libexpat.so.4 not found
 

I had this same issue the last time I attempted to install Fbsd 5.2.1 on my other computer. I install the system, updated the ports, compiled xorg, tested and configured xorg, started it too. Then I did a pkg_add of fluxbox. Fluxbox during the install showed that a lot of the stuff was already installed. I made a .xinitrc file in my home directory and typed "fluxbox" on the first line. Proceeded to type "Startx". It thinks for a little bit, screen goes black, and Im back in cosole with the message "/libexex/ld-elf.so.1: shared object "libexpat.so.4" not fount. It is repeated 4 times one after the other.

I googled this problem but nothing turned up results that pertained to FreeBSD and any connection to xorg or fluxbox.

This is the same spot where I got stuck dead last time.

Please Help.

Problem solved and its a big thanks to my bestest friend in the whole world.
First I dloaded Expat 1.95 from there website at sourceforge.expat.com using links. Unziped it, read the README, Configured it, and compiled it. Then I ran startx, the same thing happened so I IMED my bestest buddy and he says make a symlink. Well when I updated my file DB it found libexpat.so.5, not 4. So he said make a symlink from 5 to 4. Then I typed startx and it worked.

OH MAN IM SO FREAKING HAPPY. I would scream if my parents werent sleeping.

Why it would have most likely worked flawlessly if you installed from the ports...

Yea, youre probably right. But I doubt that it was a method of installation problem.

Well ports automatically satisfies dependencies, so yes it most likely was a method of installation problem. Now you have some rogue software on your system because how are you going to keep libexpat up to date with FreeBSD?

You really should read the handbook documentation on ports. There's no reason to be downloading things as source and rolling the dice as to whether they build correctly, and even if they do then they're pretty much unupdatable and the FreeBSD ports system won't be aware that they're there. There are over 10,000 packages in the ports tree, so it's pretty likely that anything you want is in there.

I think I searched the ports for Libexpat and even performed a port upgrade and it didnt fix the problem. What bothers me is that it seems I am the only that has run into this problem.

What about the 20040313 entry from /usr/ports/UPDATING ?

-------------------------
20040313:
AFFECTS: users of textproc/expat2
AUTHOR: marcus@FreeBSD.org

Users of expat2 (and its many dependencies) should do the following to
properly update expat2 and all of its dependencies:

portupgrade -rf textproc/expat2

--------------------------

I ran into the same problem as you, and this worked like a charm - although it took eons on my 1.8 GHz laptop......

Oh I fixed this problem. I just symlinked the so.6 file to the so.4 and it worked.

Good Luck - hope you do not run into issues with sym-linking like that. I prefer to do it the "correct" way per the FreeBSD team, but it does take quite a bit more time.....

Well downgrading to the old expat to have the so.4 then upgrading back to the latest to get so.6 is a pain in the ass. To bad you cant just dload that one library.