RPM's or source? (was: Can I upgrade with RPMs?)

[Shawn Coomey]

"It pays to be tidy."

- Agreed, especially on a Linux system, but my point is 
not about knowing the difference between critical data and 
OS stuff... more a difference between application files 
and the OS. Because I was tidy, I was able to quickly back 
up everything I needed.

Don't get me wrong. I love using RPM's for exactly the 
reasons you mentioned. Although I often run into this 
scenario with RPM's:

I have 2 RPM installed apps, A and B. I want to uninstall 
B, but can't because RPM wants to uninstall a library (or 
20) that A needs. Catch-22. 

I guess what it comes down to is that I just want to know 
if there is any reasonable, logical way of upgrading a 
system that has RPM's as well as source-compiled apps 
installed as well... without the pain. :)

Thanks-
Shawn