properly
Many problems in Linux development could have been avoided if the software developers used a proper method to install their software and libraries. Here is a short list of common mistakes that people make when installing their software in a Linux system.
Software Installers - many GNU/Linux distributions include a simple wrapper around the software installers. This wrapper is usually called “package manager” and is used to install, uninstall, and upgrade your software using a GUI. It does not compile the software but it handles the package management part for you. By default, the package manager downloads and installs the package provided by the distributor. Some people believe that there is no need to use other software to install software. Many Linux users do not use the package manager (apt, aptitude, dselect, etc) because they think that it is not needed.
There are some big problems with the “installer only” method:
1. The package manager downloads the source code from the Internet and recompiles it. As explained earlier, there is no need to download the source code from the Internet. The package manager does not install the software; instead it downloads the pre-compiled packages (tar.gz, zip, rpm, tar.bz2, etc) which already contain the compiled source code.
2. The package manager downloads the package from the Internet and does not install it locally. If you install a package in a different folder than where the package manager installed the package, you might overwrite important files, or you might leave files with the same name. As a result, you might not be able to use the software as easily as you should.
3. The package manager does not install or uninstall the software automatically. If you install a package using dpkg and it does not automatically remove the software after you uninstall the package, you will have to remove the package manually. This is a really bad problem, especially when you use another version of the package manager.
How to Install Software Properly:
The first thing you should do when installing a new software package is to use the “built-in” package manager. Most GNU/Linux distributions include a package manager with the distribution itself. It is called “dpkg” and it comes pre-installed in the distributions. You do not need to install it by yourself. If you do not want to use this package manager, you should use the installation script provided with the software package. There are
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