Redhat, libpng, and Swarm (was Re: updating to 1.4

[Paul E. Johnson]

Well, this has come into the RPM end of the problem, where I can help.
The libpng story is a sad and confusing one.  If it were held up as the
future of free software, I think we would all have reason for concern.
Silly things I've never seen elsewhere have happened in the libpng devel
process.  I have been running version 1.0.1 since Redhat 5.2 and it
seems OK. I had a brief adventure into 1.0.3, didn't see much
difference.  The folks that make the Enlightenment window manager stick
with 1.0.1 because 1.0.2 is known to be badly put together.

I don't have your first note to refer to, but I'm troubled that your
libpng version is so old. If you are on Redhat 5.0 or 5.1, you need to
consider updating everything to 5.2. The libpng will be updated in the
process. If you don't upgrade, I'd suggest taking the steps discussed
below and then use the Swarm.src.rpm files and rebuild an rpm packages
from them. Such an RPM will be specifically suited to your computer.


Anyway, regarding the specific libpng problem, Here are some options:

Option 1: Keep existing applications, then use 2 libpng at same time.

You can keep the existing libpng and also add the new one with 

    rpm -ivh libpng-1.0.1-5.i386.rpm
On the machine where I built the Swarm RPM, that is the version I have.

Now, CAUTION. You need also to install libpng-devel-1.0.5, but first
remove the devel package for your current setup. You cannot have 2 devel
packages installed.  

After you are done, you will have libpng versions 1.0.1-5 and the 96x
version of the shared libraries but only the devel package for the newer
one.



Option 2: Get rid of those other applications that say they want the old
libpng.  Then upgrade libpng as you tried at first.  Then get newer
versions of those packages you removed and install or rebuild them with
the current libpng.

Option 3: Try this experiment,which has worked for me with xemacs.  When
you upgrade libpng, use the --nodeps option, so it will install even
though those other packages say they still need the old libpng.  No go
try to use those programs, see if they run. If they complain that they
can't find a shared library, go into /usr/lib and create a symbolic link
from the new shared library to where it is looking for the old one. In
my case, to fool xemacs and make it work with the new one, I did this

   ln -sf /usr/lib/libpng.so.2.1.0 /usr/lib/libpng.so.0

That makes xemacs work.  If it doesn't make zgv work, well, what does
anybody really need zgv for anyway?  There are much newer Image Magick
packages out, you need them anyway.

xueyue wrote:
> 
> Yes, I am also thing this may be the reason. The version is:
> libpng-0.96-1
> However, when I tried to update:
>  rpm -Uvh libpng-1.0.1-5.i386.rpm
> I also need to update the following:
> 
> failed dependencies:
>         libpng.so.0 is needed by ImageMagick-3.9.1-1
>         libpng.so.0 is needed by libgr-progs-2.0.13-4
>         libpng.so.0 is needed by xpaint-2.4.9-1
>         libpng.so.0 is needed by xv-3.10a-9
>         libpng.so.0 is needed by zgv-2.8-1
> 
> I am not sure whether I should update all of them. I am trying to do so,
> hopefully it will succede.
> Many thanks!
> 
> Marcus G. Daniels wrote:
> >
> > >>>>> "XH" == xueyue  <address@hidden> writes:
> >
> > XH> /usr/lib/swarm/libtkobjc.so: undefined reference to `png_set_sRGB'
> >
> > We're using libpng-1.0.3, but I'm not sure what Redhat RPM this
> > corresponds to; you seem to have an older version.
> >
> >                   ==================================
> >    Swarm-Support is for discussion of the technical details of the day
> >    to day usage of Swarm.  For list administration needs (esp.
> >    [un]subscribing), please send a message to <address@hidden>
> >    with "help" in the body of the message.
> 
> --
> Dr Xueyue Huang
> Center for Transport Studies
> Imperial College
> London SW7 2BU
> 
> (+44) 171 594 6037

-- 
Paul E. Johnson                       email: address@hidden
Dept. of Political Science            http://lark.cc.ukans.edu/~pauljohn
University of Kansas                  Office: (785) 864-9086
Lawrence, Kansas 66045                FAX: (785) 864-5700

                  ==================================
   Swarm-Support is for discussion of the technical details of the day
   to day usage of Swarm.  For list administration needs (esp.
   [un]subscribing), please send a message to <address@hidden>
   with "help" in the body of the message.