gnucash 1.4.5 rpm

[Robert Graham Merkel]

Jack writes:
 > I just installed the 1.4.5 rpm on Mandrake 7.1 with the following anomolies:
 > 
 > When I first tried to install with kpackage, it indicated that I had the
 > following missing dependencies:
 > 	libguile.so.4
 > 	libreadline.so.3
 > Since I had the following installed:
 > 	libguile.so.6.0.0
 > 	libreadline.so.4.1
 > I simply provided symbolic links from the missing to the installed, ran
 > ldconfig and tried again. Kpackage still showed the same missing dependencies,
 > so I did a shutdown and restart with the same result. Finally, I told kpackage
 > to ignore dependencies and install anyway. Gnucash 1.4.5 now appears to
 > function without a problem!
 > 
 > QUESTION: Am I missing something, or is a disaster waiting in the
wings???

Doing this is a hack of the first order, but in *gnucash's* case it
appears to work. However, other packages that depend on this library
may crash into 1000 tiny pieces.  Additionally, we can't guarantee
that 1.4.6, when it appears, won't crash into 1000 tiny pieces when
run on a setup like this.

The problem is that Redhat and Mandrake ship different versions of
guile.  Dave builds the RPM using Redhat.  We had some Mandrake users
kindly build us some Mandrake specific RPM's, but they haven't updated
them (and if any of them are reading this, packaging 1.4.5 and sending
it to us would be nice . . .)

While Mandrake is by all accounts a nice distribution, it is *not*
100% compatible with RedHat, and installing RedHat packages is
somewhat of a lucky dip.  Installing Redhat packages symlinking to
cover libraries with different major version numbers is more like
Russian roulette . . . fine, until your number comes up.  (Apologies
for the mixed metaphors).

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Robert Merkel	                           rgmerk@mira.net

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