Package/Build-From-Source Management

[David Abrahams]

Florian Diesch <diesch at spamfence.net> writes:

> David Abrahams <dave at boost-consulting.com> wrote:
>
>> Florian Diesch <diesch at spamfence.net> writes:
>>
>>>>>> Another thing that worries me is that in practice several package
>>>>>> management systems might be in use at any time.  For example, Intel's
>>>>>> C++ compiler is only distributed as an RPM.  How should I manage the
>>>>>> interaction among these different systems?
>>>>>
>>>>> Install the alien package.  It can be used to convert from rpm to deb
>>>>> (and vice-versa).
>>>>
>>>> Superb.
>>>
>>> Be careful with alien, it just converts the package format but knows
>>> nothing about where the files belong to in Ubuntu or what special
>>> actions are required to integrate the software into the system.
>>
>> Oh, back to square zero on that one.  Any other ideas?
>
> If you want to install software that is not prepared for Ubuntu you
> have to prepare it yourself. Sometimes that just means to edit the
> menu

Sorry, what menu?

> and things like that, 

What else is "like that?"

> but sometimes you need much knowledge about the system and how
> things in Ubuntu are done.
>
> Most offen the pcakage management will complain before seriously
> breaking anything that can't be repaired by just uninstalling the
> new package. But to avoid problems you should at least uninstall
> everything alien before upgrading to the next Ubuntu release.

Well, I hate to say it, but it's no wonder people struggle with
Linux.  I don't think I've ever had a Linux system where the package
management system didn't end up in some horribly wedged state from
which I couldn't figure out how to recover.  There's gotta be a better
way of doing this stuff.

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com