First Post! Unable to compile source code
 

Hey guys, this is my first post here and I was hoping somebody could help me out. Ive been toying with Linux for about a month now (Suse 9.3), but the main drawback is that Im not able to compile ANY source code Ive come across.

Ive gotten far enough to install all of the KDE Headers, GCC, Qt, and everything, but after configure finishes and I run make, I get this error when trying to install Taskbar v2:

make[1]: Entering directory `/home/jlewis/mtaskbar-0.7/mtaskbar'
Can't locate object method "path" via package "Request" at /usr/share/autoconf/Autom4te/C4che.pm line 69, <GEN1> line 111.
make[1]: *** [configure] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/jlewis/mtaskbar-0.7/mtaskbar'
make: *** [configure] Error 2

according to apt-get, I have the newest versions of automake, autoconf, and perl.
any ideas? Im looking to make Linux my default OS when I get my laptop, but I need to be able to compile stuff before I do that. Im really still a newb when it comes to linux.

Thanks guys!

JLEW

1.how did you install gcc if you didnt have a compiler? Did you take binaries of gcc?

The error message you get refers to a wrong or incomplete perl module on your box that belongs to autoconf. Unfortunately i cant say more right now...

are you sure the configure command terminated successfully

I could be barking up the wrong tree here, but the error message seems to be suggesting that it can't find the "path" object in the source code library. When you look in the directory of mtaskbar is it a program that needs to be compiled first or is it something that can just be run? See if you can find an INSTALL or README within the directory and make sure you follow those directions, if you haven't already done so.

The description you offer doesn't seem to suggest a wide-spread compiler problem, so it is likely to be one of two things, as far as I can tell:

1. The "make" program is looking for something along its installation path and can't find it. If this is where it is to be located then you'd need to specify where it is to be installed. The general form is:
./configure --prefix=/path/in_which/to_install
If it needs some other libraries with which to install, and it can't find those, then see if you have a file called "Request" anywhere (it could be a dependency which hasn't been loaded yet?). Then direct your path variable to that:
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/sbin/:/usr/local/bin (or wherever that file might be)

2. The software itself is corrupted, in which case, contact a developer and ask them what might cause this error message. In my experience, all but one developer I've contacted regarding installation difficulties have been pretty helpful in debugging the process with me.

What other error messages do you get when you try to compile from source?

make sure there is not a file autom4te.cache in the source directory
if there is delete it

Hey guys thanks alot for all the helpful replies!

I first tried Foo_Bar_Foo's advice (mainly because it was the simplest reply I understood lol), and everything worked out, I just deleted the autom4te.cache directory and everything went smooth.

Like I said, Im really fairly new to Linux, and hope to become fairly fluent in it soon, so thanks again guys Im sure Ill be making quite a few more posts around here!

JLEW