Question about rpms

[Digital Froggy]

It what cases should I rebuild from a source rpm or just install a regular rpm? I get confused. Some programs upgrades offer both and I don't know which one to choose between. Also, can I take a source rpm that was meant for SuSE and rebuild it for installation in Red Hat?

[Harvey]

I know mandrake and redhat rpms work together usually. not sure about suse.

Usually I build from source. You have more control over where your stuff gets installed, and you can learn more about the stuff you're installing too.

I only resort to RPMS when I absolutely can't get the .tar ball to go.

Sometimes rpms install... yet don't work... it's kinda quirky.

stick with tarballs at first, resort to rpms for backup.