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On Sat, Sep 24, 2005 at 11:29:56AM +0800, Linux GNUbie wrote: |
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> The beauty of running a binary based GNU/Linux distribution not |
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> particularly on CentOS alone but in general (includes Debian, Red Hat, |
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> SuSE, Mandriva, etc.) is before the updates are released to the public |
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> it has been tested and compiled for use in enterprise production use. |
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You have something quite similar with Gentoo. After all, in what way does |
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testing an ebuild or testing a binary package differ? The ebuild uses the |
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same source for all testers. The only difference is that ebuilds can behave |
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differently based on your USE flags (and a few other variables in your |
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make.conf - but USE is the most notable one). |
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Some people ask me if their mega-size-USE-flag affects performance in a |
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negative way. It doesn't, assuming that you still understand why you set |
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certain USE flags in that variable. Don't forget, the behavior of most |
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ebuilds doesn't change with each USE flag change - only to those the ebuild |
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listens to. |
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For instance, if you check the USE flags for mysql, you'll notice that it |
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only is affected by: |
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berkdb, big-tables, debug, doc, minimal, perl, readline, ssl, static, tcpd |
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How many MySQL users do you think have tested the result of the MySQL ebuild |
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using your USE flags? That'll be quite a lot - and we are not only talking |
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about Gentoo users, but also general MySQL users who manually build the |
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sources (many MySQL production users do this this way) using the configure |
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--with-blabla/--without-blabla tags that are mapped onto the USE flags in |
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Gentoo. |
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Anyway, what I wanted to state was that you can easily test packages |
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yourself. Build the package on your buildserver, deploy that package on your |
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development machine, stage it through the necessary pillars (like testing, |
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staging, simulation) to eventually deploy the new package on your production |
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system. |
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This is a pattern used on many environments, even by those using pure binary |
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packages. The difference with Gentoo is that they are immediately pinned to |
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that binary package while Gentoo allows you to improve the package without |
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much effort, slim down the installation to what you need (effectively |
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decreasing the possibility of a security flaw or software bug affecting you) |
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and even optimize the build to your system environment. |
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Wkr, |
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Sven Vermeulen |
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-- |
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Gentoo Foundation Trustee | http://foundation.gentoo.org |
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Gentoo Documentation Project Lead | http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gdp |
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Gentoo Council Member |
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|
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The Gentoo Project <<< http://www.gentoo.org >>> |
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