[CALUG] Linux on a laptop

[Clinton Ebadi]

"Dustin J. Mitchell" <dustin at zmanda.com> writes:

> I was *forever* frustrated by binary distros that didn't have the
> latest version of something I needed -- Python, PHP, Apache, Autoconf,
> gcc, whatever.  It was to the point where I never even *bothered* to
> look for an RPM when I wanted new software -- I had a system worked
> out to build the software under /opt and then symlink it into the
> system.  It was effective, but I might as well have built the distro
> from the ground up.

Debian unstable :-)

> I also had problems where the binary distros had built software with
> the wrong flags for my purposes.  Best example was RH's Postfix, which
> didn't have the database table functionality built in.  Makes it hard
> to set up email controls for a big set of small customers
> (non-profits, just to link this to a conversation at the last
> meeting).  That was actually even worse, because it was a hosted
> machine, and the dorks at ThePlanet kept "fixing" up2date after I had
> intentionally disabled it, with the result that it would install RH's
> Postfix *over* mine, thereby disabling email for all of our customers
> until I could recompile and reinstall Postfix.  But I digress.

It is fairly easy to set up a local Debian repository and build your
own packages with custom patches for options you need. We do this at
HCoop[1] for example.

[1] http://wiki.hcoop.net/DebianPackaging

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