Installing non-Kubuntu/Ubuntu software

[kkrelove]

I need a utility to put files back together that were split up into spearate files on a Usenet forum - e.g. file.mp3.001, file.mp3.002... When I check the available programs in Adept, I don't see such a program. I have found a couple of them at Sourceforge that I've used before under other Linux distros and I've downloaded the .tar.gz archives and extracted the files. When I start a console session and type ./configure, I get an error that says basically there's no version of GCC (or any other default C/C++ compiler) on my machine. I can't find a compiler anywhere in Adept or on the Ubuntu web site and I can't seem to find a basic GNU C compiler even online. Perhaps I'm searching for the wrong thing - I've searched for GCC and for C Compiler.

So, how do I install programs that are not packaged specifically for Ubuntu or Debian Linux systems?

Thanks for any help.

[claydoh]

Re: Installing non-Kubuntu/Ubuntu software

What are the app names you have used before?
That will help with installing from source, or if there is a compatible deb file somewhere.

As for combining those files, try this command:

cat cat file.mp3.* > file.mp3

But to begin to be able to compile programs from source code, you first need to install the package build-essential, which will install all the compiler and needed tools to get started.

then you can try to run './configure --prefix=/usr' to start, You may see more errors if there are missing -dev packages that you may need to install. If you have a particular app you are preferring, let me know and I can find what specific bits you may need.

[musta ruhtinas]

Re: Installing non-Kubuntu/Ubuntu software

judging by the naming scheme it appears they were split using hjsplit (which will join them back as well); there is a linux version, i however use the windows one with wine - works perfectly;

[kkrelove]

Re: Installing non-Kubuntu/Ubuntu software

Hjsplit is one. Kjsplit (which is a KDE-based knock-off of Hjsplit) is another. Where do I find build-essential? I don't see it in the Adept listings. Thanks.

[Princey]

Re: Installing non-Kubuntu/Ubuntu software

Type this from the command line (Konsole)

sudo apt-get install build essential

[kkrelove]

Re: Installing non-Kubuntu/Ubuntu software

Comes back:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package build
karl@karl-kubuntu:~$

[claydoh]

Re: Installing non-Kubuntu/Ubuntu software

use 'build-essential' (needs the dash between the words)

[kkrelove]

Re: Installing non-Kubuntu/Ubuntu software

Thanks. That worked. Now configure is looking for libz. I'm making progress.

[claydoh]

Re: Installing non-Kubuntu/Ubuntu software

Ok for the next step, you should install the package kdelibs4-dev, which will install all the required -dev packages needed to compile most kde apps (as well as l lot of others). It will be quite a lot of packages, btw.

Then for kjsplit you need to run configure like this:

./configure --prefix=/usr --with-qt-includes=/usr/include/qt3

this tells it where to install prefix should be, and where to look for needed qt3 bits. This isn't always needed, but is here in this case.

then run 'make'

next, you have 2 options, either run

sudo make install

or you can install a program called 'checkinstall' which is used to create and install a personal deb package so you can easilly uninstall it or reinstall it later
so instead of 'make install', use

sudo checkinstall[code]
Just hit enter at all the prompts and it will install the program and there will be a deb file in your source directory.

[/code]

[kkrelove]

Re: Installing non-Kubuntu/Ubuntu software

It all worked and I have a working Kjsplit program! I couldn't get the checkinstall command to work - I kept getting a command not found error. I wasn't sure how to type the code part. Is it typed with the brackets? Is it supposed to be a specific code instead of the word "code?" Anyway, it worked with make install, and if I ever need to re-install it I'll already have learned to do it once.

I have a few general questions from all of this:
1. How would I know what to tell apt-get install to look for? You knew to install build-essential, but how might I have found that out except by asking for help here?
2. If I found a library was missing in Red Hat or Suse, I went to their list of installable packages and found the library - usually under Development Tools or something similar. If I'm trying to find a missing library file in Ubuntu, where do I look for it - the KDE libraries weren't listed in the Adept Development section.
3. I've never really understood what switches to use with configure - prefix and with-xx-includes mystify me a little, although I understand them when you tell me I need to use them. How do I know which switches to use if I try to do this myself with other software?

Thanks a million for the help with KJsplit.

Karl

[claydoh]

Re: Installing non-Kubuntu/Ubuntu software

checkinstall is a program you can install via Adept. Use the full Adept, and not the
Add/remove programs thingy as it is very basic and does not cover the whole kitchen sink of stuff you can install.

From that program you can enable all the standard repositories from the Adept's Adept/Manage Repositories menu
From there you can enable all the repositories, which will open up a lot of apps and libraries for you.

more adept links:
here and
here


As for missing dev packages, it is pretty much the same as in rpm type distros. In our example, you first found zlib was missing. Well, really zlib is already installed, but the needed headers are not usually installed, so you look for something like zlib-dev. Use Adept's search features to narrow it all down.

Now for even more links:
A compiling how-to
checkinstall

As you can see from the above links, a lot of useful info is found in http://help.ubuntu.com and wiki.ubuntu.com

Now to switches for configure, they are often needed, though not always. Not all distros keep all their system libraries in exactly the same place, and sometimes configure can;t find them so we have to help it out a little. the '--prefix=/usr' is used often as kubuntu uses /usr for placing all the files, etc. usually the default is /usr/local, but I find this doesn't work well in a lot of cases.

As to the second switch, kjsplit is an older program, last updated in 2004, and its configure for me complained about not finding qt include files, though I knew I had them installed. Reading the README or the INSTALL file located in the source dir often has useful info (though not always) and running ',/configure --help' will also give some useful switches

Most recent kde applications only need './configure', so you run that and then fix what ever error message pops up.

Now as to forum codes, if you use the 'code' feature, you do need the brackets around it, so you have:
[bracket]code[bracket]your text here[bracket]/code[bracket]

I don't know how to allow the text to show up here in the way that I want. you need the bracketed code, followed by your text, then /code to close it off.

[kkrelove]

Re: Installing non-Kubuntu/Ubuntu software

Thanks again. You've been a tremendous help.

Karl