Compiling gtk+ and other libraries fails and fails and fails and fails...

["Marco Fonseca" <mfonseca yorku ca>]

Ok, I'm new to this whole thing... from Linux to Gnome and even more so to
compiling source files (don't even know yet what the difference is between
tar and SRPMs and how to compile SRPMS as opposed to tarballs... but I'll
find out soon!).

I installed GNOME in default locations  on an original RH 5.2 distribution
and liked it very much. No fancy PREFIX installs on particular /opt/gnome
folders, but it sure would have been nice to have known about this the day I
downloaded the files from the Gnome site. There was no mention of this in
the readme file or the installation guide. Which leads me to say,
respectfully, that too much is assumed around here as to what people know or
should already know about Linux, Gnome, E, etc. No wonder, Gnome/E keeps
crashing on me like Monarch butterflies sprayed with pesticides. So, after
reading newsgroups and many postings on this list (as well as the still-very
incomplete-though-getting-better Gnome FAQ and other docs), all in an
attempt to do as Gleef suggests we do before we bother everybody else, I
upgraded several pieces of software including:

glibc-2.1.0 which is now glibc-2.1.1 (and, as a result of which, StarOffice
wont run anymore)
gtk+-1.2.0 which is now gtk+-1.2.1
glib-1.2.0 which is now glib-1.2.1

I also upgraded the enlightenment rpms to the latest I found in RawHide. In
fact, all the "latest" rpms I've downlodaded come from RawHide and have been
installed on RH 5.2.
Fine. However, the gnome-core-1.0.4 and the gnome-libs-1.0.5 are not in RPM
form yet only in tar form. So, I wanted to compile them and got errors
saying: gtk+ is not installed or something to the effect that the gtk-config
script was not found or didn't have the right version number or that it
needed to be manually edited, etc. I've done all of this trying to find a
solution to what seems to be chronic gnomaic instability in the RPMS.

So, I decided to recompile gtk+ itself. I unistalled the existing 1.2.1. Got
the error message saying that it needed the glib-config script. I found two
copies of this and I just copied the one the compilation wanted to the place
it wanted it in. That worked fine. But then immediately after checking for
that script I got another error saying that the compilation couldn't find
the X11 libs. I did upgrade the XFree86 RPMS to 3.3.3.1. I did try to set
the environment variable by doing something like:

#export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/bin/X11
#LD_LIBRARY_PATH

(The second line only returns the message: "directory exists". Don't know if
that means that the environment variable is thus rightly set or what).

But doing this didn't cause gtk+ to find the X11 libs. I must thus conclude
I don't know how to set the environment variable, don't know what X11 libs
gtk+ is looking for and how to direct its bloody attention to them, or don't
know what else is going on.

I also tried (many, many times to no avail) compiling the gnome-libs, but
keep getting the error that either gtk+ is not installed (!!!), or that it
has been moved since the last installation (in which case I should edit the
gtk-config script; something I've got no idea as to how to do it; who does
that message think it's addressing? An expert on script writing? I took a
look at that script and, boy, I had no idea what it really says, much less
how to edit it!!!), or that it wasn't installed properly.

All of this keeps going in circles and I don't know what else to do.
Installing and unistalling RPMS seems to work fine. But so far, GNOME or
enlightenment have become even more unstable. Enlightenment crashes a lot
when I'm doing something in the xterm shell. But it also crashes a lot
period. I just installed the 0.15.4-1 release hoping it would make the thing
a little more stable. Nope. Like I said: all these "upgrades" come from the
RawHide ftp site (which is beginning to feel like an increasisngly "narrow
path" leading to geek-programming heaven), they all check out as being fine
after download, they all seem to install without problems, etc. But the damn
thing is just to unstable that I am getting the feeling that all I have to
do is look at the screen for the thing to fart on me and the only
predictable thing about is thus that it will crash on me in the middle of
some operation. Very unnerving... especially if you're coming from a Windoze
world plagued by the infamous and most dreaded "blue screens" as a result of
which, ironically enough, I decided to make a move into Linux in the first
place.

I don't wanna give up on Gnome/E. In my humble opinion there's simply no
comparison between this pair and the standard session/window managers
installed with the RH 5.2 distribution. But I do need some serious guidance
here.

I am using an Intel Pentium 200MMX, RedHat 5.2 with the above mentioned
upgrades from RawHide (which is the only site with the "latest" RPMS that
I've been able to find), and, what else?, that's it.

So, how do I check the current state of ALL libraries in my system and their
mutual compatibility and dependencies? How do I set the environment
variables so that the libraries and their right versions are found during
compilation? (compiling gnome-libs insists I have the gtk-config 1.2.0
script when in fact I don't!!!! I try finding the damn file using midnight
commander but I can't; so it's not there!!!). For this, then, I need exact
syntax, parameters, etc. since the level of my programming skills is less
than rudimentary. Finally, what other pieces of software should I be
"upgrading" (and what method should I use: RPMS, SRPMS, tarballs and from
what distribution: RH 5.2, RawHide, CVS, Starbuck, etc? Yes, yes, I am aware
of the risks of running CVS and, more generally, beta stuff...).

One key factor here seems to be for me to be able to get passed this
inability to compile tarballs. If it's not one library it's anther and
another and another....

Thanks for your patience with newbies like myself. Hopefully one day soon
we'll be able to return the favor to other newbies or to the larger
community in more substantial forms.

Marco Fonseca