We are planning on setting up a single 'master -> slave' configuration 
for disaster recovery.  The master and slave machines will be located in 
different locations.

I'm a bit confused by the documentation:

 From 3.1, At present, Slony-I as well as PostgreSQL need to be able to 
be compiled from source at your site.

Warning in section 4:

If you need Slony-I to do an upgrade from some elderly version of 
PostgreSQL to a newer version, or if you need a late-breaking CVS 
version, outside the context of a major release, then be prepared to 
need to build both PostgreSQL and Slony-I from source. The remainder of 
this section assumes this...

 From 4.7

Even though Slony-I can be compiled and run on most Linux distributions, 
it is also possible to install Slony-I using binary packages. Slony 
Global Development Team provides official RPMs and SRPMs for many 
versions or Red Hat ana Fedora Core.

So my question is, is it necessary to compile Slony and/or Postgres for 
this environment?  We are running Postgresql 7.4.18 on Red Hat AS 4.  It 
would be a lot easier if I didn't have to compile Postgresql.

Also, I don't see a reference to how I 'prime' the slave.  That is, is 
there an easy way to get the existing historical data from my master 
machine to the slave?  Will Slony replicate everything at the time it is 
configured and started?

Thanks for any assistance.

-- 
Until later, Geoffrey

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
  - Benjamin Franklin