[Pan-users] Re: Problem installing glib2 unable to complete PAN

[Duncan]

Bob Moore posted <address@hidden>,
excerpted below,  on Tue, 04 May 2004 08:15:06 +0100:

> Hi, I am a complete nebie where Linux is cincerned. i am running Suse
> 9.0 i586 dual booting with Windows XP (I know! its rubbish, right?)
> 
> I am trying to install PAN from the tarballs and am following the how to
> on the subject.
> 
> I have installed 'libxml2' and 'glib2'. When I try to install 'atk' I
> get the following after trying to 'make install':-
> 
[]
> checking for GLIB - version >= 2.0.0... *** 'pkg-config --modversion
> glib-2.0' returned 2.2.3, but GLIB (2.4.0) *** was found! If pkg-config
> was correct, then it is best *** to remove the old version of GLib. You
> may also be able to fix the error *** by modifying your LD_LIBRARY_PATH
> enviroment variable, or by editing *** /etc/ld.so.conf. Make sure you
> have run ldconfig if that is *** required on your system.
> *** If pkg-config was wrong, set the environment variable
> PKG_CONFIG_PATH *** to point to the correct configuration files
[]
> 
> Can anyone help me please, and show me where I am going wrong?

First, SuSE, like Mandrake, the distrib I'm using, is RPM based.  While
you may want to install certain end-user applications like PAN from
tarball, libraries should in most cases be upgraded using SuSE RPMs, if at
all possible, because other stuff in the system depends on them and if you
install from tarballs, the RPM database isn't updated with the new info
and can't keep track of what you have installed, which could cause issues
for other stuff you have installed, or attempt to install, from SuSE.
Thus, if you installed libxml2 and glib2 from tarball rather than using
the SuSE RPMs, you made your life more complicated than it needed to be,
since part of your system says one version is installed, while another.
part says something else is installed.

If you take a look at the error messages, both versions of glib were
higher than that required, so you should have been OK with what you had,
and you didn't need to install that from tarball anyway.  What I'd
encourage you to do would be to go back and install the appropriate SuSE
RPM for the package you need.  You could try to upgrade it from what you
had, if you can find an upgraded package on the SuSE mirror sites, or just
reinstall the old RPM over what you currently have, in which case you may
need to "force" the installation, since RPM thinks you still have that
version.  I don't know the SuSE tools (YAST or whatever) well enough to
give you the details, tho I could explain how to do it using the generic
RPM commands.

One of the things about the RPM system is that it normally won't let you
install something unless it sees everything there that the package needs.
If you reinstall the old version, it should make your system agree with
itself on what is installed, once again.  If you upgrade to a new one, it
may ask for additional packages before it will install.  That lets you
know what else you need to upgrade, in ordered for the system to remain
self consistent.  In some instances, it might tell you it can't install it
because something else you have installed depends on the old version.  In
that case, you can decide whether to get rid of the other thing you have
installed (or upgrade it as well at the same time if an upgrade is
available), and install your upgrade, or if you want to keep what you have
and forget about the upgrade.  Occasionally, such warnings are wrong, and
the package it says conflicts will work just fine with the new version of
the library as well.  However, it's usually right, and you should know a
bit more about how things work before attempting to go it on your own, if
you think it might be wrong.

Something else to consider.  Many distributions have a "testing" version
available.  With Mandrake, it's called Cooker.  Testing is where the
newest software releases are put, before they have been all tested and
seen to work together well, for the next distribution release version. If
a package upgrade (including the library in question, glib) isn't
available for your version, it may be available for a later version, or in
testing.  Usually, upgrading cross-version or to a testing package can be
done, altho it's likely to require far more in additional package upgrades
than if a package for your distribution version is available.  However,
keep in mind particularly if you upgrade to the testing version, that such
a package may not play as well with the rest of the software you have
installed, and you may have a few issues to work out.  However, one can
still choose such an upgrade if they want, and are prepared to deal with
the consequences if it breaks their system.

Anyway, once you have the libraries you CAN install from RPM installed,
you may have to upgrade one or two things from tarball.  That's not a big
deal, so long as you remember that part of your system won't know about
it, and you don't have the full safety net that RPM usually gives you,
warning you if it might break something.

Once all the requirements are installed, you can then install PAN, either
from RPM package if available, or from tarball.  Because PAN is an
application in itself, not a shared library, installing it from tarball
isn't likely to break anything else like installing a library from tarball
might.  Thus, you should be fairly safe doing so, both with PAN, and with
other user-applications, as long as you avoid installing libraries from
tarball, unless you HAVE to, and are aware of how limited or extensive the
damages might be based on the other stuff that might use said library.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." --
Benjamin Franklin