A proposal: include a binary for Scid_vs_PC

[roger64]

Hi

Scid_vs_PC is easily the best chess Linux software you can find. It's a fork of Scid which you still can find in the repository. You have to compile it. It's trivial with LMDE and SolydX. I did it. However, something is wrong with Qiana Cinnamon on this regard: you can't create a proper makefile either with tcl8.5 or tcl8.6 without triggering "fatal mistakes". I had to import a makefile from LMDE to install on Qiana, which is not easy for everyone.

http://scidvspc.sourceforge.net/

As the Qiana base will be the same for two years, I think it's worth offering it as a binary.

[xenopeek]

Linux MInt Qiana uses Ubuntu 14.04 as a package base, just as LMDE uses Debian testing as a package base. Most packages on Linux Mint come from either of those. The packages added by Linux Mint you can browse here: http://packages.linuxmint.com/. The Linux Mint developers can't justify to spend time on packaging applications or games, unless that would benefit a major group of Linux Mint users. That's not the case here.

The best way is always to maintain a package in the Debian repositories; that way it finds it way both to LMDE and, through Ubuntu importing Debian packages, also to Linux Mint. In this case perhaps setting up a Launchpad repository (Ubuntu's free build service) for this is a better solution.

it looks like there is just one developer for this, supporting multiple platforms. Not making any money on it, so somebody doing this as a hobby. How about you consider helping out? Set up a Launchpad repository for it. There's only so much one person can do, and it looks like he can surely use help. If you want something done for this you'll have to roll up your sleeves

[roger64]

[quote="xenopeek" If you want something done for this you'll have to roll up your sleeves [/quote]

I am sorry ; my knowledge stops to what I wrote. I hope some chessplayer will be up to this task. Two years (Qiana's life) is a long time span... The way I did it for me (using a Debian makefile) is quite basic but available only to people using both distros.

[pwc]

Thank you Roger for posting how you got ScidvsPC installed. I had been trying for awhile and was frustrated with failure. Like you I just happen to have LMDE installed on another HD, tried your method with success! I carefully compaired the 2 makefiles and found very very little difference, but that little difference somehow makes it work on Qiana.

I too wish ScidvsPC was available in repositories, I use it instead of Scid. I've never had a problem installing it in past Mint versions, can't explain why it dosen't work with Qiana.

Thanks again,
pwc

[roger64]

You're welcome. Happy to know it did work for you too.

[Colin66]

I have recently compiled Scid 3.5 (the original by Shane Hudson) on a couple of Mint 17 machines.
I know it is an old version, but I have been using it for about 10 years now to store my many computer chess games. It does all I need it to do.
I gave up on newer versions after the option to use tablebases was removed at one point (by debian?) from the source code.
Scid 3.5 supports Nalimov tablebases.
It is not difficult to compile but the Makefile produced by running ./configure needs the links to a couple of tcl/tk libs editing.
Also after compilation, the very first line in the executable script "scid" has to be changed according to the instructions given in line 19 of that file.
Run ./scid from a terminal and watch for any error messages.

[nimzotech]

Hi Guys!

First off I am very happy to have brought back to life my little Asus 1000he 2GB RAM Netbook using Mint 17.1 Cinnamon.
My previous Ubuntu loads where a bit overpowering for this dated netbook.

Now for the important stuff - SCID VS PC.
I have read about Roger's success in "importing the makefile from LMDE" as solution to install this chess program. Would you kindly share the instructions on how I can import this 'makefile' and happily run the beloved SCID_VS_PC installation on my Mint and run it without any errors ?

Cheers

Chris

[nimzotech]

solution was libgcj14-dev NOT the libgcj15-dev listed in the instructions.
Thus

Code: Select all

apt-get install tk8.6-dev tk8.6 libgcj14-dev

Solves the installation problem