Building eveything from source with ABS

Question

Hi. Im amazed with the ABS system. It´s aewsome, since I love to build all the software in my system from source, and compiling it and make it a binary package is just genious. But I have some questions, here they go:
1 - Im compiling everything using the ABS tree using makepkg -b, so it compiles and generates packages also for its dependencies and I edited makepkg.conf so all the generated packages go to a folder (i.e.  /packages) so I can install them later using pacman -U package. My question is: If I later install a given packages, that depends on another, will that package be automatically installed when it´s needed? And is there a way to automatically redo all the source compiling and package generation automatically upon a source update for the packages I previously generated (like syncing in pacman)?
2- Im trying to build my desktop from source the ABS way the cleanest way possible, without all that kde programs, just the core of its window manager, so I would like to know what sources to compile. I guess it would be something like xorg -> kde -> nvidia drivers -> compiz-fusion (not supported by ABS) . Any directions, guys? Thanks in advance.
Last edited by Arthanis (2008-01-28 00:32:24)

Answer 1

Arthanis wrote:Sorry, it´s because i didn´t know how to move the post, I saw that if fit in another part of the forum
Don't worry too much.  I suppose I was being mean given you are new here. It is just that help tends to be better when clustered in one place. 
jacko wrote:I thought about doing this for myself at some point, there is a lot of things I just do not need that is compiled in by default which I could rid myself of but, is all the time worth it in the end? Would like to hear someone elses expertise on this issue.
Well, you could also add in more optimization for your specific processor.  But I honestly don't think you need this for every package.  Perhaps the kernel, glic and a couple of other often used and big packages, but in the end it is barely noticeable given Arch is fairly optimized by default and can make you system less stable.
The only real reason to recompile is to add/remove options.  If the option is easy to add and doesn't bloat the package. the devs will probably add it for you if you ask in the bug tracker anyway.  I think the only package I now recompile are mozilla ones because I want the branding.