Why this error when installing program?
 

Why do I get this error when I attempt to install BNR2 into SLED?:

bucky@linux-ws0f:~/Downloads/OnlineCommunicate> sh BNR2beta-0.14.7.run
Verifying archive integrity... All good.
Uncompressing BNR2 Installation Setup................................................................................
./kdesu: error while loading shared libraries: libexpat.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

I can install when in root, but not when in normal user, but I don't want to install as root because then I have to run it as root, which is a bad idea. Why would the install work when in root but not when in normal user mode?

I am still learning, I am really green, I am currently trying to figure out how to use chmod and symlinks, for instance, but the man and info pages don't help enough, I don't understand some of the terminology. Is this a symlink issue or something?

Use 'sudo.' The program seems to be asking for root privilages anyway (kdesu is KDE's QT root password-prompter, in case you didn't know).

Because you're not running it as root, it's executing its own copy of kdesu (notice the ./). kdesu is apparently linked to libexpat (I confirm this is also true on my system - ldd reports kdesu is linked to libexpat).

To end this error, run it as root with sudo or su or install libexpat. I'd be somewhat suspicious about any program which includes its own copy of kdesu or any su-type utility, though.

Ok, thanks for the really quick responses, guys. Thing is, if I install as root, then the program will only run as root, even if I change the owner of the executable and make it executable by me, the user.

I think I understand symlinks after some further reading, so I am wondering where to link to, do I symlink libexpat.so.0 to ./kde?

This is the error I get when trying to run the program from normal after a root user install:

cannot create /home/bucky/BNR2/BNR2.ini

What gives?

Also, it won't work with sudo, just with su (being in root).

I GOT IT!!! I went into superuser konqueror mode, and changed the owner to me, the user, I changed the home directory to the program and everything below it, and it works!

There must be some kind of quirk where it won't install right in SLED, whereas it installs just fine in SuSE 10.1, as normal user...

That's a different kind of "link". When you compile a program, and that program uses some external library (like libexpat) that program is said to be "linked" to that library. In this case, kdesu is dynamically linked to libexpat: kdesu will not run without libexpat, because some part of kdesu requires funcionality provided by libexpat.

The error involving libexpat can only be solved by installing libexpat.

I'm guessing that the "quirk" is that SLED doesn't have libexpat installed.

No, it IS installed, look above: I got this working by going to the BNR2 folder in ~ and changing the owner and permissions for the entire thing, the entire path down from that folder.

I know libexpat is in, becuase I tried making a symlink where I guessed I needed to, so I have seen the files. It must be something else: My guess is that it could be a 64 bit version issue, because stuff gets stored in a different place...