30 Jun 2002 atai   » (Journeyer)

Source-based distribution as add-on to "standard" distribution?

Is there a way to add one source-based GNU/Linux distribution as an add-on layer to a more standard one like Red Hat? By that I mean the source distribution must not "conflict" with the files from the standard distribution. For example, GARNOME allows GNOME 2 to be installed in nonstandard directories on top of Red Hat, Debian, or whatever. The advantage of this is that the "standard" system do not get touched, preserving the original distribution environment in case anything goes wrong with development stuff. So what is Red Hat's, leave it to them, and just update following their releases.

If a GARNOME-like system can be established to include most packages, with dependency-tracking like in source-based distributions, then we can enjoy the benefits of conveniently accessing the latest sources while remaining compatible with the older, but stable, distributions. Kind of like layering Gentoo on top of Red Hat. This assumes enough drive space is available and is not meant for glibc or kernel hackers.

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