Fedora Core 3: Newbie trouble with xscreensaver

Chaemera · 12-06-2005, 09:06 PM

I am attempting to install a full package of xscreensaver, as the one that came on the Fedora disks I burned didn't have any screensavers with it. However, upon typing ./config as per the installation instructions, I got the following.

Code:

current directory: /home/Chaemera/Desktop/xscreensaver
command line was: ./configure
checking build system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking host system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking for gcc... no
checking for cc... no
checking for cc... no
checking for cl... no
configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH
See `config.log' for more details.

I am unsure of what this error means, or how to fix it. Should I also include config.log, or is this enough information?

mjrich · 12-06-2005, 09:17 PM

"Checking for gcc... no" -- this means that you don't have a c/c++ compiler installed. Hopefully this (along with the standard c libraries) is also on your Fedora disks.

Good luck,

Michael.

Chaemera · 12-06-2005, 09:37 PM

I feel like a total idiot for having to ask this, but:

Where do I find the compilers?
How do I install them?

Thank you for your patience.

mjrich · 12-07-2005, 01:15 PM

The compiler should be called GCC (short for Gnu C Compiler) -- you can either install them from the command line, eg. open a gterm/aterm/konsole and type

Code:

su    [enter root password]
yum install gcc

Or, you can use the KYum or Yumex graphical installers from the menu. Just search for "gcc", and make sure that all the dependent packages (mostly libraries, from memory) are also selected before installing.

Good luck,

Michael.

Chaemera · 12-07-2005, 10:39 PM

Getting further.

This time, ./configure ran, but hit a snag partway through.

Code:

checking for X... no
configure: error: Couldn't find X11 headers/libs.  Try `./configure --help'.

Again, unsure of what this means, or how to fix it.

I have the feeling I'm making every dumb newbie mistake in the book, and thank you again for your help and patience.

mjrich · 12-08-2005, 02:43 PM

No worries

When you compile a package from source code you generally need a few extra c/c++ libraries installed. Your last error message simply tells you that it can't find the X11 library development files. To install them, you can either search for "Xll library" in KYum, or at a command line (as root) use

Code:

yum install xlibs*
yum install libx11-dev

There is also the (slim) chance that you do have the libraries installed, but at a location that the configure script hasn't thought of. If this is the case, then you can pass the location of the libraries to configure, eg.

Code:

./configure --x-libraries=DIR

A full list of these options can be printed out by using ./configure --help. It is possible that you'll also need other libraries, but configure will tell you at the next attempt. After compiling a few packages from source you usually end up with most of the common libraries in use, and compilation becomes far more enjoyable (if there is such a thing

Good luck,

Michael.

Chaemera · 12-08-2005, 04:34 PM

Okay, this time it didn't work. Both those commands you gave me returned "no match" results.

Does this mean I already have the libraries installed? If so, how do I go about finding them?

mjrich · 12-08-2005, 04:56 PM

It most likely means that the package names are different from what I had expected -- much apologies (the above is what they go by under Debian, which is what I'm currently running). I'm not sure of what they are called under Fedora, but you can search for them using

Code:

yum search xlibs
yum search x11

Cheers,

Michel

PS. Odd that the version of xscreensaver that came with Fedora didn't have any/many screensavers with it. As a last resort, you could always download some of the xscreensaver-extras packages from rpmseek.com.

Chaemera · 12-08-2005, 09:19 PM

Sadly, the search for xlibs returned no results, and the search for x11 returned so many that a good chunk scrolled completely out of my console's buffer. I think I may be missing some repositories, and/or not have the ones I do have configured right, as up2date says my system is as updated as they come. :P

mjrich · 12-08-2005, 09:26 PM

Oh dear

Are you sure that you have full and reliable mirrors listed for Yum ? It may be worth checking your /etc/yum.conf -- there is an example at www.fedorafaq.org if you need it.

Good luck,

Michael.

Chaemera · 12-08-2005, 10:37 PM

I updated my .conf from that site, and the searches returned the same results as before.

Installed Yumex in an attempt to get a better look at what all yum was attempting to show me, but I can't seem to get it to display any of the packages. Probably just don't have something set up right.

Is there anything I should show you from my system to help diagnose this?

mjrich · 12-11-2005, 03:28 PM

Sorry for the late reply.

Unfortunately, this is probably about the limit of what I can help with, as I am currently don't have access to Redhat/Fedora. The most likely problem is that the libraries you need are in an unexpected package, thus I would recommend having a close look at the "configure" script to see exactly which libraries it is looking for, and then search for those files using Yumex.

Hopefully someone else with access to FC3 will be able to post something more useful (it may be worth asking in the Fedora forums also).

Good luck, and let us know how it goes, either way.

Best wishes,

Michael.