Date: 15 Jan 2003 10:05:19 -0800 From: swear@attbi.com (Gary W. Swearingen) To: <didier.wiroth@mcesr.etat.lu> Cc: <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: learning to compile and installing sources without using the ports collection Message-ID: <5my95mthk0.95m@localhost.localdomain> In-Reply-To: <000001c2bca6$a63ace60$952b6e94@lucifer> References: <000001c2bca6$a63ace60$952b6e94@lucifer>
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"Didier Wiroth" <didier.wiroth@mcesr.etat.lu> writes:
> Hey,
> Hi,
'Lo, there. You're the first ".lu" I've seen. :)
> I'm using xfce 3.8.18 (from ports collection). I download the sources of
> xfce4 from cvs and wanted to compile the stuff! Like they mentionned it:
> ./configure than make (but I get an error message)! I'm using FreeBSD
> 4.7-release
You probably need to use "gmake" instead of "make" for that software.
> I would like to be able not to be "only" dependant of the ports-collection,
> to do that, you need to be able to compile stuff correctly but I need some
> help or doc? Where can I start?
I haven't seen much on the subject in the FreeBSD world. Maybe because
so many people get everything they need from the ports system. But the
WWW has plenty of articles on the subject of building from tar files
("tarballs"). They're mostly Linux-related, but should tell you most of
what you need to know for FreeBSD (except the "gmake" thing). Some
creative searching should hunt them up. (make, configure, autoconf,
automake, build, BSD, Linux, Unix, etc.)
> I had a quick look at the porters-handbook:
> http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/index.html
> Is that ports-handbook the place to start? Isn't it meant for a programmer?
It's not where I'd start, but it should eventually be interesting for
you. Yes, it's for programmmers (at least of script programmers).
> May be someone has some tips about how to compile and install the xfce4
> modules on freebsd 4.7-RELEASE, what do I have to take care? What should you
> watch or pay attention when compiling etc...
Just guessing, but maybe: "./configure; gmake", test, and "gmake install".
> What are the concret difficulties?
English speling is difficult. :) And answering questions like that. :(
> Do you have recommendations about a good doc for non-programmers about how
> to learn how to do that? Any good link where I could start? Do you really
> have to be a programmer to be able to do that? Is it mission impossible for
> someone without programmer knowledge?
No. No. No. No. But you have to have an attitude that allows you to
spend time solving nasty little problems that frequently occur.
As soon as you've learned the basics of using the tools (tar, configure,
make) from the command line, then find a site or book that teaches
"make" and spend a few hours learning that at least enough to read
"Makefiles"; one frequently needs to debug them to run on your system.
My favorite links:
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
http://www.google.com/advanced_search
Good luck.
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