[Techtalk] Binary or source distribution?

[Carla Schroder]

I thought a source distribution was built from scratch from source code, 
rather than a derivative of an existing distribution. For example, Gentoo and 
dynebolic are source distributions. Mepis and Ubuntu are Debian derivatives.

Carla

On Tuesday 21 October 2008 19:17:58 Sarah Newman wrote:
> Good question.  I'm a little confused myself.
> 
> Generally file formats like deb and rpm are referred to as packages, not 
> distributions.  To me distribution means an entire linux ecosystem like 
> debian or fedora.  But distribution could refer to the generic 
> 'something that gets distributed.'
> 
> Package refers to some format which not only includes files but 
> information like the email address of the maintainer and package 
> dependencies - what the package contents need in order to run.
> 
> To be package / archive agnostic I usually refer to 'binaries' and 'source.'
> 
> Binaries are precompiled, but they don't have to be in an rpm or deb. 
> There are other package formats, and you could have them in a tar.gz too.
> 
> Source could be stored in a tar.gz but it could be something else too. 
> Whether source has to be compiled depends on what kind of source it is. 
>   C/C++ has to be compiled for the computer to run it.  Scripting 
> languages like perl or python don't because an interpreter translates 
> the source on the fly.  The source doesn't have to come directly from 
> the developer.
> 
> As an example, you can download source for many if not all debian 
> packages using 'apt-get source' if you have 'deb-src' repository entries 
> in the apt config file 'sources.list' .
> 
> I guess someone might refer to linux distributions like gentoo, where 
> you usually compile packages from source, as a source distribution and 
> linux distributions where you usually download binary packages (like 
> debian or fedora) as a binary distribution, but I've never heard that.
> 
> You can probably figure out which someone means by the context.
> 
> --Sarah
> 
> 
> Anne Wainwright wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I feel so stupid asking, but what is the difference? I usually find an 
answer on Wikipedia, but amazingly no entry on this matter. 
> > 
> > A source distribution is one that you download as a tar.gz  from the 
developer and then have to make and all that stuff?
> > A binary distribution is one already compiled and installs ready to run 
from a downloaded .deb or .rpm format?
> > Am I right there?
> > 
> > While I am making a fool of myself, let's complete the job properly .....
> > 
> > I keep little notes in kjots of all things linux (like, now, Wim's netstat 
suggestion). I have never found a similar gnome utility. Am i missing out 
here? kjots is an interloper in my gnome setup, but I like it even if the 
format looks a little out of place.
> > 
> > bestest
> > Anne
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