so, i've finally made the switch to linux, and boy, i know nothing.

i've managed to learn how to compile software that i've downloaded, but my question is, how do i run it?? i'm using fedora core 2.

i've found a file that the compilation has left in /usr/local/bin. now what? (the program is xine)

thanks for the help!

jrembold

Open a console and type in xine - it should open. Since you are using Fedora, it would be easier for you (since you are just beginning) to use files ending in .rpm. Alternatively, install/upgrade/uninstall using either YUM (Yellowdog Updater, Modified) or Apt4RPM.

root@ # xine
bash: xine: command not found
'
that is what is happening when i type xine in the terminal. i would type it in 'run command' and this: Cannot display location 'file://xine'

i don't undestand what is going on. where can i find this .rpm stuff. i looked on google and didn't find anything that i could relate to...


thanks

jrembold

jrembold, as a Linux newbie I found the following site particularly helpful in getting my feet wet: Linux Newbie Guide. I hope that helps. Don't be too discouraged if you can't get everything working all at once. Linux is a little difficult at first, but once you start getting the basics down you will find its a fun O/S to play around with

hmm, that's a good site, but i still need to find out how to run these programs.... still very lost.

Open up a console, goto your home directory and as user not root try typing xine.
Did you run ./configure, make, make install as root ?

yeah, i did all that. followed the install directions.

a friend suggested something about 'su -'

but i keep getting an error when i do that.
eh...


jrembold

You said there is a file "xine" in /usr/local/bin? If so, try typing "/usr/local/bin/xine". What do you get when you type "echo $PATH" and "ls -l /usr/local/bin/xine"?

they all say '/usr/local/bin/xine: No such file or directory'

even weirder now is that i can't run 'make' or 'make install' without getting an error.
wtf.

[root@resnet146-119 root]# make
make all-recursive
make[1]: Entering directory `/root'
Making all in doc
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/doc'
Making all in man
make[3]: Entering directory `/root/doc/man'
Making all in en
make[4]: Entering directory `/root/doc/man/en'
make[4]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[4]: Leaving directory `/root/doc/man/en'
make[4]: Entering directory `/root/doc/man'
make[4]: Nothing to be done for `all-am'.
make[4]: Leaving directory `/root/doc/man'
make[3]: Leaving directory `/root/doc/man'
Making all in hackersguide
make[3]: Entering directory `/root/doc/hackersguide'
make[3]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[3]: Leaving directory `/root/doc/hackersguide'
Making all in faq
make[3]: Entering directory `/root/doc/faq'
make[3]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[3]: Leaving directory `/root/doc/faq'
make[3]: Entering directory `/root/doc'
make[3]: Nothing to be done for `all-am'.
make[3]: Leaving directory `/root/doc'
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/doc'
Making all in m4
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/m4'
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/m4'
Making all in intl
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/intl'
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/intl'
Making all in po
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/po'
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/po'
Making all in misc
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/misc'
Making all in fonts
make[3]: Entering directory `/root/misc/fonts'
make[3]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[3]: Leaving directory `/root/misc/fonts'
make[3]: Entering directory `/root/misc'
make[3]: Nothing to be done for `all-am'.
make[3]: Leaving directory `/root/misc'
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/misc'
Making all in include
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/include'
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/include'
Making all in src
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/src'
Making all in xine-utils
make[3]: Entering directory `/root/src/xine-utils'
make[3]: *** No rule to make target `/root/Desktop/xine-lib-1-rc5/src/xine-utils/cpu_accel.c', needed by `cpu_accel.lo'. Stop.
make[3]: Leaving directory `/root/src/xine-utils'
make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/src'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root'
make: *** [all] Error 2
[root@resnet146-119 root]#

that's what happens when i type 'make'


hmmm

You tried to run "make" while you were in the /root directory, not the xine directory. If you type "su -", it will change your directory to root's home directory rather than leaving you where you are like "su" does. If /usr/local/bin/xine doesn't exist, something must not have worked with the install. Are you sure you did "make install" as root and in the directory where you downloaded xine? You can do (and should do) "./configure" and "make" as a normal user, but "make install" needs root privileges to create all the files correctly.

i tried what you said jrdioko, and this is what came up...

config.status: creating Makefile
config.status: creating doc/Makefile
rm: cannot remove `doc/Makefile': Permission denied
mv: overwrite `doc/Makefile', overriding mode 0644?

i type 'y' and it just states it again....


jrembold

If I understand what you did correctly, it sounds like you already successfully completed the "./configure" and "make" steps. Just try doing a "make install" as root in the folder with xine in it. If all goes well, just typing "xine" itself on a command line should work.

Whoah, everyone hold your horses. Linux is not yet a desktop OS and never will be unless people start using it on the desktop. In order to do this they need to be able to deal with it in a much less complicated way.

First, this guy needs to know he doesn't need to compile programs under linux except in rare situations. If he is following the route of seeking apps to mirror those he used under windows he will find himself doing make and configure, unless he seeks out the proper installation tools (err, I guess it would be too nice to call them proper). This is the old dated way with linux. Linux is a more modern OS which doesn't require that he compile a program. The only people compiling a program should be the developer and those making the installers.

He needs to be turned onto apt-get (or the like) and the synaptic-like tools. This will allow him to install programs without the need to compile. His whole experience with Linux will be much simpler and make him much happier.

The linux newbie guides do really nothing for new users except explain some rather blan concepts that have little to no bearing on his actual experience. They are dated and overly complex (for a new user) and rarely touch on the topics the average desktop user would need. Explanations of distros are pointless, as linux is linux, no matter which distro you are using. They run the same kernels, the same software, the same interfaces, and they operate in the same way as one another.

http://voidmain.is-a-geek.net/redhat...must_have.html

Above is a good site for getting apt and synaptic up and running. You will probably need to search for the version of apt-get that works on FC2 as the good people at Redhat broke apt-get with FC2. It works well with FC2 and I know you can find the version of apt-get for FC2 by search the web for those keywords.

Once you have apt-get installed and you have synaptic installed you should not have any problems installing the wealth of software out there for linux. But be prepared to come to the reality that the software is often cumbersome, crowded (menu-wise and option-wise), poorly structured, and may not even work. Alot of it will work and work well but a good percentage of it is sort of ugly and encumbered due to the developer not doing feasability or useability studies and forgetting that not eveyone is a programmer.

There are pros and cons to learning the command line, and there are pros and cons to installing from source. I personally feel the command line tools give you a lot more power than if you are stuck in the mindset that to change something you need to "click on the K button in the bottom-left hand corner, navigate to Network Setup, etc." I also think that typing "./configure, make, su, make install (or checkinstall, in my case)" is as easy as using one of those automatic installing tools and makes you you more aware about what you are doing to your system.

However, that's just my bias, and what a person wants should define their Linux experience (what distro they get, what window manager/desktop environment they use, how they install programs, how they configure their system, etc.). I would tell jrembold to take a look at apt-get and see what he thinks, but I don't want him to get the impression that installing from source is outdated and is almost never a good idea.