[Zope] Linux/Redhat advice : RPMs vs Src for Zope development ?

[chas]

I find myself finally having to embrace that OS which is
fast becoming the Microsoft of the linux world - Redhat.  
Coming from a FreeBSD background, I trust it won't be 
too much of a culture shock but have one question in 
particular :

On FreeBSD, we have 'packages' and 'ports' which make
installation of software quite easy. I notice that linux
has its RPM's which are even more extensive - going down
to the Zope product level in some cases. 

However, despite having these handy packages on FreeBSD,
I've personally found it better to compile everything 
from src and ignore the packages/ports ... 
for example, I often need to recompile Python to include
the MySQLmodule... but generally, sooner or later I need 
something adding or patching that was not in the package/port.

So, my question is : If you were installing Python 1.5.2, 
Zope 2.1.1 and all the products/adapters to work with 
Postgres, MySQL, Oracle on Redhat 6.0, would you use
the RPMs or go with src ? I know it may sound like a 
pedantic question - and that it perhaps shouldn't matter
which you use - but from recent posts, it appears that
sometimes RPMs work much better than src and sometimes 
they don't. And I'm just hoping I can avoid a few 
frustrating hours,

Apologies if this question should be filed under "clueless".

chas