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Upgrading Software by Building new RPM's
Here's the description: I find some software I like, but wanting the cutting edge, I go to the home site and find that since someone wrote the RPM, the software has been upgraded at least once. AND no one has written a new RPM. OK, so why don't I do it?
From what I've read, the key to doing this is the SPEC file. I've never written one of these from scratch--haven't even plagiarized one yet. But I'm looking for an easy way to do this. I don't know of any method in which I could "dissect" the SPEC file of a given package, so I'm thinking that this is the way I must go:[list=1][*]Download the SRPM--foobar-1.0.srpm, for example.[*]Install it <rpm -ivh foobar-1.0.srpm>[*]Download and untar the upgraded source file <tar -xzvf foobar-2.3.tar.bz>[*]configure foobar-2.3[*]Compare the results of the configuration to the file list in the SPEC file and make any changes necessary[*]Remove the foobar-1.0 source from the build directory and insert the foobar-2.3 source (or copy the SPEC file as one for foobar-2.3 and insert the foobar-2.3 source into the SOURCE directory)[*]Build the RPM[/list=1] This seems reasonable to me. If there are problems with this approach, I would appreciiate it if someone would identify them. Additionally, I haven't found any documentation on "easy" ways to build RPM's that just upgrade software. If someone knows of any, I would appreciate knowing where it is.
Before anyone says, "Why don't you just install from the source?" let me say that this is my ultimate goal. I want to wean myself of commercial distributions and I am currently running Mandrake 9.2. I have discovered that sometimes new software "acts hinky" if I just install it. I want to make sure I get all the headers and whatnot, and if I compare my linux experience to child development, I have just learned to roll over.
Let me thank anyone in advance for commenting on my approach, making recommendations or pointing me to some new documentation.
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