[Alsa-devel] Re: [linux-audio-dev] Re: why is no-one responding are you all just a bunch of &*^%&^%^& wits???

[Lamar Owen]

On Thursday 13 February 2003 04:44, Takashi Iwai wrote:
> Paul Davis wrote:
> > when ardour is in a state where i believe (rightly or wrongly) that a
> > reasonably typical target user can sit down and just use it without
> > encountering bugs when recording a typical 12-32 track piece, there
> > will be binaries.

> don't forget that the binary distribution may cause different kind of
> problems, too.

I have some experience with distributing binaries of a large package.  I have 
maintained the PostgreSQL RPM's for over three years.  While I continue to do 
it, there are definitely pitfalls. They are avoidable, however.  You try to 
make the source RPM rebuild easily on the target distributions, and only 
distribute binaries for which distributions you have.  If they build it from 
source RPM (which has advantages over the traditional configure/make/make 
install) then it's their baby.

The advantages of RPM's are mostly apparent when you upgrade or uninstall.

See the Cinelerra RPM for an example of the wild things one can do with an 
RPM.

With a tool such as apt-get, and an apt repository of RPM's, installation of 
even the most complicated set of package dependencies can be a breeze.  
Reference Planet CCRMA.  Download apt-rpm, make some config changes, apt-get 
update, and then apt-get install packages of your choice.  Dependencies are 
automatically calculated, packages downloaded, and everything installed in 
the right order.  There are significant advantages to this structure.
-- 
Lamar Owen
WGCR Internet Radio
1 Peter 4:11