannyNix (Post 3382632)

You can probably post a request for what you need.

I thought that was what I was doing here!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErV (Post 3382872)

you should learn how to make packages yourself.

Copied from earlier post

Quote:

garyg007
Quote:
Originally Posted by MannyNix
That's a good reason to learn to write a slackbuild and share it with everybody else at slackbuilds.org
MannyNix, I appreciate your comments, and, yes, thats what I should do. B U T
I did things like that in an mvs systems support environment for over 30 years; I've written in every language from SOAPII on the IBM 650 to Rex in a S-390 system. I've modified system software to meet local business requirements and de-bugged IBM application code ----- I am retired, I Am TIRED; I am burned out. The fire to develop new things is gone.

I've done enough of that kind of stuff in my more than 30 years in computers.
I retired from that kind headache in 1995

Garyg007,

Src2pkg, mentioned above, is another great way to make Slackware packages -- especially those packages that aren't available at Slackbuilds.org. I wrote about src2pkg for Linux.com, but you really should check out the wiki for the program here.

Gilbert Ashley, src2pkg's developer posts here regularly and is always happy to answer questions.

Regards,

-Drew