Re: several messages

[Andrew Ferrier <andrew junk new-destiny co uk>]

On 2002-05-24 at 20:44, Hugh Daniel wrote:

>   Since there are no command line options to let me tell the
> problem where it's libraries are I have to presume that the
> program is broken or just untestable.  Either way the result
> is the same in that I will not install or use it.

You'll be losing out then, I'm afraid. Dia is a damn good bit
of software. It ain't perfect, sure, but the developers do a
very good job IMHO. And how much does it cost you anyway? :)

>   If I were an MS-GNU user running this from a menu system I
> would be very much screwed and with out a clue what was
> wrong.

If you were an MS-GNU user (whatever that is, assume you mean
generally naive), then you'd almost certainly be running a
pre-packaged .rpm, .deb or whatever. So it would have been
compiled already by someone else, customised as necessary for
your system, and chances are would work out-of-the-box. What
you were talking about was a pre-release version which is
released precisely so that adventurous users can help the
developers find any remaining bugs.

If you are going to work with pre-release versions in future,
please try reading the documentation provided and using some
problem-solving skills instead of throwing up your hands in
disgust at the first sight of something wrong. Otherwise I
suggest you install a pre-packaged version which you won't have
to compile and hence will probably work a lot better for you.

Regards,
Andrew

Oh, and BTW, debugging output often appears on the terminal,
precisely because it scares less knowledgeable users and more
knowledgeable ones, especially if they are building themselves,
will be likely to be running from a terminal.

-- 
Andrew Ferrier

email: andrew new-destiny co uk
web: http://www.new-destiny.co.uk/andrew/