How about a newer GnuCash on YDL 3.0.1?

[Greg Hamilton]

On 03/02/2004, at 1:30 PM, Norberto Quintanar wrote:

>
> --- Greg Hamilton <gregh@object-craft.com.au> wrote:
> -----snipped----
>> I prefer not to install from source where possible as the package
>> management (yum, apt, whatever your distro uses) no longer reflects
>> the current state of the system.
>
> So I f someone gave you a free unassembled bicycle, you'de turn it
> down because it was unassembled?  Assembling from source so your
> files are compatible with your Red Hat box seems a lot more important
> than reflecting the current state of your system.  I looked for the
> latest ppc.rpms for gnucash, they're from YDL 2.0.  Good luck getting
> the newest versions off yum.
>

I'm not unwilling to build from source. I prefer not to.  I use the 
packaging system a lot and I find it's a very good habit to avoid 
building from source where possible.

Consider this scenario:

I use yum to install an application. The application is dependant on a 
library. Yum notifies me of the dependancy and wants my permission to 
download and install the library package as well. I've already manually 
installed a different version of the library from source which, of 
course, yum doesn't know.

If I remember that I've already installed the library I can probably 
tell yum to ignore the dependancy (not sure, should check the man 
page). If not I install a different and perhaps older version of the 
library either losing the copy I already had or ending up with two 
copies in different locations.

Now I probably installed that library from source for a reason, perhaps 
it was required by an application that I built from source and I'm 
likely to be surprised and confused next time I try to run that app and 
find it doesn't work anymore (assuming that the change in library 
version introduces problems, which is possible).

It would be much better to find an up-to-date source RPM in the absence 
of a binary RPM and use it to install. That way I'm  building from 
source but the package management system knows about it. If I upgrade, 
decide to remove the package or install something else that requires 
that package yum will know what to do.

Also,  each distro has it's own file system layout quirks. YDL has 
inherited the Red Hat style layout so the source RPM, even though it's 
not specifically target to a YDL box, should install everything where 
you expect it to go.

Do I get my free bicycle now?