This is getting rather complicated. I get the distinct feeling there are a lot of dependencies in my system. I downloaded and installed opencdk and the rest of the packages needed for gaim. But when I went to install gaim I found I needed gtkspell and aspell (along with its library). I found gtkspell as an rpm, but I could only find the source for aspell. This required gcc to compile. So, I downloaded the rpm for gcc 3.4.0 from Guru and installed it no problem. However, when I run the commands for installation provided by the aspell website, I get this:

Script started on Wed 06 Oct 2004 02:29:46 PM PDT
pcp011087pcs:/home/ljt/Downloads/aspell-0.60 # ./configure && make
checking build system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking host system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking target system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... no
checking whether to enable maintainer-specific portions of Makefiles... no
checking for g++... no
checking for c++... no
checking for gpp... no
checking for aCC... no
checking for CC... no
checking for cxx... no
checking for cc++... no
checking for cl... no
checking for FCC... no
checking for KCC... no
checking for RCC... no
checking for xlC_r... no
checking for xlC... no
checking for C++ compiler default output file name... configure: error: C++ compiler cannot create executables
See `config.log' for more details.
pcp011087pcs:/home/ljt/Downloads/aspell-0.60 # edxit
exit

Script done on Wed 06 Oct 2004 02:30:00 PM PDT

Anyone know whats wrong?

Mandrake, Fedora and Debian seem to be able to avoid dependency hell in a way that SuSE 9.1 cannot, because it doesn't have major repositories built and maintained by a community that SuSE makes it easy to plug in to.

That said, I still prefer SuSE to these other distros, but I feel your pain.

In YaST> install/remove software, when you type "aspell" what pops up? It shows that I have aspell an aspell-en installed. 0.5x.x versions.

As well, when you type "c+" you should see an installed (or option to install) gcc-c++. What do you see? Mine is installed.

When you installed the Personal edition, did you give you the option to add development libraries. I always check this option and add everything, as it avoids a lot of these dependency issues.

I'm wondering if that's part of the problem and/or if you should have installed SuSE 9.1 Pro via FTP, instead.

Have heart. You're actually making progress and getting close, I think.

Also keep these repositories handy:
http://packman.links2linux.org/
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/ (where I get my updated Firefox rpms)

Guru and Packman are the best two SuSE repositories that I know of.

Ok, this is really ticking me off. I wanted to jump into Linux, but I feel like there is a lead weight attached to my feet. I can't seem to install anything. I really need an SSH client to make this even worth while (need to transfer stuff to a campus server). So, should I just ditch this installation and go for Pro? Or maybe another distro? If you have suggestions, post me a link to where I can get the needed files.

<-- WHY OH WHY WON'T IT WORK!

What did you do that is not working? More info would be helpful. Did you go in to YaST and look for those packages I suggested? What happened when you did it?

aspell
aspell-en
gcc-c++

As far as getting up and running, every distro has their quirks. I even tried Lindows and Xandros, which are known as brain dead easy, and ran in to problems. I think they are comparable to Mandrake/Fedora/SuSE. You'll have issues with each.

Linux is not Windows. It requires patience and even taking pleasure in working through some of these basic issues.

That said, when you post, the logs are very useful. But, also last things you tried and what you say, so we can get an idea of why it might not have worked.

A lot of the packages you seem to be missing are in my YaST version. I'm also still curious if the SuSE Personal edition shipped with development packages that you may not have installed. Maybe you can go back an install them.

Don't assume you'll be able to switch distros or move to Pro and completely avoide these problems. But, once you're up and running, you'll be very, very happy.

For the time being, why don't you install Guru's new version of Kopete and set it up to message until you get Gaim up and running.

I think that Personal is supposed to come with the packages I am missing. However, under the "standard" install, it doesn't actually put them into the program. So, the reason I am thinking about restarting is in the long run, having all those packages from the get go will save me a lot of time and effort.

However, to answer your questions:

I do have a version of gcc (3.4.0). I managed to find an rpm for it and got it installed.
However, I do not have anything under aspell. This maybe part of Suse, but I guess I didn't choose the right options to install it. Unfortunately, I cannot find an rpm for it, so I tried to install it (and libraries) using the console. The last script I pasted to the forum was the message I kept getting. I don't know what is wrong with gcc, especially since the version is more recent than the one required for aspell. I'm going out a limb and guessing I am missing another package. However, without aspell as an rpm, I don't know how to find the problem.

So, a couple ways to fix it:
If someone can find me a Suse compatible rpm for aspell, I can use Yast to find any other dependencies.
Or, I can try going for a clean install with the development packages.

As for the second option, I need to make sure that during the install I will be able to overwrite the old partition. From what I can tell, Yast has a pretty good partitioner built in, so I should be find. But I don't want to find out I'm wrong half way though.

Me in a nutshell -->

I would re-install SuSE Personal, to start. There will be an option that should allow you to add back in packages through an "upgrade."

There's also the SuSE Pro tree, where you'll find all packages:
http://195.40.6.41/pub/suse/i386/9.1/

You should find everything you need in there. But, I'd try the first of adding Personal development packages first. Good lesson for the future with any Linux distro. Always add all the devel packages. I made the same error.

I belive I found somewhat of the problem. For starters, I have just been messing around with SuSE and have installed it a couple times now in the past couple days. Each time I installed it the same way. The first time I was able to update KDE in YaST no problems, YaST did what it was supposed to and figured out the dependencies. Since then, YaST has not installed the dependencies as it should.

Well, I went ahead and did an FTP install of SUSE 9.1 Pro. It was actually a lot easier than expected, and I made sure to get gcc and the other dependencies I had. I also splurged on a few other things (I need to figure out what they are though), Anyways, I'll post to a new thread with future problems.

Thanks again for the help.

Ah, but did you get Gaim working!! Please tell...

Yes, I'm very happy with Pro. 9.2 Pro is out next month. Hope you can still get it via FTP. SuSE is an excellent distro. Quirky around dependencies and in need of easy-to-add-to-YaST community-based repositories.

But, it's still damn good!

Rory

Yes, Gaim works. I used the RPM from Guru's site to do the install and everything seems to work great. Its amazing what having the right packages can do.

Good to hear Gaim in running. Guru also had Gaim guifications, by the way.

Yes, after playing this game with Mandrake and Fedora, I just installed *all* development packages now, just to be safe. Smartest thing I've ever done. Has ended a lot of headaches.