Rebuttal:<p>1. Using dpkg isn't that hard, and it's a huge win if you're already using a dpkg-based distribution (Debian/Ubuntu). "apt-get source libX; change stuff; dpkg-buildpackage". That wasn't so hard now, was it?<p>There's also tools to automate the creation of debian control files for packages that don't already have them. It's really not that difficult as long as you aren't building particularly complex packages.<p>2. Author claims that SCM for local builds is hard. I'm not sure how pacman solves this - sure, you can auto-apply patches from the build script, but you still generally have to redo that sort of thing every time the original package updates. If you really want to keep your repository small, there's nothing wrong with just keeping the patches and debian directories in SCM and bashing together a script to check out a buildable copy for you.<p>3. Adding an extra package manager on top of an existing one can be a huge mistake. Suddenly you've got to manage two repositories, which means twice as much maintenance as well as potential interdependency issues. It also means you've got a much more involved bringup process for new servers.