Upgrading programs installed from source

[Wallex]

Can I just ./configure | make | make install over the previous version and expect it to work flawlessly? Or should I first make uninstall the previous version of a program before reinstalling from source?

[camelrider]

When I upgrade Sylpheed-claws I just let the make install overwrite the old files and it works ok. As long asthere aren't major changes in the way the program's files are laid out you're probably ok. Some developers are nice enough to include a file such as README.update if there are major changes or incompatabilities between versions.
Also if you are using a different gcc version you might have problems.
You'll probably get some more specific posts soon.
Good luck.

[mdwatts]

I would backup any necessary config files from the current version and then make uninstall.

Look into installing and using checkinstall of which can be found via a freshmeat.net search. Great app...

[Wallex]

Originally posted by mdwatts
...
Look into installing and using checkinstall of which can be found via a freshmeat.net search. Great app...
Hey thanks for the info! You know this is exactly what I need... I love installing programs from source and I have noticed rpms don't play well along source-installed packages. I was installing Gnome, and every file was from source, then when I tried to install GConf, it needed ORBit2 which I also installed from source, then this needed linc, but I couldn't get linc from source, I had to install it from an rpm, which needed Glib, but I just installed Glib from source a while ago! It sucks when the rpm database ignores all my source installed packages... but not anymore. A did I say thanks?