I have servers (with Debian or Centos) and I would like to install programs from sources, because I can always have up to date software. If I want to install some program from source I usually do next steps:Download archive with sourceUnzip and cd to directory with sourceRun ./configure prefix=/usr/localmake && sudo make installAfter that I remove downloaded archive and unzipped folder with source.My questions are:If I want to update program to newer version, what steps should I perform?How can I remove program installed in such way?Is it correct to remove folder with source after installation or it can be usefull later?
How to manage installed from source programs?
centos;software installation
The easiest way to install software is to let someone else build it for you. If you want the latest software (usually not a good idea on a server, it's better to keep a stable system), don't use CentOS (which is the most conservative among the major distributions), and don't use Debian stable. Use Fedora, or Debian unstable, or Arch Linux.If you like pain and insist on compiling your own programs, or if you really need the bleeding edge for a few programs, then use stow to manage the installed directory tree. The principle is that you install each program in its own subdirectory such as /usr/local/stow/PROGRAM_NAME, and stow creates symbolic links to populate a common directory /usr/local. See Keeping track of programs for a quickstart guide.You may want to keep the source around in case you want to recompile (say after fixing a bug). Otherwise, normally, you don't need the source.