Is it really true that some applications work like this when they need to be installed:

|App To Install
|
|---Dependency 1
|--+Dependency 2
|
|---Dependency 2.1
|--+Dependency 2.2
|
|---Dependency 2.2.1
|---Dependency 2.3
|---Dependency 3
|--+Dependency 4
|---Dependency 4.1


(Example Diagram Above)
***EDIT: Diagram came out a bit wrong... Hope you get the idea!***

What I'm trying to ask is, when you're trying to install (from source) the 'App To Install', why, in most cases, is it that you need to install several other dependencies, AS WELL AS dependencies for those dependencies, and so on... for some things the list seems endless! However It's pretty cool in a way because, as a developer (new to linux) it's nice to see how everything links and works together thanks to the GPL (FSF).

The next question is, once you finally process the following commands (say for example from your home directory '/home/username') using ./configure && make && make install, and the source is installed, where does the main binary end up, or is this entirely dependant upon the ./configure parameters?

Lastly, the function 'modprobe' doesn't work for me (I get 'bash: modprobe: command not found'), is this simply to do with the fact I dont have the kernel source or something? If so what do I need to do?

Sorry to be a complete pain and ask total beginner questions, but the responses on here seem excellent, and yeh I may be able to program a fully fledged .cpp application, but can't figure out the above!

Thanks in advance for any help at all!

Arpanet 1969.

P.S. I'm running Mandrake Linux 10.0, on a Laptop (also trying to get my ZyAIR B-120 PCMCIA wireless card to work but didn't wanna ask too many questions in one post!).

yes, the dependency chain pretty much doesnt end, ive found that rpms are a little better at handling dependencies though, so look around for those

the binary most likely ends up somewhere in a binary directory in your path (echo $PATH)

for modprobe, are you running it as root?

and its also possible that modprobe isnt in your path, i think modprobe is /sbin/modprobe, but you can find it with "find / -name modprobe"

and your pcmcia card, all i say is good luck and did you check the HCL

--adam

Whoa! That was a fast reply!

You were right about modprobe (got to run as root). I'm missing the pcmcia.o module... i guess i can download this from www.kernel.org?

Will this help me either install my PCMCIA card... or develop a new driver for it?

Arpanet 1969.

your best bet is to do a google search and look at other people and what they did to get it to work, i still havent gotten my netgear ma101 to work, but i kinda gave up too

--adam

The dependency problem will improve with time because many programs will be using the same libraries that a previous installation needed. Sometimes the source requires the absolute newest library versions that are newer then the ones that your distro is based on. These tend to be the worst projects to install.

About where binaries go, usually in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin. The /bin and /sbin directories contain the gnu baseutils, fileutils and other programs that thesystem needs to run. Normal applications go under the /usr hierarchy tree which you may have noticed has a similar structure as the main hierarchy. The library files for these programs will go in /usr/lib for example rather than the /lib directory.
The /usr/local directory is another similarly structured hierarchy that is untouched by the distro during upgrades.

I find that is where the simplicity of Slackware comes in. You install the base system that has essentially everything that you need. I have personally never had to compile in a dependcy. Of course I don't do anything spectacular with my box. Usually the maker of the software should present you a list, but it is true that this can be endless. I gues that's why package management is such a hot topic.

wait till your install of slack gets old, before they release a newer version of slack, thats when you run into problems, you upgrade software, but the dependencies need to be updated too, and your in the same boat

--adam

Yeah, I might install Slackware 10.0... I have both ISO's, and 2 source discs. I'm just after a linux box capable of developing many types of apps, (using such libs as GTK+ and QT) in C/C++, maybe other languages but those mainly.

Thanks for all your help, I have a good book WELL worth the read... O'Reilly's 'Linux in a nutshell'. Its 927 pages long, so maybe they should've named the book 'Linux in a treetrunk'.

Haha..

In the meantime I'll keep thinking of questions to ask you...

hmmm...



Arpanet 1969.

P.S. I'm developing a new O/S similar to UNIX/Linux... feel free to join me!

***EDIT: Yes... a BIG task... but I have the will power, some O/S programming knowledge (believe it or not), and promise, promise I'll do it i swear***