> SRPMS are a lot more than tarballs since they define build time
> dependencies (ie they refuse to build if this or that isn't installed),
> configure flags (eg --with-acl, --with-openldap in the case of samba)
> install-time configure scripts
My point was that SRPMS are bascially a wrapper around tarball installs.
There is nothing magically inherent in SRPMS rather than tarballs other
than the SRPM author has added configuration information for building the
(usually) tarred source inside the SRPM by providing the SPEC files.
When it comes down to it the SRPM will also be using tar and configure
anyway.
Heck, even some .tgz downloads provide a SPEC file so you can build SRPMS
from them yourself.
And yes, I usually prefer to install from SRPMS myself and to use tarballs
as a last resort.
> Nvidia provides SRPMS so in that case it is pointless to use
> the tarball. If it doesn't build then taking a look at the third party
> srpm and using the info for building the NVIDIA provided SRPM is the
> best option
Out of interest where are the SRPMS? I can see them listed for the nForce
drivers 1.0-0261 but not for the Linux IA-32 drivers which I was using.
Anyway, I don't want to get into a pissing match with you about SRPMS vs
tarballs. Someone asked why they couldn't get the nVidia drivers to
compile and I told them.
You want to use RPMS religiously throughout your system? Fine, go do it!
I mostly do as well but I am FLEXIBLE and use whatever suits my needs at
the time on my own systems.
At the time I couldn't find SRPMS suitable for Fedora on the nVidia site
but using their provided package, with their provided README, I was able
to compile and load their drivers PERFECTLY on Fedora.
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