[NCLUG] Bad question I know!

mike cullerton michaelc at cullerton.com
Sun Apr 15 09:40:52 MDT 2001


on 4/14/01 11:00 PM, Sean Reifschneider at jafo-nclug at tummy.com wrote:

> I pretty much build everything from source, but I do so in the context of
> an RPM.  The RPM combines the pristine source to the package, with any
> patches, and a recipe describing how to build the binaries, and what the
> resulting list of files and directories are which get installed.
> 
> It's building from source, in a reproducable way...  The production
> sysadmin in me finds comfort in that.

i'm not sure i grok what you're trying to tell me. are you using SRPM's? is
the main benefit that you "know" what gets installed and where?

what's the diff between getting an SRPM and patching it, and getting the
latest tarball?

i'm thinking, that your systems have more stuff on them (not to mention
users probably, which mine don't), and i'm wondering if that makes it more
more beneficial to do it your way for your systems. my system has named,
apache, mysql, php, openssh and sudo pretty much. also, i only allow access
'from everyone' to port 80. everything else is limited to my home ip
addresses (guarded by my dogs when i'm not there :) and a couple specific
ip's from work.

the limited number of processes on my box helps me keep it straight in my
head (in terms of what's where), and i just make sure i have the latest
stuff running.

perhaps more importantly for me, is that my way _forces_ me to think about
what i'm doing. i'm still trying to understand it all, and this forced
interaction helps me learn what's really going on.

 -- mike cullerton




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