Slackbuilds intent and philosophy

boler · 03-09-2009, 02:37 AM

Hi,

Why does slackbuilds require you to compile the packages from source code? Is there a technical or political reason why slackbuilds (or some other institution) cannot provide precompiled binary packages?

This is in response the the slackbuilds FAQ below:

Do you provide precompiled packages from your SlackBuild scripts?

No. We are not now, nor will we ever be, a source of precompiled packages.

The answer doesn't provide a reason, but appears vehemently against it?

I don't mind downloading the source and running the scripts to compile, but I would rather not if I can get away with it.

Thanks.

sahko · 03-09-2009, 03:33 AM

You probably already know this but binary packages have dependencies.
Depending on the system they were built on, they might have "unwanted" dependencies.
Providing scripts to do the job is failsafe, and gives absolute control to the one who is
building the package. Slackware is about control right?

Regarding some applications, there might also be licensing issues that prohibit binary distribution (eg. adobe reader) , so a build script is a workaround.

gnashley · 03-09-2009, 03:53 AM

Also, not distributing binaries exempts them from having to provide the sources from the same site.

disturbed1 · 03-09-2009, 05:11 AM

Saves them on the bandwidth bill as well

H_TeXMeX_H · 03-09-2009, 11:17 AM

If you want packages, Alien Bob has many:
http://www.slackware.com/~alien/slackbuilds/

There's also:
http://linuxpackages.net/
although I can't really recommend using things off there, as a good percentage fail to work properly for aforementioned reasons.

brianL · 03-09-2009, 11:58 AM

Anyway, there's that much crap on TV these days that I'd sooner watch a SlackBuild build.

hitest · 03-09-2009, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianL

Anyway, there's that much crap on TV these days that I'd sooner watch a SlackBuild build.

FTW!! Yeah, watching stuff build is lots of fun.

MannyNix · 03-09-2009, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hitest

FTW!! Yeah, watching stuff build is lots of fun.

It is for me! It's almost like watching an aquarium. That's why I don't mind running gentoo, FreeBSD ports or crux :P

ErV · 03-09-2009, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hitest

watching stuff build

Never could understand that. This makes sense only when you build your own software - so you will be able to terminate build as soon as you see first error. If watching text in terminal is fun, consider using this:

Code: