--On July 22, 2008 9:01:44 PM -0400 Sahil Tandon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Paul Schmehl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
[...]
Some people enjoy doing that. Most people just want the software to
work, be easy to maintain and upgrade and then stay out of their way.
Ahem, and that 'just works' crowd is generally not found using FreeBSD
or in an admin capacity. :-)
Perhaps you've misunderstood my point?
Compiling from source rather than ports gains you nothing, in most cases,
and can cost you a great deal of extra time if you run into problems.
Time is something most admins I know have precious little of already.
There are certainly special cases where compiling from source is
preferable, especially if you have a highly customized installation, but
those are the exceptions rather than the rule. My point was, when you
install from ports, you *are* compiling from source. You just don't have
to deal with any of the quirks that arise when you're working from the
tarball. The port maintainers have already dealt with those issues for
you.
If you prefer compiling from the tarball then by all means have at it.
As an admin myself, I build world and kernel by hand, but I build all my
apps from ports. (I've used freebsd-update for kernel and world updates,
but I normally compile both.)
Paul Schmehl
If it isn't already obvious,
my opinions are my own and not
those of my employer.
