[GNC-dev] GnuCash 3.4: Building on ubuntu 18.04

[John Ralls]

> On Dec 31, 2018, at 3:15 PM, Antonios Hadjigeorgalis <Antonios at hadji.co> wrote:
> 
>   I'm seeing two issues when building gnucash on ubuntu 18.04
> 
>   issue #1:
> 
>   build completes successfully using cmake and make with cmake command
>   line:
> 
>   cmake -DWITH_PYTHON=ON -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/opt/gnucash34
>   -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo ..
> 
>   But then, the executable fails to find library modules is
>   /opt/gnucash34/lib  after make install. Also, the same error occurs if
>   trying to start from the build directory.  I see lines in the trace
>   file saying (there are about 20 lines with various module names in
>   place of ...
>   * 14:56:29  WARN <gnc.module> Could not locate module gnucash/ ... v.0
>   * 14:56:29  MESSG <gnc.module> Could not locate module gnucash/ ... v.0
>   and a final line saying
> 
>   * 14:56:29  WARN <gnc.bin> GnuCash engine failed to initialize.
>   Exiting.
> 
>   If I remove the -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/opt/gnucash34 then the build
>   starts and works from the build directory.
> 
>   issue#2
> 
>   Running tests, one test fails: 28 - test-userdata-dir-invalid-home
>   (Failed). This happens regardless of successful
>   Running that test individually shows error messages such as:
>   (Error: /home/antonios/.config/gnucash is a descendant of a
>   non-existing home directory. As GnuCash will never create a home
>   directory this path can't be used: Permission denied:
>   "/home/antonios/.config/gnucash")

Cmake mangles some paths when CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX is rooted in either /usr or /opt, and defaults to /usr/local. The simplest work-around is to set it to something in $HOME. A little more complicated approach (one that I sometimes take) is to create a top-level directory and chown it to your userid and use a subdirectory under that for CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX.

Regards,
John Ralls