Why install from source instead of debian packages?

[TheMike]

In some of the HOWTO's:
"Apache2-SSL-PHP5-Howto (+Zend Optimizer And IonCube Loader)"
"Postfix-SMTP-AUTH-TLS-Howto" etc. programs are installed on a debian system by downloading the source files, building them and then installing them.
Why not use the debian packages? (apt-get install...)??

Don't you risk messing up dependencies when doing an install from source?

In other words can someown explain the benefits and risks of doing installation from the source file, or point me to a document in this direction?

Regards,
TheMike

[falko]

In some of the HOWTO's:
"Apache2-SSL-PHP5-Howto (+Zend Optimizer And IonCube Loader)"
"Postfix-SMTP-AUTH-TLS-Howto" etc. programs are installed on a debian system by downloading the source files, building them and then installing them.
Why not use the debian packages? (apt-get install...)??

This is for showing how to compile things from sources, and these tutorials are meant for all distributions, not just Debian or Fedora or SuSE (you might have to adjust some paths, that differs from distribution to distribution, but the general direction is the same...), so there's no specific package manager to use.

If you want to know how to install these things with packages, have a look at the "The Perfect Setup" series here on HowtoForge, there are tutorials available for Debian, Fedora, Mandrake and SuSE.

[TheMike]

Originally Posted by falko

If you want to know how to install these things with packages, have a look at the "The Perfect Setup" series here on HowtoForge, there are tutorials available for Debian, Fedora, Mandrake and SuSE.

I have read the Perfect Setup Debian Sarge article and this is indeed a clear description, but I'm still sruggeling with this question:

Don't you risk messing up dependencies when doing an install from source?

[till]

Originally Posted by TheMike

I have read the Perfect Setup Debian Sarge article and this is indeed a clear description, but I'm still sruggeling with this question:

Don't you risk messing up dependencies when doing an install from source?

Yes, i think that might happen. The only solution I've seen for debian is that you
can build a fake .deb package that provides the correct information for
the package database.

Till