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Idea #381: Make build + install from source trivial

Written by doclist the 29 Feb 08 at 01:17. Category: System. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: New
Rationale
Installing 'custom' packages from source is far too difficult. This includes applying custom patches, tracking bleeding edge packages, maintaining your own packages, ... etc. These tasks, while unheard of for the average user, are common practice for developers and power users. Unfortunately, Apt is extremely weak in this regard. Fetching source + applying patches + building + installing should be a one-step process and should be nearly as easy as installing a binary. Other package managers like pacman and portage manage to deal with this more elegantly, why can't Apt?
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #381
Written by doclist the 29 Feb 08 at 01:17.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #381 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!
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Solution #2: Drag and drop (source code) tarball installation
Written by ginjaninja405 the 11 Mar 11 at 01:33.
Since natty has recently introduced being able to drag a file over a program and drop it in to open it up, it would be really cool if we could download a source code zip/tarball, drag it over the applications on the side, and see Ubuntu Software Centre light up. This would then open it up and ask you if you would like to install [name of program] and also explain the risk of using source code from the internet, just to be safe.
This would be a fantastic new way for people like me to access programs downloaded from the internet. This would also eliminate the divide between .deb and .rpm packages, which is unnecessarily implemented. Option to have a ppa included within the source code, for future updating.

Propose your solution

Attachments
spec Blueprint ui-for-installation-from-source: Ubuntu
forum Ubuntuforums.org thread #730190


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Comments
unit3 wrote on the 29 Feb 08 at 03:09
Because APT and the Debian package system try to only let you install things that are tested. The other package managers you mentioned let you install whatever you want because they don't seem to care if your system breaks.

If you really like this functionality, then use Gentoo, that's what it's for. We like our OSes stable and not breaking every second day, thanks.

Nat_Tuck wrote on the 29 Feb 08 at 03:58
If a program isn't in the repositories, and the developers aren't offering their own .deb packages, that's a message to you - they're saying that their program isn't ready for use by normal Ubuntu users. The extra effort to install a package from source is a *feature*, not a bug.

Kreuger wrote on the 1 Mar 08 at 14:42
Nat_Tuck that's not always true. Sometimes, they don't have someone who knows how to build debian packages properly or at all in their team. I've seen this many times.

steve196 wrote on the 7 Apr 08 at 20:24
Auto -downloading all the source libraries that a source code depends on would surely be great.

Endolith wrote on the 24 Oct 08 at 20:31
The extra effort to install a package from source is a *feature*, not a bug.

No way. There are plenty of programs that are not packaged for Ubuntu that are meant to be used. We should make it as easy as possible for users to compile and install them, with everything tracked in the package manager for easy update and removal.

Endolith wrote on the 24 Oct 08 at 20:53
Relevant links:

http://menutogo.sourceforge.net/

http://www.gnu.org/software/sourceinstall/

http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=30223

http://autopackage.org/


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