check install

Hello,
Someone was telling my about check install. I have never heard of that. Is this something that everybody uses or should I not bother with it?

Any thoughts?
Mike

if by that you mean
make check
then it is a good idea to make sure that all of the files are working properly. it is especially important when compiling programs such as GLibC, GCC or make, coz if you screw these up you might not be able to recompile :)

I might not have been clear for that I am sorry I just heard of that the other day I hope this helps. Was told we can download a program called checkinstall then I use it like this

./configure
make
check install
make clean

Maybe I am wrong I was hoping someone could clear this up for me.
Thanks

You are correct,

checkinstall is used in replacement of make install, however checkinstall performs make install for you.

The cencepts of checkinstall to understand is that when you compile a program from source, checkinstall will compile the binary files into a package for your distrobution such as RPM or for your case TGZ (Slackware Package Management System).

Why do this? Well when you install programs from source, developers often do not put a make uninstall into the compilation code, this means you cannot remove the program totally, unless tracking down every file created and deleting it, then you risk deleting a file that is needed by another program, and it can become extremly messy, if make uninstall exists, you still needs to keep the directory you compiled your program in, this can take up space - something you may or may not have, but if you compile 200 programs, imagine it being nearly double the space if you didn;t compile from source due to keeping the directory if you need to rmeove the program later. Checkinstall overcomes this by allowing you to compile your program into a package and then install (installpkg) your package using your package manager, which then results in you being able to remove (removepkg) the program.

Hope this helps

DislexiK

I agree with DislexiK but its advantage is not just uninstalls the programs easily. You now when you compile prgrams it can be a little bit long. When you use checkinstall as DislexiK told you got your distro-special package. Then when you want to reinstall the same program it will be take a short time.

I use checkinstall and i am very pleased. I must say that check install is the firts program that i install when i make a fresh Linux setup.

Great advice, now can you advise me on the best place to get it?
Thanks for your info,
Mike

www.google.com/linux + checkinstall give me the homepage :wink:

http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/checkinstall/