The /usr/local link thing ... I think, I started doing this around Slackware 9, but don't quote me on it. I've compiled a number of programs with the --prefix=/usr that decided to install to the /usr/local directory even though I would use --prefix=/usr. So what is the use of using a configure --prefix=/usr when the program compiles and install to the /usr/local. Why even put the --prefix= in the configure file? I got tired of searching through source code to find where some programmer hard coded the /usr/local directory into the code, so I would have to alter it back to the /usr directory.

I have also run into some programs that their configure scripts, could not seem to find files located in the /usr/local when they were installed there. I forget the exact program that I finally said the "heck with it!" and deleted the /usr/local and replaced it with a symbolic link back to the /usr, but when I did, IT WORKED LIKE A FREAKIN CHARM, and the program compiled, and installed just fine, and not only that program but a number of other programs I wanted to compile but would crash out during the ./configure process, so I just started doing it when I got a Slackware system up and running.

Likewise, because some programs I've found are hard code to the /usr/local directory, I can not just simply delete the /usr/local directory, the source code only wants to look in the /usr/local, so it is still needed and must contain everything the source code is looking for in the /usr/local while building the binary. Thus; making it necessary to point back to the /usr.

However; does a fish know that it is wet? in the same manor, if I've been using a symbolic link of /usr/local back to /usr since around Slackware 9. I can only speculate an answer concerning the option of the symbolic link. Unfortunately; instead of anyone confirming whether it is needed, or is not needed, and then sharing the answer, everyone just want to wax philosophical about it, when a more usefully comment would be to say, "Hey, Stragonian; I tried the compile or binaries packages without the symbolic link back to /usr and the whole thing worked just fine." or " The whole thing did not work just fine." in an effort to give a definitive answer. Which from my perspective tells me there are a lot of philosophers here. Scholars of Fransic Bacon's day argued, I believe for over 3 years, as to how many teeth a horse should have, and no one went out to count them, until Bacon finally got sick of it, and went out and counted the number of teeth in a horses mouth, for himself, to find the answer.

Once again; I believe the symbolic link of /usr/local back to the /usr is optional - If you like the ideal, then do it, because I personally know this option from my experience works. However; If you consider it a "silly" ideal then DON'T DO IT, and compile the source or install the binaries, and share your results, "Yes, It worked!" or "No, It did not work!" so that others may benefit from your experience, and not just your philosophies.

Eventually; when I get some time, BECAUSE I'M NOT DOING ENOUGH ALREADY! - Working a job, running a non-profit organization, teaching classes, working on computer projects, building computers for others, and answering these lovely questions. I'll go back and find the programs that gave me grief when compiling and installing on Slackware 9, and up .... with the /usr/local directory and see if it's still necessary, but until then ... Thank you for your questions and comments, I hope this helps!

"Experience outranks everything" - Captain Rex - Star Wars the Clone Wars

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Thanks for posting this! Those scripts run just fine on -current.

Trinity is a nice trip down memory lane and I was a power user of KDE3 back in the day. Nowadays, it hasn't aged so well, though. Playing around with it for an hour was more than enough for me to never look at it.

However, while I think that Trinity has no purpose anymore (except for old computers and nostalgic reasons) Amarok 1.4 is a lightweight little music player I always missed. So I found a way to get it on KDE4 without installing the whole TDE.

I put up a repository for -current here:
http://schmatzler.de/my_slackbuilds/amarok-1.4/

Basically, you install amarok and the 6 dependencies it needs:
And that's it! It will just work, but it looks extremely ugly. Normally, you would open up the old KDE Control Center and change the colors, but you need tdebase for it, which breaks the menus in KDE4 and overwrites some of its programs if you install it.

So I bundled the old KDE3 theme from Yoper Linux (long defunct) and put it into a .tgz.

If you extract that into the home directory, Amarok will look like this:

Attached Thumbnails

 

Awesome that is so cool, Thanks for your work.

Thanks so much for your work. After following your instructions, I now have the most awesome music player in existence running on -current! Seeing it in operation reminded me why I loved it so much; it had all the little perks that made it so useful, and I was very sad to see it borked with 2.0. Amarok-1.4 has replaced VLC as my go-to player for music, and find I don't miss it at all. Thanks again!

A note, though: for those who don't have it already, libmp4v2 is required as well. After installing that, though, Amarok runs perfectly.

Regards,

Matt

1 members found this post helpful.

Stragonian,

thank you! It makes a great Desktop Environment for Slackware. Great!

Must've missed that somehow. I added it to the repository

Here's the command I used to accomplish that, for those wondering what that command might look like:

The -C option tells the tar command to extract the contents of the archive in a directory other than the one you're in currently.

Regards,

Matt