It seems that at last I've hit dependency hell... Trying to compile cinepaint!!!

The docs say that cinepaint requires developpers libraries (the names end in lib-dev).

The libraries installed on slackware don't seem to be the ones required, but I might be wrong there, the package won't compile anyway. Since it's the first time for me I'm wondering if anyone has ever heard of developpers libraries before?? I've looked on the net but coulnd't find anything relevant as yet.

Thanks

I know with my Slack server I don't have to worry about much about that. All I really use there is just the core system, some text editors, maybe a text browser, and most of the networking apps. I could usually do a fresh Slack install on my server in about 25-30 min.

Since I have migrated to a desktop I think it's a little harder to figure it out just b/c it's been a while since I used Linux as a desktop. I basically installed almost everything this time. But over time, I'll probably figure it out.

Yes, I have. So called "developer libraries" exist, for example, in Debian based distros (maybe some other brands of linux too). They contain things like header files and development tools for a given library. Where as the _actual_ library, in binary form, is kept in a separate package. Say, gtk+.deb contains libgtk.so, but gtk+-dev.deb contains gtk.h, etc, for "developers" and anyone else who wishes to compile from source.

In Slackware, it's a little different. There are no "dev" packages in slack. Most often "developer" related files are kept in the same package as the "runtime" (binary) files. So, there is only gtk+.tgz in Slackware.

As for cinepaint, can't help, never heard of it. Maybe has some exotic characteristics.

It proves IMO how flexible Slackware GNU/Linux can be! Frankly the other day I tried another distro on a spare hdd, it took about 1.5-2 to complete the install and that thing was so slow in the end that I quickly got rid of it and said to myself "better to try and get better at slack"



Dear, cinepaint is also known as film gimp. There are quite a few difference between them, the most interesting ones to me are the fact that cinepaint handles 16 bits images as well as color profiles! But this is off topic

Anyway I was reading afterwards,in some docs regarding cinepaint, that if I had never been compiling a program from source before, the system would probably not be using developpers libraries... Which says it all since I always compile from source on my system

Did a little sniffing around in its sourceforge mailing lists and it seems to want gutenprint (in slack 11.0 /extras), openEXR and littleCMS. And you might need to edit the make file and create several symlinks.

Hi, unfortunatelly (for me) those packages are installed on the system, good idea to look on the sourceforge mailing list though thanks. I always forget search on there ^^

You might find the ldd command useful. It shows you which shared libraries a file depends on (although it doesn't say much about what a specific package will do if it can't find the shared library)

Dear, ldd is indeed a very useful command in those situations!!

I have fixed the problem with the help of the cinepaint developper there were wrong flags in the Makefiles!!

Thanks for the help!! The more I use Slack the more I like it.

Well I'm going to comment my own post :-)

Funny enough but some softwares that aren't related at all DO share dependencies. I run Seamonkey only on that box so I got rid of Firefox using pkgtool. Wanting to play some MP3 the other day using gxine, it failed to start because of missing libraries...
A quick googling told me that the missing libraries were part of the Firefox package, so sticked the install cd in the box, installed firefox using pkgtool, copied the libraries from the lib/firefox to the local libraries folder (can't remember which one now), might have had to edit /etc/ld.so.conf (can't remember if I did this either) and ran ldconfig.

All this didn't pose much troubles if any at all since I have a decent internet connection and am getting quite familiar to fiddle around with the system. What puzzles me, however, is how could someone not used to do this kind of things or without internet connection would manage to sort those problems?? Phoning a friend is a possibility but what if he/she doesn't have the answer??

Is that why some people consider Slackware a geek's distro?? Just wondering...

Let's just say that Slackware Linux is not for the faint of heart. And that's ok, it is more difficult to use for new users, but it gives a lot of flexibility. Fortunately, there is choice, want everything with a point-and-click interface? There's very much choice out there. Want to do stuff yourself, then Slackware could just be your system.