Problem installing dependancies

Rick069 · 10-09-2007, 07:03 PM

In Slackware is it a common occurance to have to manually install many dependancies everytime i try to install another program? Is there a away to totally avoid this or maybe even lessen the need to manually install dependancies?

Franklin · 10-09-2007, 07:13 PM

While I've certainly needed to install dependencies at times, you seem to be describing something a bit more extensive than my experience would indicate. What programs are you trying to install that are giving you such headaches?

On the other hand, if you are installing Gnome apps, then I could definitely see why this might be the case. Remember, there is no Gnome in Slack - thus no gnome libs.

Steve

Rick069 · 10-09-2007, 07:27 PM

Well anything I try to install. I can't exactly remember the apps but, It was the first time I did try slackware and it just was really cumbersome to install dependacies i thought slackware would automatically take care of.

Franklin · 10-09-2007, 08:39 PM

First, Slackware does not resolve dependencies for you. You are required to figure this out on your own.

Now, this may seem like a horrible thing when you have just come from a dependency-hell distro based on RPM's, but you need to understand that the splitting of applications into application and development RMP's or Debs is a big contributor to the whole dependency problem in the first place.

Slackware does not do this when a Slackware package (.tgz) is created so the dependency issue is greatly reduced from the get-go.

Second, dependencies can be created by building a package on a system that is not "pristine". What this means is that quite a number of programs will detect if foo.bar is installed on your system when you compile them. If you create a Slackware package, with foo.bar on your system, then that package now "depends" on foo.bar being on any system that tries to install the Slackware package that you created - even if that program did not normally depend on foo.bar. This happens sometimes when you use Slackware packages created by people who don't follow proper package creation rules.

This problem can be mitigated by:

1.) Doing a full install of Slackware (until you know what you are doing and the consequences on leaving out certain packages)
2.) Only add 3rd party packages that have been built on pristine machines.
3.) Build your own packages using SlackBuild scripts. (Visit www.slackbuilds.org and read)

Even if you do all the above, you will still have dependency issues. The ldd command will help. Suppose you build a package, but it will not work.

ldd /path/to/executable will list all the dependencies and if they are met or not. For example:

Code:

steve@sun:~$ which inkscape
/usr/bin/inkscape
steve@sun:~$ ldd /usr/bin/inkscape
        linux-gate.so.1 =>  (0xffffe000)
        libgtkmm-2.4.so.1 => /usr/lib/libgtkmm-2.4.so.1 (0xb7bfd000)
        libgdkmm-2.4.so.1 => /usr/lib/libgdkmm-2.4.so.1 (0xb7bba000)
        libatkmm-1.6.so.1 => /usr/lib/libatkmm-1.6.so.1 (0xb7b7a000)
        libpangomm-1.4.so.1 => /usr/lib/libpangomm-1.4.so.1 (0xb7b51000)
        libcairomm-1.0.so.1 => /usr/lib/libcairomm-1.0.so.1 (0xb7b3a000)
        libglibmm-2.4.so.1 => /usr/lib/libglibmm-2.4.so.1 (0xb7af0000)
        libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 (0xb77af000)
        libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 (0xb772d000)
        libatk-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libatk-1.0.so.0 (0xb7713000)
        libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0 (0xb76fd000)
        libpangocairo-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpangocairo-1.0.so.0 (0xb76f4000)
        libpango-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpango-1.0.so.0 (0xb76b7000)
        libgobject-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0 (0xb767e000)
        libgmodule-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgmodule-2.0.so.0 (0xb767b000)
        libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0xb7677000)
        libxslt.so.1 => /usr/lib/libxslt.so.1 (0xb7644000)
        libz.so.1 => /usr/lib/libz.so.1 (0xb762f000)
        libxml2.so.2 => /usr/lib/libxml2.so.2 (0xb7516000)
        libcairo.so.2 => /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2 (0xb74a1000)
        libsigc-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libsigc-2.0.so.0 (0xb749b000)
        libgthread-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgthread-2.0.so.0 (0xb7497000)
        librt.so.1 => /lib/librt.so.1 (0xb748f000)
        libglib-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0 (0xb73fb000)
        libpng12.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpng12.so.0 (0xb73c0000)
        libpng.so.3 => /usr/lib/libpng.so.3 (0xb7385000)
        libpopt.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpopt.so.0 (0xb737e000)
        libXft.so.2 => /usr/lib/libXft.so.2 (0xb736c000)
        libXrender.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXrender.so.1 (0xb7364000)
        libfontconfig.so.1 => /usr/lib/libfontconfig.so.1 (0xb7338000)
        libfreetype.so.6 => /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6 (0xb72cb000)
        libX11.so.6 => /usr/lib/libX11.so.6 (0xb71e3000)
        libpangoft2-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpangoft2-1.0.so.0 (0xb71b8000)
        libgc.so.1 => /usr/lib/libgc.so.1 (0xb7186000)
        liblcms.so.1 => /usr/lib/liblcms.so.1 (0xb7150000)
        libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0xb706b000)
        libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0xb7044000)
        libgcc_s.so.1 => /usr/lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0xb7039000)
        libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0xb7022000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0xb6ee0000)
        libXfixes.so.3 => /usr/lib/libXfixes.so.3 (0xb6eda000)
        libXext.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXext.so.6 (0xb6ecc000)
        libXinerama.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXinerama.so.1 (0xb6ec9000)
        libXi.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXi.so.6 (0xb6ec1000)
        libXrandr.so.2 => /usr/lib/libXrandr.so.2 (0xb6ebb000)
        libXcursor.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXcursor.so.1 (0xb6eb1000)
        /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb7f20000)
        libexpat.so.1 => /usr/lib/libexpat.so.1 (0xb6e91000)
        libxcb-xlib.so.0 => /usr/lib/libxcb-xlib.so.0 (0xb6e8f000)
        libxcb.so.1 => /usr/lib/libxcb.so.1 (0xb6e78000)
        libXau.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXau.so.6 (0xb6e74000)
        libXdmcp.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6 (0xb6e6f000)
steve@sun:~$

Inkscape is not a stock slackware app, but I was able to build the dependencies required to get it to work.

Anyway, without specifics no one can really help you so I suggest you post again with programs that give you a hard time.

Hope this rambling was usefull.

Steve

Rick069 · 10-09-2007, 09:00 PM

Well the rambling was very useful and pretty much told me want I did wrong whether you knew that or not. Problem is already solved on this end. Thanks again.

Franklin · 10-09-2007, 09:26 PM

I'm glad I could help!

Please consider posting an example anyway. Then someone who comes across this thread during a search might be left with some specifics. I think that would make this thread more useful to others.

Up to you.

Rick069 · 10-10-2007, 07:49 AM

Unfortunately i don't have any examples, but what i can add is the fact that i'd been converting rpm's to .tgz format and i guess that's where the problems began with the dependencies. I never looked for apps already in the native format. I just thought it was easier to do the conversion thing. That's what happens with newbies and distros such as slackware.

onebuck · 10-10-2007, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick069

Unfortunately i don't have any examples, but what i can add is the fact that i'd been converting rpm's to .tgz format and i guess that's where the problems began with the dependencies. I never looked for apps already in the native format. I just thought it was easier to do the conversion thing. That's what happens with newbies and distros such as slackware.

Hi,

Just to add .02.

You can look at Slackware Builds, Packages & Scripts section which is part of 'Slackware-Links'.

I would suggest you use the Slackware® Packages link. You will find most of the apps you need. Also rworkman's Slackware® Packages has a lot of packages, especially OpenOffice.

H_TeXMeX_H · 10-10-2007, 08:58 AM

It's actually a lot better if you compile things yourself, things just tend to work more readily. Of course, if the dependency list is too long, then it becomes tedious.

Slackbuilds help a lot if you can't get something to compile right.

The way I compile things, I usually don't even look at the dependency list. Just download the program and run './configure', then it'll give you a dependency error, then you find the dependency and try './configure' on that, and that may give you another and so on. And then at one point one of them will actually compile, and you start working your way back out. Many things from GNOME will cause much dependency hell, mostly because GNOME libs are no longer available as a part of Slackware.

Lufbery · 10-10-2007, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Franklin

First, Slackware does not resolve dependencies for you. You are required to figure this out on your own.

Franklin, you post was excellent, but I wonder how much we're required to figure out on our own.

Most sites that I visit to download source files list the dependencies, making it pretty easy to find which libraries I need to compile.

Regards,

-Drew

Franklin · 10-10-2007, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lufbery

Franklin, you post was excellent, but I wonder how much we're required to figure out on our own.

Most sites that I visit to download source files list the dependencies, making it pretty easy to find which libraries I need to compile.

Regards,

-Drew

A Slacker sees nothing wrong with reading the homepage for an application to learn what is required to build an app successfully. A Debian user is trained to believe that the work ends with the editing of your repository list. All the "figuring" has been done for them already. It's not that it's difficult, it's just that it was not known that someone else was doing a very simple procedure for them all this time.

It's like doing your laundry. Takes some time, but it's really quite simple.

Unless you're my room mate freshman year in college, who stuffed a record amount of dirty clothes into the washing machine and thus caused both a flood and a fire all on the same 4 quarters. Had his mom chosen to teach him to wash his clothes rather than wash them for him, he might have faired better.

Lufbery · 10-11-2007, 12:36 PM

Franklin,

Your roommate's laundry woes are hilarious!

Hey, I looked at your desktop screenshots. What are you doing to KDE to make it look that way? It's pretty cool.

Regards,

-Drew

pbhj · 11-05-2007, 05:22 PM

Franklin, can you tell me how you got hold of libcairomm?

Quote:

Inkscape is not a stock slackware app, but I was able to build the dependencies required to get it to work.

I've tried using a cairomm package - no lib in it. I've tried compiling with "./configure --enable-static=no" but no lib. Looking at the slackbuild I can't see anything about building libs that would help. So, what should I do. Am trying to use latest "inkscape200711011229.package" (autopackage) but despite the previous but one working fine this requires libcairomm ...?!

Thanks. Sorry to hijack the thread.

Franklin · 11-05-2007, 06:09 PM

Slackbuilds.org

http://www.slackbuilds.org/repositor...aries/cairomm/

I believe this is what you are looking for.

HTH

pbhj · 11-08-2007, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Franklin

Slackbuilds.org {snip}

Yup I've used slackbuilds before. It turns out that I was missing a swathe of deps for cairomm. Also that some of my installs didn't seem to have run properly in the past as I had to manually write quite a few "libsomething.so" links that were missing.

I did bear with the slackbuilds in the end though. Thanks.