On Tue, 2003-10-14 at 10:36, Ren wrote:
> Let me explain one of my aggravations with Linux... 
> 
> There are times when I want to try out a new program (which we will 
> call program A, not original... But it will work) and I find out that 
> there isn't a package for program A on my disco.. So I get the source 
> and compile it.  Well I find out that program A needs library B and my 
> version of library B is only 1.2.55.3.4.1 not 1.2.55.3.4.2 that it 
> requires.  As luck would have it there isn't an update for library B on 
> my computer so I set off to compile it too, which in turn means I need 
> to get library C and D to get it working.  I compile everything and 
> install it, hoping that it will work, often times with varying degrees 
> of success.
> 
> Over time, my original distro, be it debian, mandrake, or whatever, 
> mutates into some other creature all together where package management 
> is holding on a thin thread that is drawn tight and ready to snap 
> because of all the non distro libraries, programs, etc I've installed.  
> How to you guys deal with this? 
> 
> I've tried all sorts of distos, they all seem to have this weakness, 
> which I know is kind of the nature of an open source OS that is 
> constantly evolving... but still, any ideas on how to make everything 
> play nice?  What distro carries the latest and greatest versions of 
> libraries? or at least tries to.. I know its hard to keep up and make 
> it all work.

> anyway... I'd like to hear your input, comments, suggestions, war 
> stories
> 
> thanks
> 
> Ren

Regarding the "latest libraries" would be something like Redhat and
Mandrake. Flame me as you must, others, but that that's the truth. As
others have found, though, having the 'latest' of everything is NOT a
good thing. Your sacrifice for using having the latest is an unstable
and sometimes buggy OS.

Enter in Debian. Debian has unstable, which has the latest, bleeding,
and and the only guarantee is that things WILL be buggy. Debian has
testing, which is  OK...most people have success with it. Debian Stable
is rock solid, though your sacrifice with stability is that your one or
two versions behind the latest. 



One way to maintain that your distro doesn't become some hodgepodge of a
beast is to not just do ./compile; make; make install. Instead, roll
your own .deb or .rpm packages. True, this isn't for everybody, and I
don't do this with my own desktop machine. Though if i was to mess with
libraries and needed the latest, I would. I have only seen a few rare
Makefiles that include an uninstall directive. 

What exactly drives your need to have the latest of everything? 

As a developer, i don't --need- the latest version of apache, the 2.6
kernel, or glibc with the NUMA supported libraries. I do, however, need
a more current version of PHP than debian stable provides as XML support
was changed. GLIBC 2.2.5, and gcc 2.95 or 3.0.4 are just fine for what I
do. Others, though, need more.