What a production...
Oct. 3rd, 2004 09:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoI decided to put client software on my Linux-based environment. Now I understand that installing end user software in Linux is a bit trickier than it is for Windows, mostly because the setups and distributions vary so widely. Still...
They offer three choices, and I decided to try drivel first (well, the name seems appropriate.) Downloaded, it wasn't too huge, about a Mb, so I unpacked and ran the configuration script. It runs for a while, and starts complaining that I have no FORTRAN compiler. FORTRAN? To handle text strings and html? Well, I could install one, I know there's a Fortran-77 package on my distribution CD, but why? Then I noticed that the configure script didn't consider this to be a fatal error. It grinds on some more, then complains that I don't have XML::Parser installed. That's a perl module, apparently, and though I do use perl and have it installed, I haven't messed much with extensions. No prior warning was given that drivel required this, no hint in the README that it is needed or where to get it. Check Google, all that comes up are prepackaged versions of the module intended for Debian. I don't use Debian. This time the error is fatal. OK.
A little miffed at the drivel developers for their unhelpfulness, and having wasted more than an hour on this, I went back and got a different client package, logjam. This one has apparently been around a bit longer, since it's in version 4 already. I do some checking, it appears to want a couple of dependencies that I know are already installed, and would like xmms (presumably to look up music selections) but that's optional. I do have xmms already, so I downloaded logjam, and looked for a standard README file to confirm the dependencies. There isn't one. No README, no INSTALL, no CHANGELOG, nothing. Not a hint or a word of advice to the newbie or novice on how to install this package. Fortunately, I'm not a newbie, but I begin to understand why some novices throw up their hands in despair at Linux. Following the typical procedure, I run ./configure. This one doesn't go looking for FORTRAN, at least. But eventually, the same fatal error. It wants XML::Parser.
Pretty steamed now at the failure of developers to provide adequate information, I headed off to CPAN to look for this perl module. Sure enough, it's there. Downloaded, unzipped, unpacked. Gah! It has yet another dependency, something called expat. Back to CPAN, track that down, unzip, unpack, configure, make, test, install. It seems to work. Now I can install XML::Parser, which requires a non-standard (to me) installation that runs in perl. Fortunately, the developers did see fit to describe the process in a README. It installs without complaint.
Back to logjam, run ./configure again, this time it finishes. Do the make, install, and voila! Only two and a half hours of detective work, downloading, and compiling to get a usable client. As much as I like using Linux, I have to agree with those who say it still needs some major improvements.
They offer three choices, and I decided to try drivel first (well, the name seems appropriate.) Downloaded, it wasn't too huge, about a Mb, so I unpacked and ran the configuration script. It runs for a while, and starts complaining that I have no FORTRAN compiler. FORTRAN? To handle text strings and html? Well, I could install one, I know there's a Fortran-77 package on my distribution CD, but why? Then I noticed that the configure script didn't consider this to be a fatal error. It grinds on some more, then complains that I don't have XML::Parser installed. That's a perl module, apparently, and though I do use perl and have it installed, I haven't messed much with extensions. No prior warning was given that drivel required this, no hint in the README that it is needed or where to get it. Check Google, all that comes up are prepackaged versions of the module intended for Debian. I don't use Debian. This time the error is fatal. OK.
A little miffed at the drivel developers for their unhelpfulness, and having wasted more than an hour on this, I went back and got a different client package, logjam. This one has apparently been around a bit longer, since it's in version 4 already. I do some checking, it appears to want a couple of dependencies that I know are already installed, and would like xmms (presumably to look up music selections) but that's optional. I do have xmms already, so I downloaded logjam, and looked for a standard README file to confirm the dependencies. There isn't one. No README, no INSTALL, no CHANGELOG, nothing. Not a hint or a word of advice to the newbie or novice on how to install this package. Fortunately, I'm not a newbie, but I begin to understand why some novices throw up their hands in despair at Linux. Following the typical procedure, I run ./configure. This one doesn't go looking for FORTRAN, at least. But eventually, the same fatal error. It wants XML::Parser.
Pretty steamed now at the failure of developers to provide adequate information, I headed off to CPAN to look for this perl module. Sure enough, it's there. Downloaded, unzipped, unpacked. Gah! It has yet another dependency, something called expat. Back to CPAN, track that down, unzip, unpack, configure, make, test, install. It seems to work. Now I can install XML::Parser, which requires a non-standard (to me) installation that runs in perl. Fortunately, the developers did see fit to describe the process in a README. It installs without complaint.
Back to logjam, run ./configure again, this time it finishes. Do the make, install, and voila! Only two and a half hours of detective work, downloading, and compiling to get a usable client. As much as I like using Linux, I have to agree with those who say it still needs some major improvements.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-10-04 12:22 am (UTC)A real package manager (like Gentoo's emerge or Debian's apt would handle these dependencies for you.
And yes, these packages are available on Gentoo and Debian. I checked. (Gentoo: logjam drivel, Debian: logjam drivel)