I haven't finished doing this yet. Its not a quick thing to do, which is not to say that its difficult, just there's a lot of reading to do, checking out dependencies, etc. All of which makes using rpm's very attractive. The reason I am doing this is to say I've done it once, to know I can do it again if I have to, and because I haven't gone looking for the rpm's yet.
All of which goes to prove I must be mad. I will update this page when I have succeeded.