[techtalk] source vs. rpm?

[Stephanie Alarcon]

> BTW: Be careful of rpms and make absolutely certain that they are BIND
> 8.2.2P5 and not any other version before you use them. Compiling BIND from
> source is -very- easy, taking a total of five steps to complete.

hey, anyone have a minute to explain the differences/advantages
disadvantages of source vs rpm?   I've installed things both ways, but i
really only know barely enough about them to be dangerous.  whenever i
"make" something and it doesn't work i just kinda sit there blinking
stupidly, and when an rpm goes in ok i am happy and think about what
lovely magic it is.  I've done more installs with solaris than linux, and
ithink an rpm is kind of like a package?

oh, here's a funny story...i have a printout from a patch doc for
solaris.  The patch fixed a previous patch which had adverse effects on
the system: it did an `rm -rf /`.  Oops.