js <fyrbrds@netscape.net> [Mon, 29 Sep 2003 01:32:39 +0200]:
Aside from being purely opinionated, this assumes that everyone can do this stuff.
Can everybody write a shell script? Can everybody configure daemons? So why should everybody be able to install software from source? Learning to write spec files is not that hard and the benefits numerous.
In no time at all, you have a harddrive full of software and libraries that you don't even remember installing with no rpm database to use for a sanity check.
Sorry, but I'd say those people should stick with pre built RPMs. What if a given package doesn't build because the compiler rejects certain code?
So yes, it SHOULD have been written and should NOT be avoided if it makes things easier. As long as you know it's limitations and you understand what you are doing, there should be no significant risks.
And this I seriously doubt! AFAIS, many, if not most, people using checkinstall don't really understand limitations. Yes, some things should be made easy, but there's a limit as to *how* easy they should be made. Philipp