REPOST: Re: install Python2.2 question

[Tim Hammerquist]

Alex Martelli <aleax at aleax.it> graced us by uttering:
> "Tim Hammerquist" <tim at vegeta.ath.cx> wrote:
>     ...
>> If you have a sufficient devel environment and you are up to the
>> challenge, you can try to build Python yourself, but it may be more
>> trouble than it's worth if you're new to linux.
> 
> How so?  tar xzf, cd, ./configure, make, sudo make install -- how
> much trouble can that be?

I can rephrase: if you're new to any operating system that comes
standard with development utilities like tar, make, cc. Note that
sudo is not available in all distributions (or even different
releases of the same distribution) of linux. Or those new to a
command line.

True, it is quite simple to type the characters you mention, but try
to explain to some previous Windows-user what he's doing and why he
can't just "download one of them RPM thingies and be done with it."

At times I have a hard enough time trying to convince people to login
as a non-root user and occasionally su, rather than run as root all
the time.

It's a different mindset from Windows and new users can get
overwhelmed.  Look at the options of a configure script, seeing error
messages because his linux distro is broken/missing headers, can
easily cause him to throw his hands up needlessly.

PN: Even clpm suggests using a prepackaged binary "until the user
feels up to compiling his own."

Tim Hammerquist
-- 
LISP programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing.
    -- Alan Perlis' corruption of an Oscar Wilde quote

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From: Tim Hammerquist <tim at vegeta.ath.cx>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.python
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