Linux checkinstall - keep track of packages installed from source

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Adept
Compiling an application from source is the optimal way of installing software in linux. But authors may not put an uninstall rule in their makefile, so removing the software often becomes a hunt for all the directories in which the files of the application were installed.

Checkinstall is a nifty tool which can convert the compiled package into a slackware, RPM or Debian package, such that each installed file is kept track of.

After you ./configure; make your program, CheckInstall will run make install (or whatever you tell it to run) and keep track of every file modified by this installation, using the excelent installwatch utility written by Pancrazio 'Ezio' de Mauro (p@demauro.net).

When make install is done, CheckInstall will create a Slackware, RPM or Debian compatible package and install it with Slackware's installpkg, "rpm -i" or Debian's "dpkg -i" as appropriate, so you can view it's contents with pkgtool ("rpm -ql" for RPM users or "dpkg -l" for Debian) or remove it with removepkg ("rpm -e"|"dpkg -r"). Aditionally, this script will leave you a copy of the installed package in the source directory so you can install it wherever you want
Click to expand...

http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/checkinstall/

This way you also do not need too compile the same software again whenever you reinstall your distro :hap2:
 
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