Re: How to get to dependencies?

[Fernan Aguero <fernan iib unsam edu ar>]

Thanks John for your reply,

some points are intercalated below.

On Fri, 22 Dec 2000 16:38:44 jfleck inkstain net wrote:
> Fernan -
> 
> Sorry you are having difficulty. The underlying problem is that, while
> Balsa is relatively stable, gtkhtml and gal are still in the "unstable"
> branch of the gnome ftp server.
> 
> On Fri, 22 Dec 2000, Fernan Aguero wrote:
> 
> > I am trying to compile Balsa-1.0.1 with gtkhtml support. 
> > I have at hand gtkhtml 0.6.1, and 0.7. 
> > 
> > When i searched for gtkhtml on rpmfind.net i've learned that this
> package
> > is at ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/unstable/sources/gtkhtml/, however
> > there is no gtkhtml-devel package there.
> > 
> 
> If you build from source you should not need a -devel package.


My experience tells me otherwise. It happened to me with gnome-print, when
i ran './configure' on Balsa, it failed to find gnome-print, even thought
gnome-print was installed. Installing gnome-print-devel solved the problem.


Although I'm not sure if this is the case with gtkhtml it appears to be so,
since gtkhtml is already installed and passes unnoticed to Balsa's
configure script. I was just hoping that installing the gtkhtml-devel
package would help.

I was told that this is because I mixed rpm binaries with source packages.


> 
> > 
> > On the other hand gtkhtml-0.7 does not configure, because it needs
> this:
> > 
> > 'checking for Gnome App libraries (GAL) >= 0.2... configure: error: Did
> not
> > find GnomeAppLib (GAL) installed'
> > 
> 
> gal is still in the unstable branch of the Gnome ftp server, but
> helixcode
> has released packages: ftp.helixcode.com/distributions
> 
> > 
> > Now gal-0.4.1 won't configure because my libxml is not supported yet
> (needs
> > 1.8.8 and i have 2.0)
> > 
> 
> Alas, Gnome programs use the libxml 1.x series - 1.8.10 is the latest
> version. Again, helixcode is your friend if you are using rpms.

from the gal-0.4.1 configure script:

checking for libxml (aka gnome-xml) libraries 1.8.8 <= version < 2.0.0...
configure: error: This version of GAL does not support libxml (aka
gnome-xml) 2.x.x yet.

I was also surprised when i search my system for libxml and found that they
were the 1.8.10 helix versions ... maybe the configure script is doing a
wrong check?
It is strange that gal-0.4.1 needs an old libxml if, as you said, I'm near
the 'pointy end of the development spear' ...


> 
> > ---
> > Question now is how does the Gnome Project organizes itself?
> > Is there any central repository of libraries, files and packages?
> > ---
> 
> Yes. Everything you need is at ftp.gnome.org if you want to build from
> source. Look in the "stable" branch for the latest stable sources, and
> the
> "unstable" branch for the stuff still in development.


Still, looking at the unstable/sources/gtkhtml directory in the ftp site
revealed no -devel packages. 

Helixcode does not have gtkhtml (don't know if they have an 'unstable'
branch), but they have both gal-0.4.1 and gal-devel-0.4.1 ... and they do
not need an old libxml ... strange huh?




> 
> Not to sound too defensive on behalf of my Gnome friends, but you are
> building new software that uses stuff out at the pointy end of the 
> development spear, where stuff is always more complicated.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 


Finally i got everything fixed. To get Balsa with gtkhtml installed i
needed to install:

oaf-0.6.1
oaf-devel-0.6.1
bonobo-0.3
bonobo-devel-0.3
gal-0.4.1
gal-devel-0.4.1
(these are from helixcode and they do not need an old libxml)
gtkhtml-0.8
gtkhtml-devel-0.8

now Balsa configures OK, but still refuses to compile (some other problem
now).

Anyway, just wanted to give you an idea about how difficult it is to find
things.
In my opinion Gnome would benefit greatly from a centralized 'SEARCHABLE'
repository. Sometimes your favourite app would tell you that it needs
fuckLib but you don't know which package provides this library ...

Hope this helps to make a better Gnome.

Fernan