Running Apps from sourcecode.

[jammer42777]

aI like linux, and I like an easy to setup distro that doesn't need much tweaking.
BUT I don't want to install any downloaded software using binary packages, I want to use all Sourcecode.

My questions are these:

1. what command switches are there in ./configure to direct that command to the libraries that my program might need?

2. How would I go about the big updates? Like updating KDE or Gnome manually?

3. where is there a thread on recompiling the kernel?

I know this sounds big, But I will be using linux for my main internet system while learning it's finer points.

Thank you!
--Joshua

[ph34r]

If you want to do it all source, take a look at either the LFS project (www.linuxfromscratch.org) or Gentoo

[stumbles]

1. ./configure switches vary from application to application. The only real way to know is untar it and run ./configure --help. Most times you don't really need to specify where the libraries are, configure can make some pretty good guesses. However if you have things in /usr/local that might trip it up. Just make sure your pathing is correct for where they live.

2. compiling KDE or Gnome from scratch on a distro that is not really setup as a sourced based distro can be a LARGE PIA. Your biggest issues will be of course satisfying all the preliminary dependencies. You can do it on Redhat or whatever but it WILL take A LOT of preparatory work. Quite frankly though, I have found KDE to be waaaayyyyy easier to compile from scratch than Gnome.

3. search.

[stumbles]

aI like linux, and I like an easy to setup distro that doesn't need much tweaking.
BUT I don't want to install any downloaded software using binary packages, I want to use all Sourcecode.

My questions are these:

1. what command switches are there in ./configure to direct that command to the libraries that my program might need?

2. How would I go about the big updates? Like updating KDE or Gnome manually?

3. where is there a thread on recompiling the kernel?

I know this sounds big, But I will be using linux for my main internet system while learning it's finer points.

Thank you!
--Joshua

You might want to look at Lunar-Linux (in my sig)

[stumbles]

And I forgot to mention. If you intend to use a binary distro, you for sure will want to install the devel packages. Thinks like gcc, glibc to name a couple. Then also you will probably want to install the devel packages for audio/video apps you might want to link to. Then... oh the hell with it, just install all the devel packages cause you never know which one will toss a wrench in the configure/make phases.

[Pafnoutios]

Gentoo is a source-based distribution with very nice documentation. www.gentoo.org
It's what I use.

(Unless, of course, you want to compile everything by hand)

[Gallienus]

There is sabayon too...http://www.sabayonlinux.org/
Sabayon is a breeze to install. Although with the initial installation you are installing binaries but after that, upgrading programs installing new software, it's all source.

There is also source mage. I don't know the url but you can find it on distrowatch.