Subject: Re: KDE 2.0
From: philippe tapon (ptapon@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Oct 30 2000 - 14:04:53 MST
> Needless to say, I'm a complete beginner on linux and have never
> compiled anything but Im learning fast. Can someone please provide
> some help here as even the instructions are a little confusing.
eep. Learning to compile with KDE 2 sounds like learning to drive on an
18-wheeler. =] Programs seem to vary as to what they need but as far as
I know most of them use some variation of this procedure:
* download the files somewhere (say your home folder)
* if it's a .tgz package, unpack the files, either by using a tar
command (tar -zxfv thesource.tgz) or the handy-dandy ark utility you get
in KDE by right-clicking a package. (Lately the tar command has been
unpredictable for me!)
* if it's an .rpm package, you can invoke the red hat package manager,
also by right-clicking the package; or, an rpm command will unpack it.
(sorry, I'm not confident about my syntax.)
* either command will create a folder with lots of stuff in it; cd to
that folder. Usually this folder is created locally. I'm not sure what
rules govern the creation of the folder.
* you should see a Makefile at the top level, almost certainly also a
README, which is probably very interesting reading.
* the readme will tell you what to do. Here are (slightly random)
examples of the commands you may have to issue. Many can be issued as
yourself, rather than as root.
$./configure (./ means run the local version of the executable
configure)
$make xconfig (this is only for configuring a kernel using
click-o-rama)
$make (compile)
$make dep (check the dependencies)
$make clean (don't use previous compiles' leftovers)
$make mrproper (thorough cleaning; only for kernels as far as I know)
#make install (the prompt is # because this has to be issued as root)
Programs, I have found out, don't always compile cleanly. They
sometimes work even if they do compile uncleanly. They don't always
work even if they do compile cleanly. It's black magic.
It's a mystery to me, where the files should be when you issue the
commands. Sometimes they get installed perfectly starting from your
home folder; sometimes they seem to need to be in the very bottom of /.
There's often a file called INSTALL which explains things better than I
can, and there's possibly a compiling HOW-TO in the /usr/doc/HOWTO
directory. This is all I know; hope it helps.
good luck.
peace
philippe
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