My computer won't ./configure! It balks when I ask it to do it.
 

I'm currently struggling with ELX-Linux. Many of their apps came broken, and I'm trying to fix them. And much to my dismay, this requires compiling. And of course, in the process of doing this, I discovered things that I don't understand, and don't know how to cope with. This is where you come in. Based on your experience, maybe I can get over this hurdle.

I'm trying to compile glibc..... I guess that this is quite a large package, and simply using ./configure doesn't work. When I give it that command, it tells me that I must configure in a separate build directory . Another time, it told me that I should use --target --prefix and --build.

So, OK! This where the confusion comes in. Since I'm supposed to configure in a separate directory, in this directory, I created another directory, named /glibc-build. I tried a few combinations of --build, --target, --enable-add-ons, --prefix, while staying in this directory.
That didn't work. Next, I climbed up into the newly created directory, and tried those combinations again, and tried to point configure to the previous directory to start the compilation. That, didn't work! And that brings me here, to be enlightened by the brightest of the bunch in this forum. Can anyone put me on the right road?

How do I go (build directory) into a different directory and get configure to run? How do I properly use --build, --target, --enable-add-ons, --prefix ? Reference text(s) that I looked at, don't describe this. They only provide the list of options available, but no examples on how to properly assemble the text to get the desired results.


Thanks :scratch: :confused:

I would say forget it. Any system that needs you to install glibc is broken beyond repair. If you build Linux From Scratch it's one of the first things you install as it's fundamental to almost everything else. If you want to know how to install glibc download a copy of Linux From Scratch but you would do better to install a decent distro (Fedora, Slackware, whatever)

Mr Benton,

Thank you for your response. As it turns out, ELX is being used in VMWare. This is one of the few distros that will allow itself to run in that environment. I've tried quite a few, and most of them will not run inVMW. This all started out when I wanted install Synaptic in ELX. I found a tarball, and tried to compile it. But configure came back that it couldn't complete the configure package, because some files were missing. So I donloaded those missing files, and started to compile them. Again, missing files that had to be downloaded and compiled, to satisfy the previous compilation. Anyway this kept on leading up the food chain, to glibc, of missing files to satisfy the project. I guess that I have to give up on the project. But I still would for the sake of knowledge, like to know how to configure a file in a different "build directory". And, the proper use of the optional commands to make it work.

Cheers!

I run Slackware 9.1 under VMWare with no problems at all (I use it to tinker with the kernel). You may want to give it a try. Otherwise, I second Andrew Benton's advice to read the section on installing glibc from the Linux From Scratch book. But if any of the programs distributed with ELX depend on having their version of glibc, you may end up subtly or not so subtly breaking some things. Good luck!

Mr. Miller,

I appreciate you suggestion, and I did run Slackware in VMW. However, I was tired of again chasing down tarballs, compiling, and manually having to update files and directories. This is why I started the search for a distro that is not necessarily part of the mainstream distros, but would be able to be self-sustainable. By that, I mean that it would be able to automatically update and maintain it's own files. This is an attribute that can be handled much better by a computer than a human could.

Just like in ELX-Linux, with Slack, I ended up with too many tarballs that were not complete. I had to chase down missing files, and many of those missing files, also had missing files. Just like chasing my tail! Disk #2 in Slack, had Swaret in it. Again, when I unpacked it, it would not run straight-away. It needed compiling! And in this case, the compilation failed to complete. Missing files.

So I guess that one more time, I will be on the lookout for a distro that will allow itself to be installed in VMW, and will run in that environment. Hopefully, the next distro that I try, a tarball will be a foreign word for me. And hopefully that distro can efficiently update it's own files, packages, and directories.

Cheers!