From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jun 18 21:02:24 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E84B616A4CE for ; Fri, 18 Jun 2004 21:02:24 +0000 (GMT) Received: from mta11.adelphia.net (mta11.adelphia.net [68.168.78.205]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 65EFF43D4C for ; Fri, 18 Jun 2004 21:02:24 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from parv@chvlva.adelphia.net) Received: from default.chvlva.adelphia.net ([69.160.73.175]) by mta13.adelphia.netESMTP <20040618203049.DUZN16060.mta13.adelphia.net@default.chvlva.adelphia.net>; Fri, 18 Jun 2004 16:30:49 -0400 Received: by default.chvlva.adelphia.net (Postfix, from userid 1000) id DF9755711; Fri, 18 Jun 2004 16:32:11 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 16:32:11 -0400 From: Parv To: Patrick Useldinger Message-ID: <20040618203211.GA1964@moo.holy.cow> Mail-Followup-To: Patrick Useldinger , FreeBSD Questions Mail List References: <40D33478.3060705@vo.lu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <40D33478.3060705@vo.lu> cc: FreeBSD Questions Mail List Subject: Re: any use to build from source? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 21:02:25 -0000 in message <40D33478.3060705@vo.lu>, wrote Patrick Useldinger thusly... > > (Building from source) allows you to compile with the compiler > options you want, you are able to optimize the binaries for your > CPU, but: does it really matter? Are the speed improvements really > visible? I haven't run any benchmarks related to speed for use of software on a personal, non-server computer. In case when debugging support in a software would be needed, already built software would be lacking. > Dependencies was another argument: you compile with the correct > headers of dependant files, well... is that really so? If you > upgraded the dependant binaries, wouldn't you get the same effect? I see compiling from source as a way to reduce and/or alter dependencies, and number/size of installed files. One drawback of using pkg_add to install a binary package is that it requires unnecessary upgrade of dependencies. If a package to be installed requires x-1.2.3 but x-1.2.2_p9 is already installed AND there will be no problem of using x-1.2.2_p9, x-1.2.3 will be installed regardless in addition to x-1.2.2_p9, quite possibly overwriting the files. The packages are almost never suitable for me even though i do not run servers other than for personal needs. > One certain drawback of compiling from source is the compilation > time. Large packages like KDE or OpenOffice take ages, so you > can't just "quickly" upgrade a whole system That sure is true, in addition to requirement of large build space too, jdk-1.4 requires ~1.7 GB for example. BTW, your concerns have had been dealt w/ in past, at least once this year. - Parv --