Having to install Make and GCC, I was referred to:

fr.rpmfind.net/linux/rpm2html...php?query=make

However in downloading these RPM files, each one seems to have a dependency on 4 or 5 other RPM files, which in turn have dependencies on 4 or 5 others and so on and so on. I now have 30+ different RPM files and I can't install a single one because each one somehow depends on another. Even the simple stuff like library and make RPMs have dependencies, and some of these even seem like circular dependencies. This sash file

h"ttp://fr.rpmfind.net//linux/RPM/mandrake/10.1/i586/media/main/sash-3.7-3mdk.i586.html

lists no dependency (the only such RPM I could find) and trying to run
rpm -Uvh sash-3.7-3mdk.i586.rpm got me an error message saying I required glibc (so yet another dependency).

Also dependencies like /bin/sh seem to have nothing for Mandrake Linux 8.0 when I did a search for it. I can't tell if this means I don't need anything for that version, or I do need it, but it's nowhere to be found.

I just want a simple C++ compiler, preferably GCC, to be on my Linux. Isn't there some simple package that can install a compiler as well as these hundereds of dependencies on my computer? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The best way to avoid this hassle is with the package manager. First, however, I would get a more modern distro---eg Mandriva 10 instead of 8.

All of the modern distros have a complete GCC setup already installed--or easily added thru the package manager/repositories.

I think that the reason there are so many dependencies is because you are using an old distro and the versions you are trying to install were built with newer versions of the libraries that you already have installed. Installing the versions from your installation disk instead would work out much smoother, or search for Mandrake 8.0 versions on rpmfind or rpm.pbone.net.

I noticed that the url that rpm.pbone.net provided for Mandrake 8.0 is wrong.
This one should work:
ftp://carroll.cac.psu.edu/pub/.mirro...Mandrake/RPMS/

Thank you for the replies, guys!

So if I go and purchase the Mandriva 2006 DVD, it should have GCC and all the necessary libraries already installed or else on the disc and installable by selecting it? That $10 would be well worth relieving this headache

Find the src.rpm of the file and build it to match your versions on other apps. When building the rpm some specify it must be this version or greater. Sometimes it is required but may not be.

Download the src.rpm and unless you installed the rpmbuild package to build as a user then you need to build as root then. Run the following command to build it.
rpmbuild --rebuild --recompile name_of file.src.rpm

When doen with no errors then the new rpm will be in /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386 or noarch usually.

Brian1

For the gcc package, you can install it from your current installation disk. However, a newer distro would be recommended.

I wouldn't recommend trying to install gcc from source. First of all, you need to use gcc to install it from source, but you don't have it installed yet. Secondly, the current version of gcc will probably need a newer version of the glibc library. Everything will be dependent on your current glibc library, and compiling the glibc library is very difficult.