Re: issues with installation

On Monday 25 August 2008 7:20:06 pm Crash Override wrote:
> Hey guys,
>
> I finally got round to trying to debug this.  I already installed Kompozer
> and that was pretty easy.  I think I cracked the code, but still can't get
> Quanta or any of the other programs to run yet.
>
> I'm pretty sure they're installed, I just can't get them to start.
>
> Here's my theory. . .
>
> When I drill down into the directories this is what I get:
>
> [phiberoptik@localhost ~]$ dir
> config.log     Download               kdewebdev-3.5.9    Music
> config.status  Firefox_wallpaper.png  LimeWire           Pictures
> data           foobillard-SDL.spec    LimeWireOther      src
> Desktop        foobillard.spec        LimeWireOther.zip  tmp
> Documents      INSTALL                Makefile           Video
>
> [phiberoptik@localhost ~]$ cd kdewebdev-3.5.9
>
> [phiberoptik@localhost kdewebdev-3.5.9]$ ls
> acinclude.m4  configure.files   INSTALL.docs      libtool*        README
> aclocal.m4    configure.in      kdewebdev.lsm     Makefile.am    
> stamp-h.in admin/        configure.in.bot  kfilereplace/     Makefile.am.in
>  subdirs AUTHORS       configure.in.in   kimagemapeditor/  Makefile.cvs   
> TODO ChangeLog     COPYING           klinkstatus/      Makefile.in    
> VERSION config.h.in   COPYING-DOCS      kommander/        NEWS
> config.log    doc/              kxsldbg/          PACKAGING
> configure*    INSTALL           lib/              quanta/
> [phiberoptik@localhost kdewebdev-3.5.9]$
>
> So I'm pretty sure I have the programs, I just can't seem to get them to
> open.  I've tried the "make" and then "make install" commands like I said
> before and didn't have any luck.  I've also tried how I open other programs
> which is to cd to the directory then use the ./program command which will
> run the program.
>
> Any more ideas?
>
> Talk to you soon,
>
>
> Karl

Wow! Okay... Are you familiar with the terms "source code" and "compiling"? 
You could google for Linux howtos. Anyway I get the idea you're really 
unfamilar with what is happening here and what is being said to you based on 
our assumptions you do understand... That is a recipe for confusion!

We develop and package source code written in C++ on top of the KDE/Qt 
toolkits. Your distribution compiles it against their installed libraries and 
distributes binaries. Because the size of a static compile is huge (all 
libraries built into your executable) and given the redundancy of hundreds of 
programs binaries tend to be compiled dynamically. This means they access 
libraries and that means you must have the right binary package as any little 
difference in systems could break it. That's why geeks like me like to 
compile our own software. It always works and is exactly as the developer 
delivered. In the old days distributions used to really hack things up.

If you are a novice user it's generally recommended to get a binary package 
for your distribution. However there is no reason not to compile... except 
for the extremely stupid tradition of distributions to strip out the 
essential include (*.h header files needed only to compile) files to save a 
few MB of space. You would need to make sure your "-dev" packages are 
installed for xorg, qt and kdelibs.

As a user open a konsole in the kdewebdev-3.5.9 directory. If you are using 
konqueror you can press F4 or use the tools menu. Type the following and wait 
for it to complete after each line. The first line is only required if 
a ./configure demonstrates it is confused. Each line is case sensitive!

make -f Makefile.cvs
./configure
make
(non Debian/Ubuntu)
su
[root password]
make install
(Debian/Kubuntu)
sudo make install
[root password]

After installation is complete Quanta, Kommander and other programs should 
appear in your menu.

I reccomend you visit http://tldp.org/ if you want to learn more about 
leveraging the power of GNU/Linux.

BTW you are one persistent guy. I hope you really enjoy Quanta when you get it 
running.

-- 
Eric Laffoon
Project Lead - kdewebdev module