PHP RPM installation

[Anon]

Has anyone installed the php 4-02 src.rpm? I have experience installing rpms, but I have never installed a source rpm. I am running Mandrake 6 and would appreciate a brief how-to.

I tried rpm -i filename.src.rpm to no avail and also tried using gnorpm and kpackage.

Thanks.

[Anon]

When installing a source RPM using "rpm -i" then the sources are copied to the relevant directories (/usr/src/redhat/SOURCES) and a package specification file is put in /usr/src/redhat/SPECS. This may be a bit different on Mandrake.

Nothing else happens. You have to re-build the source RPM package before it can be installed in a useful state. For that, you go to the directory containing the "php.spec" file and run:
rpm -bb php.spec

See the RPM manual and this URL for more information:
http://rpmdp.org/rpmbook/

[Anon]

IMHO if you're going to have a play with the source code, you might as well download the .tar.gz file. Then you can choose where to put it, rather than put up with Red Hat deciding for you. 'Course I'm a control freak...🙂