[ubuntu-in] Preferable method to install software on Linux Systems(discussion)

[ramnarayan.k at gmail.com]

Hi

Have been trying to figure out the various methods of installing 
software on linux systems.

So far have reached here

There are
1. Compiling from Source
2. Installing from tar zip pacakages
3. Installing distribution speciic packages like rpm's and deb's
4. Installing via automated mechanisms - apt-get, yum , yast etc.

4. The ease of installing via automated mechanisms makes life very easy 
- no worries about dependencies and distribution specific issues and 
such stuff. The only real concern is access to adequate bandwidth.

3. Distribution specific packaging also seems cool - but this is limited 
only to a few major distributions and sometimes still requires 
dependencies to be met.

2. Installing for tar zip packages needs some CLI use, as well as to 
have to attend to all the dependencies but at the same time can be 
installed on any system (!)

1. Finally compiling from source - really i have no idea what this means 
- but is it supposed to be the most effective way to compile a package 
specifically to a particular machine and distribution resulting in a 
stable package (& system)

Obviously nothing can be better than over the net automated installs 
but one problem is the bandwidth and the other is that some packages are 
not available for specific distributions.

One specific question i had was how do installing from tar zip packages 
compare to the other methods - since tar zips are what are passed around 
by the various magazines. Further how would Ubuntu react to a tar zip 
package installed on an ubuntu system.

Apart from this look forward to your (many) comments on software 
installation.

thanks
ram