Building Packages From Source With CheckInstall

Posted Jun 4, 2004 1:15 UTC (Fri) by X-Nc (guest, #1661) [Link]

> seems overly rigid to me; Klemmer is easily excited.

I only touched the surface of the utility. And while it is true that I am easily excited, that doesn't mean checkinstall isn't a great tool to have around. Oh, and call me Joe. :-)

> Silver bullet software packaging tools, while mildly amusing, will always produce
> packages that fall short of finely crafted rpm or deb packages.

If you read the review again you'll see that I never claim this to be a "Silver Bullet". It is a valuable addition to any admins toolbox. You can do anything with checkinstall that you can by hand. And while I agree that the meticulous handcrafting of the configuration for a package has the potential for a more optimized result, checkinstall is far more than just "mildly amusing".

But don't take my word for it. Try it out. Test all of its features. I get the feeling that you have never looked at the utility. Give it a whirl and then make a decision as to it's usefulness for your situation. Who knows? It might not be useful for you at all. But it might be a great tool for someone else. That's what it's all about anyway, right?

Posted Jun 4, 2004 14:06 UTC (Fri) by pflugstad (subscriber, #224) [Link]

I've been using this for at least a year now for adding packages to my Debian system. It works - it's easy to use, and it makes managing hand-built packages a LOT easier. It's especially useful for managing things that go in /usr/local.

It's not a silver bullet, but it's not meant to be.