It turns out, I don't know how to install software on my Fedora 8 system:

Ok, I was able to open firefox and download a 'name.tar.gz' file (specifically: 'GENtle.tar.gz' from 'http://gentle.magnusmanske.de/', I put it on my desktop).
I opened the terminal, 'cd Desktop' and did 'gunzip GENtle.tar.gz', then 'tar -xvf GENtle.tar', both worked ok.
That was as far as I got. I tried './configure', 'make', 'rpm -i GENtle', all from within the 'Desktop' folder, then the new 'GENtle' folder and last I tried as root. None worked, and I can't figure out what to do next.
Could anybody please give step by step instructions for this kind of installation?
And is there some web page that has some basic commands for linux and instructions for the very simple stuff?

Thanks!!!

Most of the programs can be installed through add/remove programs in fedora, as well as yum, for example you can do yum install <program> to install a program. If you cd to the GENTle directory and do a ls to list the files and look for a readme file, or an INSTALL file and it will tell you how to install it

Look at the file GENtle - you will see that it is an executable binary file. It is ready to run. It does not need to be compiled. Just enter the directory and type ./GENtle

Of course you will need the pre-requisite packages. There is a different link on the page to the source code if you need to compile it yourself.

The author should have included a README... oh well...

Thanks!

Unfortunately, the AceofSpades19 suggestion seems not to work, since yum does not find GENtle, I also did not see it in add/remove programs.

I tried to run the program './GENtle', but as kzutter predicted, I get an error "./GENtle: error while loading shared libraries: libsqlite.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory"
'yum list libsqlite*' tells me there is no such file.
I guess what I need is not in my Fedora repositories?

Time to give up? I really could use that GENtle program.

Search for rpms for wxGTK, sqlite, sqlite3, and mysqlclient which are the dependencies of GENtle

thanks!

'Search for rpms for wxGTK, sqlite, sqlite3, and mysqlclient which are the dependencies of GENtle'

I found wxGTK and sqlite already installed, but sqlite3 and mysqlclient are also not in the list of available software.

bdw: how do I check the dependencies?

Thanks!

I would try doing a google search for the rpms of sqlite and mysqlclient, when you go to install a rpm file, if the dependencies are not installed then it tells you what you need. To install rpms, open a terminal and type rpm -ivh <filename>.rpm

Thanks, and sorry about the delay, it's a crazy time...

I am still trying to get sqlite and mysqlclient, but clearly did not yet devote enough time to the problem, I'll get back when I made some progress (or did some damage :-)

As far as I can tell, sqlite is actually sqlite3. And mysql-client is provided by package mysql.

Note that if you need to compile your package, you would (also) need the devel packages for its dependencies.

Thank you,jay73!

Your post is very good news for me, since I checked and I have MySQL-python.i386
mysql.i386
mysql-libs.i386
installed.
And of course I am happy to know that I have sqlite3 by having sqlite.

The bad news is that my computer says this if I try to run GENtle:
$ ./GENtle
./GENtle: error while loading shared libraries: libsqlite.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

What does that lovely machine try to tell me?

Thank you for any help!

These are provided by sqlite as available from Fedora. As you can see, there is libsqlite.so.3.0 but not libsqlite.so.0. In other words, it seems to me that what you are missing is not sqlite3 but sqlite2, which is not directly available from the repositories. Look here instead:

http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3?stat...ite2&srodzaj=3

Just download the sqlite2 package for your version of Fedora (8?) and your architecture (i386?) and install it with rpm -ivh (package name). You have to be root, of course.
I've had a quick look at its dependencies and I think that you shouldn't have any trouble but it's just possible that sqlite2 does require some other package that is not provided by Fedora. If that happens, just post the output and we'll see what needs to be done.

Thank you, jay73!

You got me one step closer. (And thanks for showing me the rpm.pbone.net site, that looks like it will be very useful in the future!)

Of course, the program is not yet done with me :-)

Now it wants something new:
$ ./GENtle
./GENtle: error while loading shared libraries: libmysqlclient.so.14: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

I did my yum search and got nothing. I searched in rpm.pbone.net/, and there is a devel package
http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3/stat....i386.rpm.html
the package contains libmysqlclient.so.14
but it is for Fedora 7 and I run Fedora 8. It is my understanding that it is not a good idea to use the package for the older kernel.

I don't dare to just use it because of that. How much damage can I do by using this?

Thanks for any help!

newest puppy is a little fatter than you think 3.01 did not like my old toshiba puppy two did. oh well fat pup runs with the big dogs.

That's unfortunate about Fedora, it's just that more limited than, say, Ubuntu or Debian when it comes to (readily) available packages. Still, I was able to find this:

http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3/stat....i386.rpm.html

This is a generic rpm provided directly by Mysql. It is a "compat" package, as you can see, which means that it is meant to provide support for older versions of Mysql without breaking newer ones. It is just what you need and looking at the contents of the package, I see that it is unlikely to break anything so it should work. With a number of caveats, though. Fore one thing, it is quite possible that it will require other packages that are not directly available from the repositories. I can't guarantee that those other packages will install without breaking anything. And there is also the possibility that the installer will object because libmysqlclient15.so. is already installed. Well, give it a try, you'll see whether it works or not.

Thanks, once more, jay73!

The compat package installed just like that, strait forward, without a hitch.

Then of course, GENtle is not quite that gentle:
# ./GENtle
./GENtle: /usr/lib/libmysqlclient.so.14: version `MYSQL_4.1' not found (required by ./GENtle)

That worries me quite a lot, after all, you say the package should have what I need,and the package description says specifically that 4.1 is part of it: "This package includes the shared libraries for MySQL %{version3},
MySQL %{version40}, %{version41} as well as MySQL %{version50}."

In my chaotic beginners readings I came across the concept of a 'path', and I wonder whether I may have to put GENtle somewhere specific and give it some info about where the stuff is that it wants? (Right now the whole folder [I got after unpacking the rpm] sits on my desktop. That is probably not such a great idea, because the other users can not use it - should it ever work.)

And to Drakeo: so how do you use the program then?

Thanks for any help!