building from CVS... more thoughts

[Louis-Dominique Dubeau <ldd step polymtl ca>]

Hello gnomers,

given the numerous messages posted about problems with compiling gnome
from CVS, here are a few more thoughts.

The code base placed in CVS is highly dynamic and, unfortunately, can
be in an uncompilable state.  Last weekend, I updated all the packages
I have checked out and tried to compile but it didn't work.  I started
to try to fix things but I soon found out that I'd need to have a full
view of the system to be able to do it so I abandoned my modifications
(I don't have a full view... yet).  Fortunately, I had kept a backup
of the previous compiled version of gnome I had so I just reverted to
that version.

IMO, it's very useful to keep a backup of a previous version that
worked in case an update brings the source to an uncompilable state.
(Or even a compilable state that crashes all the time.)  So when it
doesn't work, you just stay calm and revert to the old version.
Later, you can update again and retry to compile.

	Regards,
	ldd