can't ever compile anything :-(

[Fred Nastos]

On January 25, 2004 08:18 pm, Trevor Smith wrote:
>
> For example, I'm desperately trying to get *any* gnutella client to run on
> this machine so I don't have to boot to Windows for bearshare. Should be
> simple, right? I tried mutella but running the 'make' step generates errors
> including:
>
> [...]
> g++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I.. -I/usr/local/include -D_REENTRANT
> -D_MIT_POSIX_THREADS -fno-exceptions -fno-check-new -g -O0 -c -o gnushare.o
> `test -f 'gnushare.cpp' || echo './'`gnushare.cpp
>  gnushare.cpp: In member function `void MGnuShare::ResetDirectories(long
> unsigned int&, u_long*)':
>  gnushare.cpp:220: error: `assert' undeclared (first use this function)
>  gnushare.cpp:220: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
> for each function it appears in.)
> [...]

I get the same error.

> (Actually that's copied from another person's post who had the same
> problem.) I posted to the help forums for that software but no one replied
> so I gave up and tried qtella. It claims:
>
> 'All you need are the Qt libraries compiled with thread support. You can
> check whether these libraries exists by typing "locate qt-mt". If locate
> does not list the libraries...'
>
> No problem, on my system "locate qt-mt" says:
>
> [trevor at localhost qtella-0.6.4]$ locate qt-mt
> /usr/lib/qt-3.2/lib/libqt-mt.so.3.2.3
> /usr/lib/qt-3.2/lib/libqt-mt.so.3
> /usr/lib/qt-3.2/lib/libqt-mt.so.3.2

On my system I have qt-3.1 instead of 3.2.  ./configure worked just fine, and 
qtella is compiling as I write this.... can't wait to try it (my first p2p).

> I figure that means yes, I have them so I try to follow the instructions:
>
> 1. tar xzf qtella-VERSION.tar.gz
>  2. cd qtella-VERSION
>  3. ./configure
> ...
>
> But at step 3 I get:
>
> [trevor at localhost qtella-0.6.4]$ ./configure
> checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
> checking whether build environment is sane... yes
> /home/trevor/qtella-0.6.4/missing: Unknown `--run' option
> Try `/home/trevor/qtella-0.6.4/missing --help' for more information
> configure: WARNING: `missing' script is too old or missing
> checking for gawk... gawk
> checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
> checking for g++... g++
> checking for C++ compiler default output file name... a.out
> checking whether the C++ compiler works... yes
> checking whether we are cross compiling... no
> checking for suffix of executables...
> checking for suffix of object files... o
> checking whether we are using the GNU C++ compiler... yes
> checking whether g++ accepts -g... yes
> checking for style of include used by make... GNU
> checking dependency style of g++... gcc3
> checking for gcc... gcc
> checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
> checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes
> checking for gcc option to accept ANSI C... none needed
> checking dependency style of gcc... gcc3
> checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
> checking for Qt moc...
> Qt's moc not found! If you have installed Qt in an
> unusual place, please use the "--with-qt-moc=" option
>
> So obviously "all I need" is not what is claimed. :-(
>
> One caveat: I did upgrade to the new KDE beta release so I have some newer
> version of Qt on my system I think.
>
> 1. Should someone without system-level programming experience on linux ever
> attempt to compile software? It is certainly incomprehensible to me and any
> error stops me dead in the water. The info generated never enlightens me or
> gives me any idea how to "fix" the problem of the moment.
>
> 2. Why can a plain vanilla, out of the box FC1 system never successfully
> compile any source I ever download? Is there something else I should
> install on my system to be able to compile most software out there? Or do I
> generally need to become an expert on each individual package I download
> and try to install?
>
> 3. How many years of computer science classes will I realistically need to
> attend before I can understand half of what is going on when I try to
> compile any non-trivial linux program?
>
> frustrated beyond description at all the days I've wasted without any
> results. :-(
>
> --
>  Trevor Smith    |    trevor at haligonian.com

-- 
_______________________________________________________
Fred Nastos
Ph.D. Candidate

Department of Physics		Tel: 416-978-4364
University of Toronto		Fax: 416-978-2537
60 St. George Street
Toronto, ON  M5S 1A7

Web: www.physics.utoronto.ca/~nastos
_______________________________________________________