[SGVLUG] RPM hell -- why not just change to debian?

[Emerson, Tom]

> -----Original Message-----
> Behalf Of Robert

[...]
> One would be to install the openssl stuff from source, and 
> keep the old libraries intact, then try to install those newer RPMs for 
> the program you really wanted.

someone pointed out earlier in the thread the problem with
compiling seperately is that the RPM database doesn't get
updated with the recently compiled "stuff" -- I have heard
of (but never used) a program in the SuSE distribution that
effectively makes a mini .rpm file of something you've just
compiled -- I don't recall the name (and it is part of SuSE 
anyway) but some searching should turn up a suitable/similar
tool.

(of course, I realize your point is to keep it seperate anyway,
but a larger and often unseen problem is the fact that these
things will want to install in the same location, so you could
accidentally trounce a live file...)

> [...] why not just upgrade to a supported distribution ?

For myself, one of the things that holds me back is the sheer
number of "applications" that exist in a distribution -- there
is no way I can keep track of the things that are installed, 
let alone match them up from one distro to the next (and, as
it turns out, upgraded releases of the same distro!)

Some cases-in-point

  -- earlier releases of SuSE installed "locate" as part of
     the "default" selection, new releases don't, I have to
     remember to manually re-select it (on the plus side, 
     however, they don't pull the microsoft trick of moving
     it from one spot in the "list" of applications to another...)

  -- the 10.0 release does NOT have the courier-* packages 
     (imap, pop, etc.)  [well, the download version of the 
     "full" release didn't, which is supposed to be 100%
     identical to the retail version; not sure if the "OSS"
     version would include courier or not, but I can't see
     why not)  This kind of caught me by surprise as I was
     installing the 10.0 system for a friend and trying to
     set up something similar to what I've done for my parents
     (regarding spam & anti-virus scanning for more than
     one user...)

  -- there are tons of stuff I *know* I've selected [based on
     them having "interesting descriptions"] but once I sit 
     down to my newly installed system, I "forget" exactly 
     what that cool sounding utility was [mostly because it
     wasn't integrated into the "menu" system of KDE]

  -- by the same token, there are a multitude of packages
     that are pre-selected that I have *no* idea what they
     do, but I didn't remove them.  (or, in some cases, I
     cannot because they satisfy a [bogus] dependancy, for
     instance, YAST itself has a module for maintaining DSL
     modems specific to a German ISP, and as a result
     several DSL based tools are "required", even though
     I'll never have use for them)