[Techtalk] Binary or source distribution?
Carla Schroder
carla at bratgrrl.com
Wed Oct 22 02:30:16 UTC 2008
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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>
--
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Carla Schroder
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