Re: [gentoo-user] Installing outside of Portage & cruft removal

[Grant]

>>>>> Writing an ebuild is best, but sometimes you just want to give a
>>>>> program a try without writing an ebuild (like everyone else running
>>>>> Linux does) and a scruft script enables you to do that without making
>>>>> a mess of your system.
>>>>
>>>> Not to be picky, it's just an idea but in that case, isn't it way
>>>> easier to
>>>> just ./configure --prefix=/some/dir/inside/yourhome or edit a makefile?
>>>
>>> I have to say I know nothing about compiling or installing outside of
>>> portage.  Does specifying a prefix like that work?  You get a fully
>>> functional program with nothing installed outside of some/dir?
>>
>> Yes, it's the "normal way" for people that don't use package managers.
>> I almost always install into my home directory for programs that
>> aren't in portage (or make my own ebuild if it is a simple one). Or
>> depending on what program it is, create a user for it and run it under
>> that user account so it can't touch anything else.
>
> Yes. It's mostly that simple. Though sometimes in more complex programs
> you might need some extra setup (i.e. configure some variable so the program
> can find its path to the required libs or so). It really depends on the
> program,

So for example, miro needs xine to play videos.  If I ./configure miro
with --prefix=/usr/local, it will install to /usr/local/miro or
similar?  Then I would need to point it to xine and possibly others
since it wasn't configured like --prefix=/ ?  Is all this done as
root?

> however if you open the readme or install file and take a look 99% of the
> times the procedure should be described there. Not all programs use the
> tipical make system, so you should always check the docs, and in any case
> save the source tree for further refference, or just to be able to make
> uninstall.

Couldn't I just uninstall with 'rm -rf /usr/local/miro' ?

- Grant


> Note that this is the cleanest method, and in some cases it's the only option
> (i.e. you don't have root access to the machine, so you have to build in your
> home dir).
>
>>
>> Also, a lot of more simple programs don't even need to be installed.
>> Just untar it, configure it, make it and run it from the directory in
>> which the source resides.
>
> This work for smaller programs very well. Just make and launch it.