[sf-lug] about /usr/local and package management

[jim stockford]

    my take on a package-managed OS (Red Hat's RPM
or Debian's APT) is that as much as possible the SA for
the box should use the package manager exclusively.
    yes?

    Ideally this would obviate the good old tar management
wrt system and box-wide software
...(to use tar to install software is to sidestep the benefits
...of package management--the package management
...database is not updated, and there's the fat-finger-effect
...of tar-ing in something that is managed, breaking the
...package management for that software).

    But there may be a legitimate need for tar-ing something
in, for example chkrootkit.

    THE QUESTION: is the /usr/local/ space _properly_ a no
man's land for tar-ing and other means of adding non-
package-managed software (e.g. writing and compiling,
copying...)?
    Seems like to me, but what's your experience (with
production boxes per SF-LUG colo-ing a box in a
production environment)?