Chandrashekar Babu wrote:
T.KaruppuSwamy (T & B) writes:Dear Chandrashekar,
1. What way the application I am installing is related to the kernel?
A well designed application *should* not depend on a specific kernel.
Of course, newer kernel updates provide more features, support more
hardware and fix a couple of bugs (and sometimes introduce new bugs).
Most applications do not tightly depend on a specific kernel version
(atleast most end-user apps dont). Infact, lots of applications that
work on Linux, do work on other other platforms too (like *BSD,
Solaris, HP/UX, <cough>Windows</cough>). So, a kernel update should
not impose a problem.
asking is this, many applications are labelled for distro, not for
kernel version. IN SHORT I WANT TO KNOW THE DEPENDENCY OF KERNEL
VERSION, DISTRO VERSION, DESKTOP (KDE, GNOME..) AND APPLICATION WITH
EACH OTHER?
Thats mostly because of the packaging mechanisms that most distros
follow. As most applications are available as binary packages (RPM,
DEB, etc), one package might have a strong dependency on another
package, that too, for a specific version. Due to this, most binary
application packages are labelled
for a distro.
You can always (almost) download the source tarball for your favourite
application and build on your machine without having to worry about
distro-specific requirements (well, mostly). Distros like Gentoo will
make this task easier for you.
2. Since I found that many latest applications run comfortably with
latest kernel, Can I keep my Redhat 8 distro undisturbed with only
kernel update of 2.6.8.1. If I do so what are all the pros and cons
on it?
You can safely update the kernel alone to enjoy the benefits of new
features and performance increase (at times). Though, it is wise to
have a copy of the stock kernel (the one that comes with your distro,
by default) and configure your boot loader for a "Safe boot" option to
boot from the stock kernel - this could be of great help if at all
something fails/breaks due to a kernel update.
3. If I want to update my KDE, What I am suppose to do? I found so
many KDE related rpms and src.rpms on www.kde.org. How to go about it
and where to start with it?
If all you want to do is install the binary package (without having to
go through the pain of compiling the sources), download the RPM
packages and install them in the order (as mentioned in the
installation docs of KDE).
Cheers,
Chandrashekar Babu.
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