Building and using GnuCash-3.0 with Slackware

ljb643 · 04-11-2018, 08:52 PM

I started trying out the recently released gnucash-3.0, building from source and testing it out. Is anyone else doing this with Slackware 14.2? Maybe comparing notes would be helpful. Here's some of what I have so far.

1. Dropped dependencies: Does not need goffice or libgnomecanvas anymore.

2. Changed dependency: Now needs Webkitgtk2 for the Webkit2 API.
I'm using webkitgtk-2.20.0 from https://webkitgtk.org/

3. Webkitgtk needs webp.
I'm using webp-0.6.1 from https://developers.google.com/speed/webp/download

4. New dependency: Googletest (gtest/gmock)
I'm using googletest-1.8.0 from https://github.com/google/googletest

5. New dependency: Boost libraries.
Slackware 14.2 has boost-1.59.9 which works.

6. Changed dependency: Now uses Gtk+3 not Gtk+2.
Slackware 14.2 has Gtk+3-18.9 which works.

7. Gnucash and webkitgtk now use cmake to configure, not Gnu autoconf.
Cmake-3.5.2 in Slackware 14.2 works.

More to come, including specific fixes to get the parts to build, if there is interest.

frankbell · 04-11-2018, 09:02 PM

Tom Lawrence of the Sunday Morning Linux Review sings the praises of KMyMoney. He uses it for his business. (Me, I use paper. I understand it and know how it works.)

As it is a KDE application, it might work and play better with Slackware. You might want to take a look at it.

Alien Bob · 04-12-2018, 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankbell

Tom Lawrence of the Sunday Morning Linux Review sings the praises of KMyMoney. He uses it for his business. (Me, I use paper. I understand it and know how it works.)

As it is a KDE application, it might work and play better with Slackware. You might want to take a look at it.

KMymoney is already part of my Plasma 5 package set for Slackware-current. You would have to be running -current if you want to replace its KDE4 with Plasma 5 and see how KMymoney works and performs.

chrisretusn · 04-12-2018, 04:28 AM

I tried GnuCash a while back with Slackware. I switched to KMyMoney several years ago. I've been using it since. Both are not exactly what I was looking for but, KMyMoney was the closest. Plus it works well with Slackware. That said I may give GnuCash another look.

55020 · 04-12-2018, 06:38 AM

FWIW there's a gnucash3 SlackBuild in the SBo pending queue, and it'll very probably be in the next public release.

bamunds · 04-12-2018, 11:25 AM

I'm looking forward to reading this thread. I have used GNUCash for five years with my small business, now running 2.6.21. Very interested in how this will turn-out.

ljb643 · 04-13-2018, 07:59 PM

(This is a thread about building and using GnuCash-3.0 on Slackware 14.2.
Let's keep posts about other topics in other threads, OK?)

Building and installing GnuCash 3.0 dependencies

Do these in the following order:
1. Make sure the required Slackware packages are installed, including Boost, CMake, and Gtk+3.

2. Build and install webp. I put it in /usr/local.
The default configure for webp does not include all the parts that webkitgtk needs, and 'cmake' for webkitgtk will tell you webp isn't installed even though it is. You need to include the 2 "mux" components. I used this for webp:

Code:

$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local \
      --mandir=/usr/local/man --disable-static \
      --enable-libwebpmux --enable-libwebpdemux
$ make
$ su
# make install-strip
# ldconfig

3. Build and install webkitgtk. I put it in /usr/local.
My method for getting a workable Webkitgtk configuration goes like this. Run cmake. It fails, saying something is missing. Add the option to disable whatever it failed on. Repeat until done.

I ended up with this for webkitgtk:

Code:

$ mkdir build; cd build
$ cmake -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
  -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local \
  -D ENABLE_GEOLOCATION=OFF \
  -D ENABLE_INTROSPECTION=OFF \
  -D ENABLE_SPELLCHECK=OFF \
  -D USE_LIBHYPHEN=OFF \
  -D USE_WOFF2=OFF \
  -D ENABLE_MEDIA_SOURCE=OFF \
  -D USE_GSTREAMER_GL=OFF \
  -D PORT=GTK \
    ..
$ make
$ su
# make install/strip
# ldconfig

Note it took many hours for Webkitgtk to build on my PC.

4. Build and install googletest. This also went into /usr/local.
The default setup for googletest does not install all the files needed by gnucash, and 'cmake' for gnucash will tell you googletest isn't installed even though it is. I couldn't figure out how to get googletest cmake to include them, so I did it manually. I ended up with this for googletest:

Code:

$ mkdir build; cd build
$ cmake -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local ..
$ make
$ su
# make install/strip
# mkdir -p /usr/local/src/gmock
# cp -r ../src /usr/local/src/gmock

Next part: configure and build gnucash.

bamunds · 04-15-2018, 10:37 PM

So far have rebuilt GNUCash 2.6.21 from the slackbuilds by simply modifying the slackbuild and info files to the correct file. But that doesn't work for the GNUCash 3.0 version. For 3.0 installed all the dependencies simply using slackbuilds. I've used the available 14.2 slackbuilds for googletest (on slackware is gtest) and webkit2gtk-3.0 (webkitgtk-2.4.11 built with gtk+3 installed on the system). However, when I pull down the gnucash.SlackBuild for 2.6.21 and change all the appropriate 2.6.21 to 3.0 it fails because the gnucash-3.0.tar.bz2 doesn't have a configure like gnucash-2.6-20.tar.bz2. I'm not really sure how to proceed at this point? Suggestions?

@55020 - any chance you might post the slackbuild script for 3.0 that is in the pending slackbuilds for Slackware next?

willysr · 04-16-2018, 12:26 AM

it has been postponed since there are some works needs to be done before gnucash3 can be submitted to SBo

bamunds · 04-16-2018, 06:26 PM

Thanks willysr. So I guess the next step would be to build manually with a manual configure?

willysr · 04-16-2018, 07:49 PM

if you can wait, please wait for the SBo version

Ne01eX · 04-16-2018, 09:50 PM

GnuCash-3.0 maybe built with gtkwebkit-4.0 (webkitgtk-2.20.1.tar.xz)?

ljb643 · 04-17-2018, 05:23 PM

If you want to use Gnucash to manage your finances, I recommend staying with 2.6.x for now. I'm seeing enough minor but annoying problems in 3.0 (details to come) that I'm not ready to upgrade. Some bugs have been fixed and the fixes will apparently be in the next release 3.1. If you want to build it yourself, test it, play with it, keep reading.

Building and installing GnuCash 3.0

Although I put its dependencies into /usr/local, I built and installed gnucash for /opt/gnucash. Note that I left off some optional parts that you might want, and those parts might need additional dependencies. In particular, I left off SQL backends and OFX support.

I used the following command to configure gnucash. The GMOCK_ROOT value is not really where GMOCK is installed, but it lets gnucash find the extra files installed above. If anyone has a cleaner way to do this, please post it.

Code:

$ mkdir build; cd build
$ cmake -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/opt/gnucash \
  -D WITH_SQL=OFF \
  -D WITH_OFX=OFF \
  -D WITH_AQBANKING=OFF \
  -D DISABLE_NLS=ON \
  -D GMOCK_ROOT=/usr/local/src/gmock \
  ..
$ make
$ su
# make install/strip

I needed to make one fix after installing, or Gnucash would crash on startup because it installed a file in one place and looks for it somewhere else. I think this will be fixed in gnucash-3.1, and is caused by Cmake deciding to redirect a file because of the /opt installation path. No such fix, or a different fix, may be needed if you use a different installation prefix.

Code:

# mkdir -p /opt/gnucash/etc/gnucash
# mv /etc/opt/gnucash/gnucash/environment /opt/gnucash/etc/gnucash/
# rm -r /etc/opt/gnucash

Note that if Gnucash has startup problems, it may seem to exit without any messages (even if you run it from a terminal). Gnucash writes error messages to /tmp/gnucash.trace instead of to error output.

That gets me to a working gnucash-3.0, run with: /opt/gnucash/bin/gnucash

Next part: Experiences

aikempshall · 04-18-2018, 01:15 AM

Be warned that there is an error in the gnucash.SlackBuild script in SlackBuilds.org, it includes the flag --enable-register2 when it shouldn't.

Inclusion of this flag can have bizarre consequences in gnucash 2.6.20 and any subsequent version.

The gnucash developers have warned that the flag isn't ready for gnucash 3.0 either.

55020 · 04-18-2018, 04:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aikempshall

Be warned that there is an error in the gnucash.SlackBuild script in SlackBuilds.org, it includes the flag --enable-register2 when it shouldn't.

Inclusion of this flag can have bizarre consequences in gnucash 2.6.20 and any subsequent version.

The gnucash developers have warned that the flag isn't ready for gnucash 3.0 either.

Len (the maintainer) sent us an update for that two days ago, and it's queued for the next public update.

https://git.slackbuilds.org/slackbui...a23d8a94f88b07