Compiling help for newbies

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var
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Compiling help for newbies

Post by var »

Hi all,

I was thinking since Mint 'is' geared primarily towards those who are getting their feet wet with Linux I think a thread about helping other's get or use programs that are not in the repo (or more up to date versions) that are not in the repo.

Since not everyone can compile programs and since I have noticed that there is not a centralized place for this kind of help, I hope that this thread could become useful.

What I propose is those who 'can' compile programs and are programmers could help those wanting a program that is only available via source code to compile it for them and provide them with the binary. But since we would do this in our free time, I propose:

1. No huge programs (no compiling of snapshots of KDE for example ;))
2. Only programs/code which is under a FOSS licence (since some open source programs can depend on proprietary libs)
3. No support. Once the binary is done, give it to the user and that's it. No support (since most of us don't have time).

I myself would be glad to help (and have done so a few times already) in getting programs compiled for other's. I don't know if there are many others with this kind of Linux experience on Mint, but I didn't spend forever using Slackware and them coming to Mint to let my knowledge go to waste :D plus it's a community!

Thoughts in the comments.
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xenopeek
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Re: Compiling help for newbies

Post by xenopeek »

While it's laudable you are helping others like that, in my opinion that's not the best use of anybody's time. If anybody has trouble compiling something from source, there are various places to ask for help with that (can be on this forum, can be on the support channel of the program one is trying to compile from source). That would benefit others with the same problem.

Compiling is generally trivial. You'll need to install the package build-essential to get standard compiler tools on your system. Then download the source of the program you want to compile, read the included instructions, and run the (generally) few standard commands to compile it. See section two, 4th item "Tarballs" on the following topic for some more general tips for compiling: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=97158

Many programs that aren't available in the standard repositories are available in a PPA from the developer or other contributor (again, see above link for tips on that). No need to compile from source.

It doesn't really help anybody to compile a program for one person (nobody learned anything, nobody else can benefit from what was done, the program will be unsupported). If anybody wants to help with compiling programs that aren't available yet, a better approach in my opinion is to set up a PPA for that program. That benefits everybody that wants the program.
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OrangeShark

Re: Compiling help for newbies

Post by OrangeShark »

I agree with xenopeek. Compiling tends to be pretty trivial once you have all the dependencies, it would be better if they learned how to do it and ask for help if they encounter any problems. PPAs are also another good way too.
scryan

Re: Compiling help for newbies

Post by scryan »

xenopeek wrote:While it's laudable you are helping others like that, in my opinion that's not the best use of anybody's time. If anybody has trouble compiling something from source, there are various places to ask for help with that (can be on this forum, can be on the support channel of the program one is trying to compile from source). That would benefit others with the same problem.

Compiling is generally trivial. You'll need to install the package build-essential to get standard compiler tools on your system. Then download the source of the program you want to compile, read the included instructions, and run the (generally) few standard commands to compile it. See section two, 4th item "Tarballs" on the following topic for some more general tips for compiling: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=97158

Many programs that aren't available in the standard repositories are available in a PPA from the developer or other contributor (again, see above link for tips on that). No need to compile from source.

It doesn't really help anybody to compile a program for one person (nobody learned anything, nobody else can benefit from what was done, the program will be unsupported). If anybody wants to help with compiling programs that aren't available yet, a better approach in my opinion is to set up a PPA for that program. That benefits everybody that wants the program.
I know NOTHING of setting up PPAs.... but the bolded point was where I though this was going to be going. Would there be some kind of way to setup a community repository?
DrHu

Re: Compiling help for newbies

Post by DrHu »

Remember that Ubuntu has information that can also apply to Mint
--Mint mostly uses Ubuntu repositiories for software and system packages
http://community.linuxmint.com/software ... -essential
--about that package: Mint

I think it is also a trivial task, if your system is ready to compile, which for Ubuntu based systems meant installing build-essential (I think the name changed every so often): which included the necessary Linux headers and compiler supports..
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CompilingEasyHowTo
--Ubuntu info on that topic..

Additionally, I think that a user who wants to compile from source code, should be able to -- or learn about the method of doing so
--and then be able to handle any issues that arise
  • If not being prepared for that, the easy user choice is to simply use the software package from Mint's repositories..
    --or almost as easy used Gdebi and find a .deb package on the internet..
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xenopeek
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Re: Compiling help for newbies

Post by xenopeek »

scryan wrote:I know NOTHING of setting up PPAs.
There's help available on Launchpad: https://help.launchpad.net/Packaging/PPA. All PPAs are hosted on Launchpad, a free to use build service from Canonical. PPAs are usable by all users of Ubuntu and Ubuntu based distributions like Linux Mint.

There are alternatives. OpenSUSE also has a free to use build service, called Open Build Service (OBS) which can build packages for multiple operating systems for you. Learn more here: http://openbuildservice.org/ (specifically, click on "Learn how to use it" to get a 3 minute video giving you an introduction).
scryan wrote:Would there be some kind of way to setup a community repository?
AFAIK, both PPA and OBS allow for teams of maintainers--so multiple people can share to do the work. While I keep up with developments of both, I'm not a package maintainer on either Launchpad or OBS (only so many things you can do in your spare time :wink:).
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shengchieh

Re: Compiling help for newbies

Post by shengchieh »

And if you are compiling tarballs, then see

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos ... urce_linux (Compile Programs From Source in Linux)
http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/softinstall.html (Installing software from source in Linux)
http://www.linux.lk/software/compiling.php (Compiling Software Packages; 2003)
http://howto.wired.com/wiredhowtos/inde ... egory=Work (Compile Software from Source Code)
http://liquidweather.net/howto/index.php?id=82 (compiling software)

I agree with others - no need to "invent the wheel" again.

Sheng-Chieh
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