Re: Will Redhat let me remain a renegade?

["Adam Williams" <awilliam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Nov 18,  2:19pm, <jhohertz@golden.net> wrote:
> Subject: Re: Will Redhat let me remain a renegade?
>
> For sure. The only thing I'd make sure of is that I ./configure
> --prefix=/usr/local/thing-i-am-installing as to not stomp on redhat's
> nicely managed packages.
>
>

I use Redhat with lots of "tar ball" apps,  but by dumping them in
/usr/local/bin, /usr/local/lib, /usr/local/etc instead of in the main tree they
don't "pollute" the main distribution (which is important if you use commercial
software om your system,  because they won't support you any more).

But there is a bigger advantge.  By putting all your custom stuff in /usr/local
it is unaffected by OS upgrades (that is a new version of a package won't stomp
on it)  and you can backup all "your" software just by backing up /usr/local
and not the whole /usr & /lib tree, which might be HUGE.