Package Management

[Wolfgang Gill]

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 23:00:21 -0400, John Dangler wrote
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fedora-list-bounces at redhat.com [mailto:fedora-list-bounces at redhat.com]
> On Behalf Of William Hooper
> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 10:52 PM
> To: fedora-list at redhat.com
> Subject: Re: Package Management
> 
> John Dangler said:
> >> In reading the man pages for rpm, I didn't see a way to take a package
> >> currently in the rpm database and sync it with one that I've downloaded
> >> and installed from source.
> 
> >RPM handles RPM packages.  If you want to use the rpm database you must
> >create RPM packages of the new package.  End of story.
> 
> >If you just need to change compile time options, download the src.rpm
> >packages and rebuild them with your options.  If you want newer versions,
> >use those src.rpms as a starting point.
> 
> >Your other option is to deal with the dependencies yourself from source and
> >just not install RPMs.
> 
> It seems that this would imply building my own repository of rpm's 
> that I've installed.  It makes sense, although when a newer srpm is 
> introduced, that could present a problem... but, that may be the 
> nature of the beast.
> 
> --

The only time, when introducing srpms, will be when you need to recompile them
to suit your needs. The final rpm will be added to you rpm database (And
correct me if I'm wrong, you only need the one rpm database on your system).

When you use Yum or APT to update your system, you just have to be careful not
to download updates of the packages you have modified. You need to download
the new versions (srpms) and rebuild them again with your original
configuration. I have done that, and it doesn't seem to be a problem, so long
I don't forget which package(s) you need to do changes to, before you install it. 

Yum/Apt will see the files you installed as either newer or older than what's
in the repository. They will not be changed unless you tell it to.

Wolf
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