Re: How do I install this missing library?
From: Rick Moen (rick_at_linuxmafia.com)
Date: 09/20/05
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Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2005 00:26:50 -0400
Random Penguin <nonexistent2032@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Peter T. Breuer wrote:
>> No, you just need to stop behaving like a nitwit. [...]
>> Look - go get a clue. You're acting like you're plain crazy, probably
>> because you haven't got the faintest idea what anything you are saying
>> or being told means. To the people who understand the words you are
>> speaking it sounds like you are speaking and acting like a madman.
Peter, I have to concur with Random Penguin, on this one: Please calm
down a bit more, before replying. If you're just too frustrated, please
just let someone else handle the inquiry. Some gruffness is grist for
the Usenet old-fogy mill, but you've been making a habit of going over
the line into needless personal abuse.
The result is that the people you're talking to fixate on the calumny,
and don't hear the substance of what you're saying. Not good for
anyone.
[Returning to Random Penguin's portion of the post:]
> First off, maybe you can recommend a quick Linux guide?
Hmm, it's been a while since I last had to find one. If you want
something downloadable, you could do worse than the Linux Documentation
Project's (LDP's) small-book-length "Guide" texts:
http://www.tldp.org/guides.html
I notice that Machtelt "tille" Garrels has a text dated Sept. 2005
called "Introduction to Linux - A Hands-on Guide". I haven't read the
text, but I do know tille from LDP, and she's a good writer.
"The Linux System Administrators' Guide" is linked from the same page,
and is an old classic -- but I notice that it, too, bears a 2005
revision date.
> I still don't know what a configure script is.
A "configure" script is a script with filename "configure" that is often
included in a package of source code. It is designed to be parsed (read
and interpreted) by a developers' utility called autoconf, which follows
its instructions in examining your system to find out what type of
system you operate and what software facilities it has, and re-writes
the Makefile for that source code tree, accordingly.
The Makefile, in turn, is a set of instructions for a separate
development utility called "make" (GNU make, in the case of Linux),
which actually runs the steps of compiling and installing a piece of
software provided in source code form.
So, the classic set of steps you do in compiling (most) codebases from
source code -- if everything's OK and nothing goes wrong -- is this:
$ ./configure # This is the autoconf step. You have to preface
# the file to be executed by "./" because "." (the
# current directory) isn't automatically in the search
# path for executables -- for good reasons beyond the
# scope of this explanation.
$ make # This is the actual compilation. It may take a long
# time, depeding on what you're compiling. Lines that
# say "Warning:" aren't necessarily worrisome, but ones
# that say "Error:" indicate compile failure.
$ make check # This step tends to be supported in GNU codebases only,
# and makes the newly compiled app run through its set
# of self-tests before you install it.
$ make install # Only at this stage does the compiled application get
# copied out of your compilation working directory
# (the unpacked tarball), and installed into the
# various places on your system that pieces go.
Backing up for a moment:
If you're brand-new to Linux, and find yourself immediately trying to
compile a "missing library", I'll wager that you're probably (through
no fault of your own) trying to solve the wrong problem. Compiling code
from source is (as a general rule) something you do because you had to;
because you couldn't find one of the better alternatives.
There's something you should be aware of about most computer geeks, and
thus most Linux users: If you ask them how to solve a problem, and they
decide to take an interest in your question, they will tend to answer it
literally as posed. They might be wondering "_Why_ would he want to do
that?", but they'll almost never say so: Their assumption is that you
must have known what you wanted to do and why.
When I say "solving the wrong problem", what I mean in this instance is
that you _probably_ need help finding your distribution's binary package
for some library. However, I really need to go re-read (if possible)
some older postings in this thread before I can really say.
And, by the way:
> If every other Linux person mimicked your display of manners all that
> would be left of the O/S is people who have to use it, and people like
> you who are too stuck-up in their ivory towers of Linux-godliness to
> help beginners.
Lose the attitude. Now. We've heard the sermon before, and the
hypocrisy of your calling Peter T. Breuer names from behind a shield of
self-righteousness just stinks on ice.
If you don't like a particular poster, we're glad to help you configure
your newsreader's killfile to eliminate the nuisance (just as we'll be
glad to help the other guy autoignore you, in return). But don't take
passive-aggressive personal shots at him, while professing to do it in
the name of "beginners". Frankly, beginners deserve a lot better than
that. I say that as someone who's spent a _lot_ of his life helping
Linux newcomers over the past twelve years. And you're out of line.
--
Cheers, Mark Moraes: "Usenet is not a right."
Rick Moen Edward Vielmetti: "Usenet is a right, a left, a jab,
rick@linuxmafia.com and a sharp uppercut to the jaw.
The postman hits! You have new mail."
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