Hi I just tried to install Superkaramba on my 10.2 2.4 machine.

This was my first attempt at compiling anything. It didn't turn out so well. I then read that Slackware might deal with it differently. Please help me. And treat me like a complete newb. I need the hard love to learn.

Thanks in advance.

By the way. I just deleted my windows partition and went completely 100% linux!! it was scary, but I'm so happy to learn and get it all under control and customized.

Best Wishes.

also. Not to take away from the topic at hand. I was wondering why if and how I should update my kernel? I'm running a Dell C640 laptop and would appreciate any advice.

Any error message that might indicate what went wrong during the compile?

Congrats on ridding yourself of the "Curse of Redmond". The key to getting help is to explain exactly what the problem is. As much as we would be happy to help, it's impossible from what you told us so far. Tell us exactly what you are trying to do, what you expected to happen, and what happened that wasn't what you expected or what broke. Tell us what distro you are running, and what version. (You did say your 10.2 2.4 machine, but the text in the post itself seemed to indicate you tried it on some other distro and now you want to try it on Slackware 10.2, so I'm a little confused.) Cut and paste your command input (if it's long) and any error messages so that we can understand what's happening.

Why do people want to upgrade kernels? There are a few reasons. Some people like to keep current for the sake of keeping current. It's a good way to make sure that new releases of stuff run on your system. Other people like to stay behind. That's a good way to let other guys' systems break and when they figure out what the problem is, they fix it and sometimes you avoid having the same problem. Some people have newer hardware and they need support that doesn't exist in an older kernel.

Pat, the Slackware owner, chooses his stuff carefully to run on a broad range of machines and be very reliable. Most people can run 10.2 just like it is.

ok, sorry, I'm running Slackware 10.2 and I was trying to install a program called superkaramba which is a eye candy program. (Which I realize isn't one of my priorities right now, but anyways) and I downloaded the gzip archive. unpacked it. Then I issued the ./configure command that returned no errors. then I issued the make command. and the make install commands. I don't know what to do now. How do I access the program? I don't know how to check if it worked or not. I don't see it in the package manager.

I hope this cleared up a little.

As you did not use the package manager to install it, it will not be there.

Try to find it first. Places to check:
home directory of user
home directory of root
/usr
/bin
You can use the find command to find any file on your system. If the program's executable is actually called superkaramba, use the following commandAs it's an eye candy program, I assume it runs in a graphical environment.
Within your windowmanager (Windowmaker, Xfce. Gnome or whichever one you're using), start a terminal and start the program by typing the path that you found (i.e. /user/bin/superkaramba/superkaramba)

Find command explained:
1)
Up to print, it's the normal command. When you issue it as a normal user, you will get a number of error messages with "Permission denied'.
2)
2>&1 routes the stderr output to stdout
3)
Next we pipe the stdout output through grep and tell grep to ignore lines with 'Permi' (-v option)

Depending on your ./configure options if you used any it should be installed in your path. Typing the program name in a console should be enough to run it, or, if it doesn't run, will tell you why not.

It sounds like you did most of the right things. There are some really nice tools to help you keep track of stuff and to be able to uninstall it. You have to run make install as root, or it won't go into the system directories. You shouldn't be doing configure or make as root, however. I asked a related question a while ago and there is a very good thread here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ackage+clutter

You can also use the whereis command to find executables, like:

whereis bash

I've always installed superkaramba from source myself (although when slack 11 is released you won't need to anymore as superkaramba is now included in kde), although I use checkinstall to generate a package instead of just issuing the make install. I'd recommend giving checkinstall a try, as it'll make things a lot easier on you in the long run if you need to remove anything from your system.

That being said, if you use kde as your desktop environment, it should make an entry in the utilities menu after install. You should also be able to just type superkaramba in konsole or another terminal emulator to start it up as was stated above. For some software you might want to look at ./configure --help as well, but superkaramba has always detected the kde install dir on slackware for me and installed there.

u guys rock, thanks, I'm learning by leaps and bounds. One thing about the uninstall. I would like to uninstall and recompile with the correct file paths and such. What is the best way to do this?

make uninstall in the build directory.

Start with ./configure --help. It will show you where the default location for the compiled binary is. If you want to change it, you can. If you are looking for it later, this is a good hint of where to look. If you want to change the install to the "correct file path", then you can. ("Correct file path" is relative. I prefer /usr/local/bin. Some prefer /opt or subdirectories of /opt. This is especially true for KDE programs.)

Some sources today come with a "make uninstall" instruction in their Makefile. Many don't. If you use checkinstall to install the application on your Slackware system, you can use the pkgtools to uninstall it. This is (for me at least) the main reason to install using checkinstall.

You told us to treat you like a "complete newb". What I understand that to mean is, "Talk to me like an intelligent human being who is inexperienced but willing to learn." Okay, I'll do that. Here goes:

If there is a README file, read it.

If there is an INSTALL file, read it. (At least once - you will find as you go along that many software projects include "generic installation instructions.")

There is no "wrong" place to install software. Even the kernel can be installed under any given directory. The key is that in the case of the kernel, lilo, grub, etc. need to know where to find it. That means that if you get creative with the placement, you may have some configuration problems later on. In the case of software/applications, you need to have the paths to the application in your $PATH variable in order to launch them later - or you need to launch them using the entire specific path.

Don't let compile errors throw you. They usually tell you what went wrong. Read the error messages. Look on your system for what they tell you you are missing. If you can't find it there, google it.

If you install the application in a location within your $PATH (Hint: `echo $PATH`), a simple ls -l `which [application]` will help you find it. If that doesn't work, then use `find -name / -print`. It'll take somewhat longer, but you'll find it.

Don't be afraid to compile. I recommend fubar'ing at least one install with compiles you don't really completely understand just to have the experience. As long as you back up the stuff you really need, you're green. Hey, it's only charged particles on a rotating disk anyway.

And when you get stuck, come on back and ask. We'll be here.

Thank you all soo much, I appreciate the help and quic responses

Now I'm working on recompiling Apache PHP and adding MySQL so I can work on my sites that I could never test correctly on my Micro$loth machine.

Anybody with suggestions on getting a simple LAMP server up and running on slackware 10.2 please let me know. I've been searching the web, and what I've seen is people saying slackware isn't the best distro for that. All the more reason I'm more determined to get it working. hehe

Did they give a motivation?

Done it a couple of times for 10.0 and 10.1; did however not compile, but used the distro versions of the packages
1)
read /etc/rc.d/rc.mysqld; it contains instructions to create the initial database
2)
make /etc/rc.d/rc.myqld executable and start it (again, read the file and figure it out)
3)
test using mysql from commandline

4)
make /etc/rc.d/rc.httpd executable and start it
5)
start browser and connect to localhost; you should see a screen from apache

6)
you must make some changes in /etc/apache/httpd.conf; search for the non-bold lines and add the bold lines after itIf you're using PHP5, I assume that you have to replace PHP4 references to PHP5. Restart apache, create a simple PHP page and check if it works.

google search on lamp setup