GNU Source Installer

Table of Contents

Introduction to GNU Source Installer

GNU Source Installer is a source package manager for Unix-likes.

It provides configuration, compilation, installation, upgrade, tracking and removal of packages built from source code following the GNU coding standards. The functionality is reachable using a command line, scriptable front end or a GTK graphical interface.

For an user already experienced with source installations from the plain shell (using the ./configure, make, make install sequence), this software provides a way to centralize source installation, have easier access to configure options, keep track of already installed packages and their relevant files, check installations for consistency, export and reuse installation information and have enhanced uninstallation and upgrade functionalities.

For the novice but interested user, this software also offers a way to gain confidence with the shell commands, the file system, the traditional Unix commands, and of course with common source configuration and installation procedures and options. Reporting bugs encountered during build remains easy, with the full log available in both front-ends.

The software is targeted at Unix-like systems, and should work on most of them, with GNU/Linux as the primary target. Please report any portability problem you should encounter.

Downloading GNU Source Installer

The most recent release is 2.3, and is an official alpha release. It contains most of the main features, but still misses some, and extensive documentation and testing. Please consider helping the project in this regard.

All sourceinstall 2.3 components are available separately: a library, called libsrcinst-2.3.1, which must be installed first, then the command line front end, called sourceinstall-2.3, and finally the GTK graphical front end, called sourceinstall-gtk-2.3. You can install either of these front-ends or both, depending on your taste.

You can fetch GNU Source Installer using one of the following methods:

It can also be found on one of our FTP mirrors.

Documentation

Unfortunately, a texinfo manual is still not available, and help is needed in this sense.

Mailing Lists

GNU Source Installer has a single, all-purpose mailing list:

To subscribe to the bug-sourceinstall mailing list, please send an empty mail to <bug-sourceinstall-request@gnu.org> with a Subject: header line of just "subscribe".

Please remember that development of GNU Source Installer is a volunteer effort, and you can also contribute to its development. For information about contributing to the GNU Project, please read How to help GNU.

Report a Bug

If you think you have found a bug in sourceinstall, then you should send as complete a report as possible to <bug-sourceinstall@gnu.org>.

Maintainer

GNU Source Installer is currently being maintained by Claudio Fontana <claudio@gnu.org>.