Why compiling.

People do compilation for many reason.

They want to learn more. They want to run packages from source code.
If you are going to compile kernel from source you can learn more details
about kernel.


On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 5:33 PM, Muhammad Yousuf Khan wrote:

This is a very basic question but confusing me for very long. so i
need your help.

why people do compiling. i have heard many time that people are
compiling kernel on debian.
what is the reason for this? i am using debian for almost 1.5 year and
have been using it on different platform in CLI mode. but no need of
compiling in this time window.

secondly i have read that people are compiling Squid SAMBA and all
the other packages but why. i am using KVM, squid samba etc for
almost more then 1 year and all the servers are providing me what ever
i asled all the services are very comprehensive and could be fit in
any environment then why compiling?


Thanks,


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Wishing you the very best of everything, always!!!
Kousik Maiti(কৌশিক মাইতি)
Registered Linux User #474025
Registered Ubuntu User # 28654


People do compilation for many reason.<br><br>They want to learn more. They want to run packages from source code. <br>If you are going to compile kernel from source you can learn more details about kernel.<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">

On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 5:33 PM, Muhammad Yousuf Khan <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:" target="_blank"></a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">

This is a very basic question but confusing me for very long. so i<br>
need your help.<br>
<br>
why people do compiling. i have heard many time that people are<br>
compiling kernel on debian.<br>
what is the reason for this? i am using debian for almost 1.5 year and<br>
have been using it on different platform in CLI mode. but no need of<br>
compiling in this time window.<br>
<br>
secondly i have read  that people are compiling Squid SAMBA and all<br>
the other packages but why. i am using KVM, squid samba etc  for<br>
almost more then 1 year and all the servers are providing me what ever<br>
i asled all the services are very comprehensive and could be fit in<br>
any environment then why compiling?<br>
<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
<br>
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to <a href="mailto:"></a><br>
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<br>
</font></span></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Wishing you the very best of everything, always!!!<br>Kousik Maiti(কৌশিক মাইতি) <br>Registered Linux User #474025<br>Registered Ubuntu User # 28654<br>



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On 10/07/12 08:03 AM, Muhammad Yousuf Khan wrote:

This is a very basic question but confusing me for very long. so i
need your help.

why people do compiling. i have heard many time that people are
compiling kernel on debian.
what is the reason for this? i am using debian for almost 1.5 year and
have been using it on different platform in CLI mode. but no need of
compiling in this time window.

secondly i have read that people are compiling Squid SAMBA and all
the other packages but why. i am using KVM, squid samba etc for
almost more then 1 year and all the servers are providing me what ever
i asled all the services are very comprehensive and could be fit in
any environment then why compiling?


Thanks,

There is little need to compile code. In fact, doing so will probably
have a negative impact on your system's stability, especially if you use
other than the official sources.

People who prepare the individual packages or distributions are usually
the only ones who need to compile code. However, some brave/foolhardy
souls must have the latest code from the developer's source and compile
their own. This is invariably a bad idea.

When you leave the safety of your distribution's code repositories, you
become responsible for managing the various inter-dependencies between
programs and libraries. This is not a trivial task.

If you need later code than is available from the official repositories,
look for backports or, in the case of Debian, move to testing. In the
testing repositories you get up to date code that is somewhat stable for
non-critical work.

Compiling from the official sources is a slightly different issue. For
example, some people will compile a custom kernel from the official
sources to do one of several things:
- create a kernel that doesn't need an initramfs - everything is built in
- create a smaller kernel that contains only the options they need -
rendering it non-portable
- creating a kernel with non-standard options for a particular situation.

Other code may need similar tweaking. I once compiled a CUPS driver for
a printer to include a bug fix I needed that hadn't made it into SID yet.

However, these situations are rare. For the vast majority of people,
compiling is something you shouldn't worry about. The package
maintainers do a great job of getting everything to work together
properly. Don't undermine their work.


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On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 6:55 PM, Gary Dale wrote:

On 10/07/12 08:03 AM, Muhammad Yousuf Khan wrote:

This is a very basic question but confusing me for very long. so i
need your help.

why people do compiling. i have heard many time that people are
compiling kernel on debian.
what is the reason for this? i am using debian for almost 1.5 year and
have been using it on different platform in CLI mode. but no need of
compiling in this time window.

secondly i have read that people are compiling Squid SAMBA and all
the other packages but why. i am using KVM, squid samba etc for
almost more then 1 year and all the servers are providing me what ever
i asled all the services are very comprehensive and could be fit in
any environment then why compiling?


Thanks,

There is little need to compile code. In fact, doing so will probably have a
negative impact on your system's stability, especially if you use other than
the official sources.

People who prepare the individual packages or distributions are usually the
only ones who need to compile code. However, some brave/foolhardy souls must
have the latest code from the developer's source and compile their own. This
is invariably a bad idea.

When you leave the safety of your distribution's code repositories, you
become responsible for managing the various inter-dependencies between
programs and libraries. This is not a trivial task.

If you need later code than is available from the official repositories,
look for backports or, in the case of Debian, move to testing. In the
testing repositories you get up to date code that is somewhat stable for
non-critical work.

Compiling from the official sources is a slightly different issue. For
example, some people will compile a custom kernel from the official sources
to do one of several things:
- create a kernel that doesn't need an initramfs - everything is built in
- create a smaller kernel that contains only the options they need -
rendering it non-portable
- creating a kernel with non-standard options for a particular situation.

Other code may need similar tweaking. I once compiled a CUPS driver for a
printer to include a bug fix I needed that hadn't made it into SID yet.

However, these situations are rare. For the vast majority of people,
compiling is something you shouldn't worry about. The package maintainers do
a great job of getting everything to work together properly. Don't undermine
their work.

noway i am undermining their work but i have heard that people do
compile kernels and some time hardware vendors suggest users to
compile their drivers from source though i couldn't get the idea of
what they are discussing.

so after reading your detailed answer things are crystal clear. i
applicate the effort and i thank you for help.

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On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 7:19 PM, Camaleón wrote:

On Tue, 10 Jul 2012 17:03:12 +0500, Muhammad Yousuf Khan wrote:

This is a very basic question but confusing me for very long. so i need
your help.

why people do compiling.

For many reasons but mainly because there are no binaries available for
your system and you have to get the sources and build a package.

i have heard many time that people are compiling kernel on debian.

That's a good example.

what is the reason for this? i am using debian for almost 1.5 year and
have been using it on different platform in CLI mode. but no need of
compiling in this time window.

I don't like compiling so much within my main systems, it requires many
libraries and packages to be installed in the system and I prefer to keep
packaging at the bare minimum... so then, why I compile a kernel? Mainly
for debugging purposes.

For instance, I have many problems with my wireless card that uses
several kernel modules (brcmsmac, cordic, crdca, brcmutils, mac80211...)
and I need to try either a) patches that solve my reconnect problems or
b) updated versions of these modules, thus I need compiling a new kernel.

People also compile kernels because that's the only way to get the latest
upstream kernel and latest kernels usually provide support for new
devices or have nice functionalities not present in older reelases.

secondly i have read that people are compiling Squid SAMBA and all the
other packages but why. i am using KVM, squid samba etc for almost more
then 1 year and all the servers are providing me what ever i asled all
the services are very comprehensive and could be fit in any environment
then why compiling?

When all works fine there's usually no need to compile things.

People compile becasue they want to add a new feature not present in the
current binary (for example, they want samba with a determined flag or
parameter "on/off"), to solve a problem/bug or to apply a patch, etc...

Thanks very informative :)

Greetings,

Camaleón


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On Tue, 10 Jul 2012 17:03:12 +0500, Muhammad Yousuf Khan wrote:

This is a very basic question but confusing me for very long. so i need
your help.

why people do compiling.

For many reasons but mainly because there are no binaries available for
your system and you have to get the sources and build a package.

i have heard many time that people are compiling kernel on debian.

That's a good example.

what is the reason for this? i am using debian for almost 1.5 year and
have been using it on different platform in CLI mode. but no need of
compiling in this time window.

I don't like compiling so much within my main systems, it requires many
libraries and packages to be installed in the system and I prefer to keep
packaging at the bare minimum... so then, why I compile a kernel? Mainly
for debugging purposes.

For instance, I have many problems with my wireless card that uses
several kernel modules (brcmsmac, cordic, crdca, brcmutils, mac80211...)
and I need to try either a) patches that solve my reconnect problems or
b) updated versions of these modules, thus I need compiling a new kernel.

People also compile kernels because that's the only way to get the latest
upstream kernel and latest kernels usually provide support for new
devices or have nice functionalities not present in older reelases.

secondly i have read that people are compiling Squid SAMBA and all the
other packages but why. i am using KVM, squid samba etc for almost more
then 1 year and all the servers are providing me what ever i asled all
the services are very comprehensive and could be fit in any environment
then why compiling?

When all works fine there's usually no need to compile things.

People compile becasue they want to add a new feature not present in the
current binary (for example, they want samba with a determined flag or
parameter "on/off"), to solve a problem/bug or to apply a patch, etc...

Greetings,

Camaleón


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