Re: Netsaint Debian packages

On 2.11.2002 13:54 Uhr, "Karl DeBisschop" <[email protected]>
wrote:

> On Sat, 2002-11-02 at 07:24, Ben Bell wrote:
>> On Fri, Nov 01, 2002 at 08:54:10AM +0100, Zeno Davatz wrote:
>>> - Do you recommend installing the Debian package of Netsaint or do you
>>> recommend compiling from source? Are the Debian packages up to date and
>>> stable or are the buggy?
>> 
>> I was the initial maintainer of the Debian packages of NetSaint, but a
>> change of job has left me without the time to devote to them. They are now
>> maintained by [email protected].
>> 
>> My advice with any question of this sort is to try the packages for your
>> distribution. As they have been built specifically for the distribution
>> they should be more consistent with the way that dist does things, and any
>> problems or features should already have been considered. This is
>> particularly the case with Debian (plug, plug).
>> 
>> In practice, some packages are always buggy. With Debian you can look at
>> http://bugs.debian.org/netsaint and http://bugs.debian.org/netsaint-plugins
>> (any package names will work) and see what the current bug list looks like.
>> 
>> Arguably you get a "better" install if you use a distribution's package,
>> but you are at the mercy of the package maintainer. Another alternative
>> would be to get the Debian source and compile it from that to get the
>> best of both worlds, but you would be somewhat on your own with regards
>> support from this list. If you do decide to take that option though, contact
>> me off list and I'll try to find time to answer any questions you have.
> 
> I'd like to pipe in with another comment on distributions vs. packages.
> 
> Firstly, good packages take skill and time. Reconciling OS vendor
> practices with the code base jdoesn't just happen. And it's real
> important, because whatever packaging system you use, many users and
> sysadmins will not have the time to compile all their software from
> source. Convenience is part of world domination.
> 
> That being said, packages are in essence little mini code forks. Now
> code forks aren't alwys bad, nor are they always good. But I submit that
> they are bad when they discover bugs that do not get directly
> communicated back to the application programmers. Packages allows this
> to happen if the packagers don't take the time to work with the
> devlopers. Developers alow this to happen when they don't respect the
> enormous value added by good packaging.
> 
> So whichever route you take, please make sure that your converstaions
> are held in a public forum so we can all benefit.
I agree, this has to be discussed in public.

I am relatively new to Debian. In the beginning I noticed the great
advantage of 'apt-get install'. Then I started to realise that if the
package was not of 'good quality' that it would be easier to either make
your own package or compile from source.

The nice thing about compiling from source is that you get to know the
'innerism' of the program. That is not the case if you install from a
package.

As a Newbie I follow my instinct. That tells me to ask in public if there
are any good packages for the program I want to install.

What I really appreciate as Newbie is if someone offers me his help, be  it
for a package or for compiling from source.

Zeno



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