From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jun 18 22:22:07 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 B819A16A4CE for ; Fri, 18 Jun 2004 22:22:07 +0000 (GMT) Received: from outmx011.isp.belgacom.be (outmx011.isp.belgacom.be [195.238.3.3]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E00BE43D1D for ; Fri, 18 Jun 2004 22:22:06 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from geert@lori.mine.nu) Received: from outmx011.isp.belgacom.be (localhost [127.0.0.1]) with ESMTP id i5IMLxYl025441 for ; Sat, 19 Jun 2004 00:21:59 +0200 (envelope-from ) Received: from lori.mine.nu (111-21.244.81.adsl.skynet.be [81.244.21.111]) with ESMTP id i5IMLs85025402; Sat, 19 Jun 2004 00:21:54 +0200 (envelope-from ) Received: by lori.mine.nu (Postfix, from userid 1000) id D291D73E; Sat, 19 Jun 2004 00:21:52 +0200 (CEST) Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 00:21:51 +0200 From: Geert Hendrickx To: Patrick Useldinger Message-ID: <20040618222151.GA74142@lori.mine.nu> 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> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2i X-GPG-Key: http://www.win.ua.ac.be/~s005085/gnupgkey.txt X-GPG-Key-ID: 1024D/766C1E92 X-Accept-Language: nl,en cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org 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 22:22:07 -0000 Optimization and speed are indeed an arguable advantage of compiling from source, but another GREAT advantage is the possibility of setting compile-time options and dependencies. I.e. lots of packages have options which can be enabled/disabled only at compile time. For example whether you want Vim with the GUI-version or not (in that case it would have a lot more dependencies, such as X and GTK). Of course the package maintainers try to choose useful defaults, but they may not suite *your* specific needs. Also the version of binary packages may be a little behind on the ports. So if you want Firefox 0.9 TODAY, you'd have to compile it yourself. I compile most of my programs from source, just for fun. GH On Fri, Jun 18, 2004 at 08:29:12PM +0200, Patrick Useldinger wrote: > Hi all, > > I must say that I was initially interested in the idea of building > software from source - but I am kind of loosing it. > > Certainly, it 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? > > 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? > > 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, or a large part of it. I might add > that I am more the typical desktop user, not using my machines for real > and specific server apps. > > So, my question is basically: did you, in your experience, find that > compiling from source *really* has any serious advantages that make up > for the time it takes? > > -PU > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"