Package/Build-From-Source Management

[David Abrahams]

Ainsley Pereira <ubuntu-users at pebble.org.uk> writes:

> On Sat, Jun 03, 2006 at 02:45:23PM -0400, David Abrahams wrote:
>> I often need to download, build, and install software from source, but
>> when I do, the package management system doesn't know about the new
>> software.  Can anyone tell me how to properly manage things so
>> built-from-source software doesn't mess up the package manager?
>
> There are a number of resources on
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DeveloperResources
> I found the Debian New Maintainer's guide very informative:
> http://www.debian.org/doc/maint-guide/

Hmm, thanks, but that material doesn't look like what I'm after.  I'm
not interested in becoming a Debian package maintainer... this week
;-)

>> Another thing that worries me is that in practice several package
>> management systems might be in use at any time.  For example, Intel's
>> C++ compiler is only distributed as an RPM.  How should I manage the
>> interaction among these different systems?
>
> You can install a program called 'alien' (sudo apt-get install alien)
> which can convert rpms etc to .deb files that you can dpkg -i.
> (I've not used this myself.)

I think I probably did use that once, and it sorta worked okay IIRC.
Thanks.

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com