LinuxQuestions.org - Installing aMSN in Yellow Dog Linux (YDL)

OK...so you decided it...MacOS was not enough even though it is Unix-based..you wanted more so you "switched" (again, perhaps) to YDL. I assume that you passed through the painful process of adaptation....including the use of a one-button-nice-and-clear-apple-mouse in your new OS. However...you needed a chat client becasue you are extremely dependent on it. And when you tried you got the following issues:

-The RPM didn't work eventhough this is a RedHat based distro (in case you didn't know)
-Linux is meant to be a i386 OS, which means a CISC architecture...not a RISC like your beautiful Mac
-You compiled and downloaded the lastest versions and even that didn't work

Since that is my case, and after trying every solution I found on Internet, Pleowulf is proud to present his case: aMSN in YDL installed on iBook.

First some background. As mentioned above, the powerPC is a procesor with RISC architecture (feel free to research on for it will be useful one day). This means that the guys who programmed the YDL distro had to change the kernel ina a lot of ways. We don't care about how they did it but we DO care the fact that Linux applications are meant to be used in a x386 procesor. This means...that unless you find specific software for your mac you will have to configure, compile and install the package in the hard way. The good news is that you will learn a lot. Why I tell you this? Because you will have to download all the sources and compile them. Don't bother to look for an RPM..they will probably fail to run.

NOTE: I can not post URLs. You will have to figure out those

Now, lets start with this little tutorial. First of all, and the most obvious step, download the source from the amsn page . Once you have downloaded it enter the shell and in root mode (type su and enter your password) extract the file:

#tar xzvf name.tar.gz

This will usually create a msn directory. Change to it

#cd msn

If you list the contents (#ls) you will find that there is no need to compile it unless you want it dock in the taskbar (there are other documents that talk about it so it is not included here). Now, run amsn:

#./amsn

Not so hard uh? Well, let me tell you, that if you don't have the TLS libraries, as well as the TK and TL you won't even be abble to see the main screen. In order to get the libraries you can get them from your CD's or you can get them from the tcl/tck page . Dowload the sources, there must be two files. Now, extract the files:

#tar xzvf tcl8.4.6-src.tar.gz
#tar xzvf tk8.4.6-src.tar.gz

It will create two directories, use the cd command to enter them. In each directory you will follow the next steps:

#./configure
#make
#make install

the above is the general procedure to compile and install any program. Notice that there might be some problems with dependencies, which will be strongly notorius if you don't have something installed. If so, please refer to the respective documentation.

Now, assuming that there were no problems try running amsn again. You should be abble to see the login screen and go further until you step with the TLS. This is the important part of this tutorial. A dialog will appear asking you to select the apropiate version. I ignore if it is a bug or not...buy none of the options seem to work. At least for me. If after downloading the linux-ppc (PowerPC in case you had't noticed it) you can log in, then you are done. If not, please keep reading.

You can install the last version of TLS which is 1.5. For some strange reason aMSN doesn't seem to recognize it even if you specify the route in the Tools|Preferences|Others window. What do we do? Well, I noticed that when I tried to automatically download the TLS from the aMSN program there was a compied version (1.4) for PPC. So there had to be one. I investigated and the aMSN page has that version, compiled and packaged. Enter the aMSN project page and enter the downloads and then click in Other packages, it will take you to ALL the downloads and sources of the project. Scroll though the page until you find the tls1.4.1-linux-ppc.tar.gz file, almost in the end of the page.

We are almost done. Now, if you extract the files you will notice there is a directory of tls. If you enter you will find that there are no files to compile. What happened? The files contained in the tarball are taken as a plugin. So the final step is to copy that directory into your aMSN plugins directory. You can do it in the file manager of your desktop enviroment. Try running aMSN. It should be running now.

I want to notice that this is my case and probably not all steps will work in yours. I also would like to let you know that I wrote this because I found that this is a not so common problem. And finally, I would like to apoligize for any redaction or spelling mistake, I am not an English natural speaker. Hoping that this text was of any help I have nothing else to say but Farewell.