Managing software installation using Stow

Managing (mangling) software installation using Stow

What is stow?

Stow is a simple way to manage software packages that were built from source, or any package that lets you specify a destination directory. Essentially, it is just a huge wrapper around ln, but it has hordes of sanity checks thrown in the mix.

What does stow do for me?

If you've ever installed a piece of software from source under UNIX, you probably understand that things get can out of control really quick. If you only install a small number of packages, you are pretty safe just letting the software's configuration defaults (hopefully cobbled together with autoconf and automake) "do their thing". This usually results in software getting dumped to /usr/local/, and in rare cases / or /usr. The directories off of /, /usr, and /usr/local generally include some combination of:

etc bin include lib libexec man sbin share var

For demonstration purposes, let us say I have a piece of software called 'foobar' which is currently at version 1.0. I download the source (http://www.foobar.com/downloads/foobar-1.0.tar.gz), do a very-very simple configuration and installation (tar -zxvf foobar-1.0.tar.gz; cd foobar-1.0; ./configure && make && make install). The installation copies the following files to their respective directories in /usr/local/:

etc/foobar.cfg bin/foobar include/foobar.h lib/foobar.so man/man8/foobar.8

Great. You just successfully installed foobar. You use it for a month. During that time, you install 15 other packages from source using similar techniques. Then a little bird whispers in your ear and tells you that foobar-1.3 has come out and fixes a serious security hole and eliminates a few cosmetic bugs.

No problem, right? Just download and install the latest version just like you did with 1.0. Wait a minute, it appears the developers have mixed things up a bit. The installation now creates the following layout under /usr/local:

etc/foobar.conf bin/foobar lib/foobar.a man/man3/foobar.3

See the problems? Here are a few:

The configuration file now has a new name. There will be two foobar configuration files in /usr/local/etc/ -- one for version 1.0 and one for version 1.3
There are two foobar library files -- one is a shared object, the other is not.
foobar still has one manpage, but it is in a different section. 'man foobar' will produce varying results depending on the user, configuration files, etc. One user may get the manpage for foobar-1.0 while another may get the manpage for foobar-1.3.
foobar no longer sees the need to install it's header file. Since the current foobar binary (/usr/local/bin/foobar) and all the related files have no need for foobar.h, why is it still there?

Two months later, at least 3 revisions of some 20 software packages, and an unfortunate-command-mishap-while-root later, /usr/local is in shambles. Newly installed packages are linking against incorrect files. Which configuration file do I edit? foobar-1.3 doesn't do what I need -- 2.0 does, but is still beta. How can I safely use 2.0 without wreaking even more havok? When I execute 'foobar', which version am I using?

Soon enough, software installed from source is in an unuseable state. The system is almost entirely broken. You reach for the CDs to reinstall....

Enter: Stow.

As stated above, stow is a simple way to manage software installation that makes having N packages each with X versions painless.

Lets redo the installation of foobar from above, but this time with two minor changes:

Create a directory /usr/local/stow
When configuring foobar, specify a destination directory. This is usually done by ./configure --prefix="destination directory". The format for "destination directory" is not important, but to keep your sanity, I recommend packagename-packageversion. If we are installing foobar-1.0, the destination directory would be /usr/local/stow/foobar-1.0

After 'make && make install', if all goes as planned (and the software's configuration/installation scripts are not horribly broken), we will now have the following directory layout:

/usr/local/stow/foobar-1.0/etc/foobar.cfg /usr/local/stow/foobar-1.0/bin/foobar /usr/local/stow/foobar-1.0/include/foobar.h /usr/local/stow/foobar-1.0/lib/foobar.so /usr/local/stow/foobar-1.0/man/man8/foobar.8

Well, thats great and all, but none of that is in anybody's $PATH and it's too long for me to type. This is where stow does the dirty work. Since all the business in /usr/local is generally in everyone's $PATH (and in $LD_LIBRARY_PATH and in $MANPATH, etc), we need to get foobar-1.0's files there somehow while keeping in mind that we will be installing newer versions of this software later. Some previous attempts included using a database of sorts, a program called depot and softinst. Stow uses a simple approach -- symlinks. Jumping ahead a bit, lets say we've "stowed" foobar-1.0. We now have the following layout in /usr/local (where --> is a symlink):

/usr/local/etc/foobar.cfg --> /usr/local/stow/foobar-1.0/etc/foobar.cfg /usr/local/bin/foobar --> /usr/local/stow/foobar-1.0/bin/foobar /usr/local/include/foobar.h --> /usr/local/stow/foobar-1.0/include/foobar.h /usr/local/lib/foobar.so --> /usr/local/stow/foobar-1.0/lib/foobar.so /usr/local/man/man8/foobar.8 --> /usr/local/stow/foobar-1.0/man/man8/foobar.8

Cool. The foobar executable is now in everyone's path, the manpage is in the right spot, and the libary and header file are in place. How did we get here? Easy:

tar -zxvf foobar-1.0.tar.gz cd foobar-1.0 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/stow/foobar-1.0 make make install cd /usr/local/stow stow foobar-1.0

So what? Now all the files are just symlinks to their true locations. How does this help us when it comes to managing newer versions of software? Simple. Stow has a delete method (-D). Delete (or really just removing the symlinks to the files) the elder version, configure, make, install and stow the newer version:

cd /usr/local/stow stow -D foobar-1.0 # stow removed all the symlinks from /usr/local/{etc,bin,include,lib,man}. foobar is no longer in anyone's $PATH # foobar-1.0 still exists, but is saved safely away in /usr/local/stow/foobar-1.0 cd /usr/local/src tar -zxvf foobar-1.3.tar.gz cd foobar-1.3 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/stow/foobar-1.3 make && make install cd /usr/local/stow stow foobar-1.3 # stow now put the appropriate symlinks into /usr/local/{etc,bin,lib,man}

What does stow not do?

Stow tends to not be well-suited for large cumbersome packages. oracle, mysql, gnome/kde and the linux kernel are a few good examples. If you've ever built any of these packages from source, you probably understand why
Stow does not handle "dependencies". However, if package A depends on package B, so long as B is properly installed (and stowed) and A is worth its salt, A will find all the files without a hitch. rpm and apt, to name a few, are "package managers" that attempt to the dependency issues. However, as far as I know, they only handle binary package installations (non-source) which bring their own set of complexities.

Examples

Here is an installation, updated some of them.

[/usr/local/stow]$ ls -l total 172 drwxr-xr-x 4 root drwxr-xr-x 7 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 4 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 6 root drwxr-xr-x 6 root drwxr-xr-x 6 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 6 root drwxr-xr-x 6 root drwxr-xr-x 6 root drwxr-xr-x 4 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 6 root drwxr-xr-x 6 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 4 root drwxr-xr-x 6 root drwxr-xr-x 6 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 4 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 4 root drwxr-xr-x 3 root drwxr-xr-x 9 root drwxr-xr-x 6 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 8 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 8 root drwxr-xr-x 8 root drwxr-xr-x 4 root drwxr-xr-x 3 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 4 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root drwxr-xr-x 7 root drwxr-xr-x 5 root

/usr/local/bin, [/usr/local/bin]$ ls -l total 16 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root -rwxr-xr-x 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root lrwxrwxrwx 1 root

example of a system that was recently installed (Slackware Linux 8.0). After the owner of the machine decided to install a number of packages and has since Here is what /usr/local/stow looks like: root 4096 Dec 13 13:50 Bitchx-75p3/ root 4096 Mar 13 10:40 SDL-1.2.3/ root 4096 Mar 13 10:41 SDL_image-1.2.1/ root 4096 Mar 13 10:46 SDL_mixer-1.2.1/ root 4096 Mar 13 10:55 SDL_mixer_patched/ root 4096 Feb 20 10:55 arpwatch-2.1a4/ root 4096 Nov 18 12:14 aterm-0.4.2/ root 4096 Feb 18 18:29 bc-1.06/ root 4096 Feb 15 09:48 curl-7.9.4/ root 4096 Nov 18 13:40 db-3.3.11/ root 4096 Jan 9 11:29 dia-0.88/ root 4096 Nov 18 13:54 dsniff-2.3/ root 4096 Dec 7 16:57 ethereal-0.8.20/ root 4096 Jan 3 12:09 ethereal-0.9.0/ root 4096 Jan 18 17:00 ettercap-0.6.3.1/ root 4096 Nov 18 23:18 firewalk-1.0/ root 4096 Dec 4 15:27 freetds-0.53/ root 4096 Nov 18 12:10 fvwm-2.4.3/ root 4096 Nov 18 12:26 gaim-0.48/ root 4096 Nov 26 08:22 gd-1.8.4/ root 4096 Feb 6 06:55 kismet-1.4/ root 4096 Jan 2 19:33 libfaim-20010918/ root 4096 Dec 20 12:24 libnasl/ root 4096 Nov 18 12:40 libnet-1.0.2a/ root 4096 Nov 18 13:12 libnids-1.16/ root 4096 Nov 18 12:56 libpcap-0.4/ root 4096 Dec 7 16:34 libpcap-0.7.0/ root 4096 Nov 18 14:30 lsof-4.60/ root 4096 Nov 18 14:34 nc-1.10/ root 4096 Dec 20 12:31 nessus-core-1.0.10/ root 4096 Dec 20 12:22 nessus-libraries-1.0.10/ root 4096 Dec 20 12:35 nessus-plugins-1.0.10/ root 4096 Dec 30 23:58 net-snmp-5.0.pre1/ root 4096 Nov 18 12:31 nmap-2.54BETA30/ root 4096 Feb 6 06:10 openssh-3.0.2p1/ root 4096 Mar 9 11:59 openssh-3.1p1/ root 4096 Nov 25 17:55 snort-1.8.2/ root 4096 Dec 7 22:04 ssidsniff-0.33/ root 4096 Jan 17 15:53 sudo-1.6.5p1/ root 4096 Dec 7 16:44 tcpdump-0.7.0/ root 4096 Dec 7 21:59 wireless-tools-22/ root 4096 Nov 26 06:01 xine-lib-0.9.4/ root 4096 Nov 26 06:04 xine-ui-0.9.4/ as an example root 30 Dec 13 13:50 BitchX -> ../stow/Bitchx-75p3/bin/BitchX* root 35 Dec 13 13:50 BitchX-75p3 -> ../stow/Bitchx-75p3/bin/BitchX-75p3* root 34 Nov 18 12:10 FvwmCommand -> ../stow/fvwm-2.4.3/bin/FvwmCommand* root 29 Nov 18 12:14 aterm -> ../stow/aterm-0.4.2/bin/aterm* root 22 Feb 18 18:29 bc -> ../stow/bc-1.06/bin/bc* root 28 Nov 26 08:22 bdftogd -> ../stow/gd-1.8.4/bin/bdftogd* root 37 Nov 18 14:11 berkeley_db_svc -> ../stow/db-3.3.11/bin/berkeley_db_svc* root 23 Dec 20 12:25 bin -> ../stow/libnasl/bin/bin* root 27 Feb 15 09:48 curl -> ../stow/curl-7.9.4/bin/curl* root 34 Feb 15 09:48 curl-config -> ../stow/curl-7.9.4/bin/curl-config* root 32 Nov 18 13:40 db_archive -> ../stow/db-3.3.11/bin/db_archive* root 35 Nov 18 13:40 db_checkpoint -> ../stow/db-3.3.11/bin/db_checkpoint* root 33 Nov 18 13:40 db_deadlock -> ../stow/db-3.3.11/bin/db_deadlock* root 29 Nov 18 13:40 db_dump -> ../stow/db-3.3.11/bin/db_dump* root 29 Nov 18 13:40 db_load -> ../stow/db-3.3.11/bin/db_load* root 33 Nov 18 13:40 db_printlog -> ../stow/db-3.3.11/bin/db_printlog* root 32 Nov 18 13:40 db_recover -> ../stow/db-3.3.11/bin/db_recover* root 29 Nov 18 13:40 db_stat -> ../stow/db-3.3.11/bin/db_stat* root 32 Nov 18 13:40 db_upgrade -> ../stow/db-3.3.11/bin/db_upgrade* root 31 Nov 18 13:40 db_verify -> ../stow/db-3.3.11/bin/db_verify* root 22 Feb 18 18:29 dc -> ../stow/bc-1.06/bin/dc* root 24 Jan 9 11:29 dia -> ../stow/dia-0.88/bin/dia* root 34 Jan 3 12:11 editcap -> ../stow/ethereal-0.9.0/bin/editcap* root 46 Dec 30 23:58 encode_keychange -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/encode_keychange* root 35 Jan 3 12:11 ethereal -> ../stow/ethereal-0.9.0/bin/ethereal* root 33 Nov 18 23:19 firewalk -> ../stow/firewalk-1.0/bin/firewalk* root 34 Nov 18 12:10 fvwm-config -> ../stow/fvwm-2.4.3/bin/fvwm-config* root 40 Nov 18 12:10 fvwm-menu-desktop -> ../stow/fvwm-2.4.3/bin/fvwm-menu-desktop* root 42 Nov 18 12:10 fvwm-menu-directory -> ../stow/fvwm-2.4.3/bin/fvwm-menu-directory* root 42 Nov 18 12:10 fvwm-menu-headlines -> ../stow/fvwm-2.4.3/bin/fvwm-menu-headlines* root 38 Nov 18 12:10 fvwm-menu-xlock -> ../stow/fvwm-2.4.3/bin/fvwm-menu-xlock* root 28 Nov 18 12:10 fvwm2 -> ../stow/fvwm-2.4.3/bin/fvwm2* root 37 Nov 18 12:10 fvwm24_convert -> ../stow/fvwm-2.4.3/bin/fvwm24_convert* root 30 Nov 18 12:10 fvwmbug -> ../stow/fvwm-2.4.3/bin/fvwmbug* root 26 Nov 18 12:27 gaim -> ../stow/gaim-0.48/bin/gaim* root 31 Nov 26 08:22 gd2copypal -> ../stow/gd-1.8.4/bin/gd2copypal* root 29 Nov 26 08:22 gd2topng -> ../stow/gd-1.8.4/bin/gd2topng* root 32 Nov 26 08:22 gdparttopng -> ../stow/gd-1.8.4/bin/gdparttopng* root 28 Nov 26 08:22 gdtopng -> ../stow/gd-1.8.4/bin/gdtopng* root 34 Jan 3 12:11 idl2eth -> ../stow/ethereal-0.9.0/bin/idl2eth* root 29 Feb 6 06:46 kismet -> ../stow/kismet-1.4/bin/kismet* root 39 Nov 18 12:40 libnet-config -> ../stow/libnet-1.0.2a/bin/libnet-config* root 26 Nov 18 14:30 lsof -> ../stow/lsof-4.60/bin/lsof* root 35 Jan 3 12:11 mergecap -> ../stow/ethereal-0.9.0/bin/mergecap* root 35 Dec 30 23:09 mib2c -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/mib2c* root 31 Dec 20 12:25 nasl-config -> ../stow/libnasl/bin/nasl-config* root 22 Nov 18 14:35 nc -> ../stow/nc-1.10/bin/nc* root 37 Dec 20 12:31 nessus -> ../stow/nessus-core-1.0.10/bin/nessus* root 49 Dec 20 12:23 nessus-config -> ../stow/nessus-libraries-1.0.10/bin/nessus-config* root 45 Dec 30 23:09 net-snmp-config -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/net-snmp-config* root 33 Dec 7 22:04 nldump -> ../stow/ssidsniff-0.33/bin/nldump* root 32 Nov 18 12:31 nmap -> ../stow/nmap-2.54BETA30/bin/nmap* root 34 Nov 18 12:31 nmapfe -> ../stow/nmap-2.54BETA30/bin/nmapfe* root 35 Dec 7 22:04 pcapdump -> ../stow/ssidsniff-0.33/bin/pcapdump* root 34 Dec 7 22:04 pcapset -> ../stow/ssidsniff-0.33/bin/pcapset* root 37 Mar 13 10:55 playmus -> ../stow/SDL_mixer_patched/bin/playmus* root 38 Mar 13 10:55 playwave -> ../stow/SDL_mixer_patched/bin/playwave* root 28 Nov 26 08:22 pngtogd -> ../stow/gd-1.8.4/bin/pngtogd* root 29 Nov 26 08:22 pngtogd2 -> ../stow/gd-1.8.4/bin/pngtogd2* root 29 Mar 9 12:07 scp -> ../stow/openssh-3.1p1/bin/scp* root 30 Dec 13 13:50 scr-bx -> ../stow/Bitchx-75p3/bin/scr-bx* root 32 Mar 13 10:41 sdl-config -> ../stow/SDL-1.2.3/bin/sdl-config* root 30 Mar 9 12:07 sftp -> ../stow/openssh-3.1p1/bin/sftp* root 37 Mar 13 10:41 showimage -> ../stow/SDL_image-1.2.1/bin/showimage* root 32 Mar 9 12:07 slogin -> ../stow/openssh-3.1p1/bin/slogin* root 41 Dec 30 23:58 snmpbulkget -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpbulkget* root 42 Dec 30 23:58 snmpbulkwalk -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpbulkwalk* root 39 Dec 30 23:09 snmpcheck -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpcheck* root 38 Dec 30 23:09 snmpconf -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpconf* root 39 Dec 30 23:58 snmpdelta -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpdelta* root 36 Dec 30 23:58 snmpdf -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpdf* root 37 Dec 30 23:58 snmpget -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpget* root 41 Dec 30 23:58 snmpgetnext -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpgetnext* root 40 Dec 30 23:58 snmpinform -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpinform* root 41 Dec 30 23:58 snmpnetstat -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpnetstat* root 37 Dec 30 23:58 snmpset -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpset* root 40 Dec 30 23:58 snmpstatus -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpstatus* root 39 Dec 30 23:58 snmptable -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmptable* root 38 Dec 30 23:58 snmptest -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmptest* root 43 Dec 30 23:58 snmptranslate -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmptranslate* root 38 Dec 30 23:58 snmptrap -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmptrap* root 37 Dec 30 23:58 snmpusm -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpusm* root 38 Dec 30 23:58 snmpvacm -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpvacm* root 38 Dec 30 23:58 snmpwalk -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/snmpwalk* root 29 Nov 25 17:55 snort -> ../stow/snort-1.8.2/bin/snort* root 29 Mar 9 12:07 ssh -> ../stow/openssh-3.1p1/bin/ssh* root 33 Mar 9 12:07 ssh-add -> ../stow/openssh-3.1p1/bin/ssh-add* root 35 Mar 9 12:07 ssh-agent -> ../stow/openssh-3.1p1/bin/ssh-agent* root 36 Mar 9 12:07 ssh-keygen -> ../stow/openssh-3.1p1/bin/ssh-keygen* root 37 Mar 9 12:07 ssh-keyscan -> ../stow/openssh-3.1p1/bin/ssh-keyscan* root 36 Dec 7 22:04 ssidsniff -> ../stow/ssidsniff-0.33/bin/ssidsniff* root 14000 Nov 18 12:06 stow* root 29 Jan 17 15:53 sudo -> ../stow/sudo-1.6.5p1/bin/sudo* root 36 Jan 3 12:11 tethereal -> ../stow/ethereal-0.9.0/bin/tethereal* root 36 Jan 3 12:11 text2pcap -> ../stow/ethereal-0.9.0/bin/text2pcap* root 35 Dec 30 23:09 tkmib -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/tkmib* root 41 Dec 30 23:09 traptoemail -> ../stow/net-snmp-5.0.pre1/bin/traptoemail* root 27 Nov 26 08:22 webpng -> ../stow/gd-1.8.4/bin/webpng* root 29 Dec 13 13:50 wserv -> ../stow/Bitchx-75p3/bin/wserv* root 30 Nov 26 06:05 xine -> ../stow/xine-ui-0.9.4/bin/xine* root 38 Nov 26 06:02 xine-config -> ../stow/xine-lib-0.9.4/bin/xine-config* root 33 Nov 18 12:31 xnmap -> ../stow/nmap-2.54BETA30/bin/xnmap* root 30 Nov 18 12:10 xpmroot -> ../stow/fvwm-2.4.3/bin/xpmroot*

Q&A

Doesn't rpm solve some of the problems that stow attempts to solve?
- Yes, to some extent. rpm handles going forward/backward in software versions. In my experience with rpm, it does not play well in non-trivial multi-user environments. Sure, it can bring you from foobar-1.0 to foobar-1.3 and back again relatively easily, but what if both 1.0 and 1.3 need to be available at once? No dice. rpm also has a single weak point of failure -- the rpm database. If your database gets hosed, you are "up the creek without a paddle", so to speak. Sure, stow has a single point of failure as well -- symlinks. However, symlinks are a core part of a *nix system. If they fail, you have more important things to be worrying about.
Can I use stow to manage binary packages?
- Yes, so long as you are free to specify the destination directory as part of the installation.
How can I manage unruly software packages such as the ones you listed earlier (oracle, mysql, the linux kernel, etc)?
- The simplest way, in my opinion, is to just install them to their own directory altogether and never symlink them in. /usr/local/mysql-3.23.49 is one possibility.
You mentioned "sanity checks." What are they?
- When stowing a new package, if a source file/directory will clobber a destination file/directory, that file/directory will not get stow. For example, if /usr/local/lib/foobar.so exists (and points to the respective directory in /usr/local/stow/foobar-1.0, and we try to stow foobar-1.3 and 1.3 includes a newer foobar.so, stow will not overwrite it. In fact, it notes this conflict and prints the message to stderr. To fix this, first 'stow -D foobar-1.0' to remove the older version of foobar.
- You can also use the '-n' option to have stow simply tell you what it would do, and not actually do it.