making a backup of qt3

[nass]

hello everyone.
im nearing the completion of an application.
while the app. is ready now, i will probably need to come back at some point and debug/update things..
i need to make a backup cd in which, apart from the source, i want to burn the tools that i used to compile the application; namely qt 3 (the qt that came bundled with slackware 10.2), gcc (perhaps the linker too?), and any system variables that are set automatically and perhaps i do not know about.
of course, i can always use the slackware installation CD to get the qt package, and gcc.. but im trying to figure out here what i might be missing....
thank you for your help
nass

[wysota]

Run ldd on Qt library and you'll know what it depends on. Then run ldd on each of the dependencies to know what they depend on, etc. Then gather all the packages containing the dependencies along with tools you might need and their dependencies. It might be simpler to go for a live cd though ;)

[nass]

whats a live cd?

[wysota]

A complete installation of a Linux which you can run directly from a CD. Then you can take the cd and run it on every compatible computer that is able to boot from a CD and have a completely working development environment.

An example of such a live distro is knoppix (http://www.knoppix.org).

[Brandybuck]

A live CD may not work that great as a backup, though. That's because you may have new hardware in the future when you need the backup, but the CD won't boot because it's too old. Getting a live CD to boot when it doesn't want to is a very frustrating task. But a Slackware install CD is different. It will boot on just about anything. That will save you some major frustration in the long run.

p.s. Also consider "backing up" the hardware as well. A 2007 Linux is going to have major problems booting on 2017 PC, regardless of whether it's Knoppix or Slackware. So store a system away in a closet along with the CD.

[wysota]

2017? That'll be around Qt 7.0, right? :)

[Brandybuck]

2017? That'll be around Qt 7.0, right? :)
You would be surprised how long software sticks around!

[nass]

oh come on people:)
keeping the hardware too is just alittle over the top! don't you tihnk?
besides, im hoping that i ain't gonna be using this application in 2017:D
i think i will keep the slackware installation cd... worst case scenario in 2017 there might be virtual machines to emulate 2k7 machines:D
thank you for your help
nass

[Brandybuck]

You said you wanted a backup, so I was just trying to help! :rolleyes:

[wysota]

And definitely you'll have to copy your Slack installation CD to a data crystal when they become available in case 2017 computers don't use CD-ROMs anymore :D

[nass]

good, Good point!

[Brandybuck]

Every domain is different. Not everything is a Windows desktop where you can throw it away after two weeks. I have worked on projects that need to use software whose companies had been out of business for ten or fifteen years.

[wysota]

The problem might be that in 10-20 years modern computers might not be sillicon based anymore :) So it's best to make a backup of the hardware as you suggested earlier.