Is there a distro, or group of distros that accept newly installed packages better than others? In other words, is there a distro that has no major modifications and can accept most programs available without negative effects . I have seen the many different package managers, each having it's own spin on things. I have also used some of these to install new packages only to experience strange results afterwards. Obviously something didn't quite gel with the other stuff in my Linux. (Please don't ask for examples as I no longer remember specifics)

I use MEPIS mainly and understand that it will accept packages from debian repositories. I have to, however, watch for packages that modify the kernel as it has already been modified by MEPIS. This is the type of thing that I would like to avoid.

Thanks

I'm not sure I know what you're asking.

Stick with Debian. You can install and uninstall as many apps as you want with no problems. They only way you can upgrade the kernel is by doing so intentionally.

Packages are supposed to be compiled on a vanilla machine to ensure maximum compatibility.

I also don't understand your question, as installing a package shouldn't affect the kernel.

Always use packages intended for exactly your distribution, and you'll be safe:
- use Debian packages with plain Debian;
- use Mandriva packages with plain Mandriva;
- use SuSe packages with plain SuSe;
- ...

Yves.

Gentoo is better when upgrading programs. IMHO, it is the easiest distribution that I came across when I figure it is time to upgrade. Everything in Gentoo is compiled on your system instead of someone else's computer. With packaged based distributions, you get to a point when you curse. Packaged based distributions are hail for long term usage.

Unfortunately, not everyone has a triple-core P6 4GHz with a 10000RPM hard disk and 4GB of RAM... LOL OK I'm exagerating a bit, but you get the point.

Yves.

Sorry for the confusing wording of my question.

What I would like to know is this : I know there are packages made for specific distros. But, what do I do when there is not a package made for my specific distro? Is it ALWAYS safe to 1) ./configure
2) make
3) make install

Or can that sometimes "screw things up too.?"
When I say "screw-things up" I am referring to what might happen if I installed a Debian package on a Gentoo machine, etc...

Thanks for your patience

When there is no package for your distro, then experience is a nice thing to have And to get experience, it is said you have to screw a distro or two

Example, I have Debian on my laptop, and I wanted to installed Dillo-frames (a patched version), for which only RPMs exist. I installed it nonetheless using "alien", knowing that:
- for this program, I am sure not to break anything,
- dependencies are *not* automatically handled for a RPM package,
- dependencies are few and trivial.

So it depends a lot on the kind of program that you install, and only experience can help you in this area.

As a last resort, there's always the possibility to build from source. Dependencies are not handled this way though. I wrote an article on this subject:
My web site > Computing > Linux > software/install.

Yves.

When installing new software, there is always the possibility of screwing things up. This is OS-independent. What I can say, is that with most distros it is usually safe to compile from source, but with package-based distros, it won't register that you have it installed. I use Slackware. I like Slackware. I've never had a problem compiling anything with Slackware. Take from that what you will.

No I don't agree. In my example (Dillo), there was absolutely no way for it to break anything.

As for compiling from source, my method is to compile and install each program under its own prefix. However I admit that compiling some programs from source (non-mainstream programs usually) can lead to unexpected things. This is where experience comes in.
Yet it is mostly safe as long as it has nothing to do with the kernel nor with the boot process.

Yves.

No one needs a triple core processor to compile kde, gnome, and xorg to get a working GUI setup. They just need about 3/4 of a day to compile all of those. Compiling using multiple processor system sometimes break the program that is compiling. A 100000 RPM hard drive is not any faster than a 7200 RPM. Hitachi T series (250 GB version) is as fast as Western Digital hard drive, but it has three times more space at the same price.

Compiling from source can be tedious because some programs depends on certain programs or libraries. Projects like KDE, GNOME, Xfce4, Xorg contains several program that you have to compile them in an orderly fashion. Gentoo developers uses a program to make this a breeze.

I configure and compile the kernel all the time. It is not hard to do. The configure step just takes a long time.


People PLEASE use the vB code in this forum to quote somones post. It is hard to figure out what is the quote and what is yours.