[tlug] Fwd: Classes

[Jim Breen <jimbreen@example.com>]

On 23 May 2012 14:14, Edward Middleton <edward.middleton@example.com> wrote:
> On 05/23/2012 11:39 AM, Jim Breen wrote:
>> On 23 May 2012 11:30, Simon Cozens<simon@example.com>  wrote:
>>> On 20/05/2012 21:01, Josh Glover wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Wow, TLUG has changed a lot in the 12 years I've been a member. I can
>>>> only
>>>> imagine how the charter members feel...
>>>
>>> Linux has changed a lot in the past twelve years, too. Now you don't
>>> actually
>>> *have* to compile everything from scratch any more.
>>
>> Eh? Since when did you "have" to do that? In the early
>> days, which was more than 12 years ago, we were using
>> precompiled distros. I never encountered complete
>> compilations until I went to a TLUG talk on Gentoo in
>> 2002. It seemed very envelope-pushing.
>
>
> I think the big difference is that there are now ways to easily, reliably
> compile things into a distribution.  Most binary only distribution still
> can't do this.

Prezactly. That's why I was surprised by the "*have* to compile everything".

It depends, of course, on the "everything". I used to be a tarball person,
and I remember being told by a visiting RH person at a TLUG meeting
in 2001 that I was being old-fashioned and things like rpm were the
way to go. Now I lean significantly on aptitude and the like, although
the odd "configure/make/make install" is needed.

Jim

--
Jim Breen
Adjunct Snr Research Fellow, Clayton School of IT, Monash University
Webmaster: Hawthorn Rowing Club, Treasurer: Japanese Studies Centre
Graduate student: Language Technology Group, University of Melbourne