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I find compiling from source to be a considerable waste of time. In a scenario where I have none of the dependencies for Xymon, that means compiling each and every one of them (sometimes finding that you're missing a dependency whilst trying to compile another dependency). Also, you're left either putting everything in one directory, or having a complicated FHS-style install where it's basically impossible to go back and remove it should you want to later. Also, you're generally stuck patching your own software, which is also a hassle.

I tend to get the feeling that the "from source" people are either old-fashioned (not a bad thing, just a way of doing things that perhaps used to be more necessary) or must have staffing levels way above mine. I certainly would say that one should know HOW to compile from source in a pinch, but that it's really just not necessary on many platforms.

Jerald Sheets wrote:

Interesting... I'd do it no other way than use source.

Amazing how all our experiences formulate not only our IT "world view" but our practices as well.

Off topic, but I found it interesting nonetheless.

Carry on. :-)

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Jerald M. Sheets jr.

On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 10:24 AM, Buchan Milne <bgmilne at staff.telkomsa.net <mailto:bgmilne at staff.telkomsa.net>> wrote:

IMHO, using packages makes a lot more sense than compiling from
source ...

• ---- _ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ |Y#| | | |\/| | \ |\ | | |Ryan Novosielski - Systems Programmer II |$&| |__| | | |__/ | \| _| |novosirj at umdnj.edu - 973/972.0922 (2-0922) \__/ Univ. of Med. and Dent.|IST/CST - NJMS Medical Science Bldg - C630 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

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I would rather use packages everywhere. Unfortunately, it isn't the end all.

If you can't compile something...then you have a real problem.

Xymon in particular has no packages I'm aware. I wrote that step by step guide so that everyone that has the ability to read and the slightly PC knowledge can get a Xymon server running.

Josh Luthman Office: 937-552-2340 Direct: 937-552-2343 1100 Wayne St Suite 1337 Troy, OH 45373

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” --- Winston Churchill

On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 6:03 PM, Malcolm Hunter <malcolm.hunter at gmx.co.uk>wrote:

...

I find compiling from source to be a considerable waste of time. In a scenario where I have none of the dependencies for Xymon, that means compiling each and every one of them (sometimes finding that you're missing a dependency whilst trying to compile another dependency). Also, you're left either putting everything in one directory, or having a complicated FHS-style install where it's basically impossible to go back and remove it should you want to later. Also, you're generally stuck patching your own software, which is also a hassle.

I tend to get the feeling that the "from source" people are either old-fashioned (not a bad thing, just a way of doing things that perhaps used to be more necessary) or must have staffing levels way above mine. I certainly would say that one should know HOW to compile from source in a pinch, but that it's really just not necessary on many platforms.

True in many cases but installing pre-requisites and compiling Xymon is so trivial, it's certainly better than using the very old packages that are provided by most distros.

Malcolm

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On Wednesday, 5 May 2010 23:03:34 Malcolm Hunter wrote:

...

I find compiling from source to be a considerable waste of time. In a scenario where I have none of the dependencies for Xymon, that means compiling each and every one of them (sometimes finding that you're missing a dependency whilst trying to compile another dependency). Also, you're left either putting everything in one directory, or having a complicated FHS-style install where it's basically impossible to go back and remove it should you want to later. Also, you're generally stuck patching your own software, which is also a hassle.

I tend to get the feeling that the "from source" people are either old-fashioned (not a bad thing, just a way of doing things that perhaps used to be more necessary) or must have staffing levels way above mine. I certainly would say that one should know HOW to compile from source in a pinch, but that it's really just not necessary on many platforms.

True in many cases but installing pre-requisites and compiling Xymon is so trivial, it's certainly better than using the very old packages that are provided by most distros.

1)You should consider using distros that maintain their packages better 2)If you can't, you should consider whether it is more beneficial to compile the software once, and deploy the tested package to all 200 or 1000 or more servers, instead of having different people install the software from source with possibly different options. This becomes more important if there are any non-trivial changes (patches to fix minor bugs etc.) 3)Using packages also means you don't need a full toolchain on internet-facing production servers, and means it is so much easier to do integrity checking of sensitive files.

BTW, the packages I have at http://staff.telkomsa.net/packages/ are only a small portion of the repository we use internally ...

Regards, Buchan