Hi,

I have Mandrake 9.1 running and am thinking about installing a newer version of sendmail but I would also like to know more about the following regarding installing packages:

When you don't install using an rpm as I try not to use the gui to work with in what directory does one usually gunzip/untar/unzip programs before they install them as root?

Should the entire directory be chowned to root root afterwards?

Should permissions be changed or are permissions saved in non-rpm packages?

I tend to use MC midnight commander for most of the things that I am doing on linux, after gunzip/untar/unzip and executing a build, this is more specific to sendmail, I noticed compilations taking place and then it all finished but what I don't know is whether the build actually does anything to ready the program so that the system will load it on the next boot whereas using an rpm appears to setup whatever the program and the system needs?

What other advice regarding package installs might be helpful to know?

Peter

you would conventionally put them in /usr/src/ but it doesn't actually matter
chowning? no, never heard that before
permissions are handled by the make install command.

so you avoid gui when possible yet try to use mc to get as close to a gui as possible?!

you seem to be associating rpms with gui's.. there is no connection. i would personally suggest installing rpm's if there are rpm's available. yo just use the "rpm" command from console.

Hi,

chown = change file owner and group, past tense = chowned hehehe

With regards to MC, I think that everyone has their method to their madness in how they work and I tend to like using tools that make life easier but not slower.

I don't mind installing rpms from the console but since I am no guru I would like to know something more about using rpms from the console.

Peter

no no i know what chown is! i simply didn't want to repeat your question...

guru status? well installing rpm's is far far easier than installing from source. i don't think there is a guru status for rpm's as a user of them... it's braindead stuff most of the time.

so in other words, you are saying that there is an rpm for anything that has to do with linux.

In any case, as I have managed to learn linux on my own, my original questions are not fully answered as I am sure that there are other benefits to use source distributions rather than rpms.

Hi all,

I have the following directories in /etc:
mail
postfix
sendmail

Sendmail is the active process for the system.

First I have to ask if anyone knows whether the mail directory is redundant here or was it created by postfix or sendmail?

Basically, what I am looking for is some info regarding what happens when removing software that was originally installed by the distro so that if need be I can, if possible, simply remove the problem and re-install the software but without affecting the rest of the system.

Are any of the above packages installed by the distro, in case of emergency, creating dependencies that would result in a total system failure if removed?

What packages should one avoid or when should someone have to take the decision to simply re-install the distro that they are using?

I think that these are some of the fundamentals that are taken for granted when using windows. I remember that windows 3.1 was very easy to solve problems because each package was usually in a directory of it's own along with associated dll's. As for XP, the idea of correcting software problems associated with problematic installations is more of uninstall reinstall.

The rest of my system is working great so I want to avoid a complete re-installation. If you are wondering why I am asking the above, it's because I have a problem with the mail system but I would prefer to know and understand more about the way linux software installations work.

Peter

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