general problems installing aps from source

Forum: Apps
Topic: general problems installing aps from source
started by: squid

Posted by squid on April 25 2005,20:10

i got dsl working on my laptop (only distro so far that works) and its working very very well. but as of right now, i am not able to do very much because I cant install anything that dosent end in ".dsl". I have been trying to get some essential tools on my laptop but I cannot get any of them working. Most of these follow the:
./configure
make
make install
methodology but no matter what I get an error on one of these steps. I installed the dsl package that contains make, gcc, and g++.
but I still get errors like: make :cc : command not found
&
lex is to crappy
thats not it exactly but close.
I need to be able to install packages like other distrobutions. how can I fix this and find out what libraries dsl has installed? Should I update the kernel. its running 2.4.26 right now. does dsl have a new pre fab kernel or can I just go grab 2.6.11 of kernel.org?
sorry for the crappy typing and orginization

((

Posted by cbagger01 on April 25 2005,22:19

Try using "Synaptic" from the fluxbox menu.

It provides package management and automated install/removal for thousands of Debian packages.

You may need to edit youe /etc/apt/sources.list:

sudo beaver /etc/apt/source.list

comment out the "stable" line with a leading "#" character and then remove the "#" from the "testing" line and save the file.

Then run "Update" NOT UPGRADE in Synaptic or run

sudo apt-get update

from the command line (After you have already installed synaptic).

You can also run some precompiled *.rpm packages by using the "alien" program that is available in the mydsl repository.

You can convert the package from a *.rpm into a *.deb and then install with

sudo dpkg -i name_of_package.deb

These may be alternatives to the requirement to compile something from source.

It is always possible to compile something from source but for a minimalistic distro like DSL it is often more trouble than it is worth because key development libraries need to be added before you can properly compile stuff.

Hope this helps in some way.

Posted by squid on April 26 2005,11:24

yeah thanks it did help. i was not aware so many packages were available via synaptic. sadly though. when I mark something to install and click proceed my cpu meter goes to a hundred and sits there. i was installing ettercap. i checked back in 30 minutes and nothing had been installed yet. i did a "ps -aux" and that said it was configuring libc6 I think it was. anyway im running a 266 Mhz , 64mb RAM, 3 gb hd so that could be the cause.

Posted by cbagger01 on April 26 2005,16:22

Ouch.

It appears that you have chosen to install a program the requires a newer version of the C library (libc6).

This dependency can be a headache to fix because so many programs depend on libc6 and some don't like a different version.

It might be possible to install an older version of the same program by going back to the "stable" branch and try installing it there.

Otherwise, you may just need to cross your fingers and wait.

Good Luck.

Posted by squid on April 26 2005,20:48

i was having a problem with synaptic not installing anything, but for some reason if I start synaptic form the command line it works perfectly. i now have most of the programs I need installed. im going to get to reading and see if I cant build a small development kernel for users in my situation. thanks all you for your help