problems with 1.6.4

[Paul Kinzelman]

Robert Graham Merkel wrote:

> On Mon, 05 Nov 2001 14:49:16 Paul Kinzelman wrote:
> > Linas Vepstas wrote:
> >
> > > On Sat, Nov 03, 2001 at 02:24:08PM -0800, Paul Kinzelman was heard to
> > remark:
> > > > OK, I downloaded the source RPM and am trying to configure,
> > > > but I get the errors:
> > > > Unknown library 'gtkhtml' and 'gal', although it looks like
> > > > 'gal' is the one that really caused configure to quit. Do
> > > > I need 'gtkhtml'?
> > >
> > > you need both. gnucash needs gtkhtml and gtkhtml needs gal.
> >
> > OK, I downloaded gtkhtml and gal. However
> > gtkhtml needs libdbdbi-devel
> > rpmfind has no libdb but does have libdbi-static so I try that.
> > libdbi-static needs libdbi-devel
> > libdbi-devel needs libdbi
> > libdbi needs libdbi-dbd
> > libdbi-dbd needs libdbi
> > etc.
> > Arrrrrraauuuuuuggggghhhh!
> > With all due respect to your efforts to produce a great program,
> > this is nuts!
> > Please... please... put some pointers on the gnucash web page.
> > For 1.6.4, you need X Y and Z with pointers to it. If you want
> > people to use and try your program, you have to make it so we
> > don't have to spend hours and hours to even be able to start it!!!!
> >
> > > > (libgal.so.8). So I manually put it in /usr/lib (because I
> > > > found libgal.so.7 there) and also on /usr/local/lib but
> > > > neither seems to be the correct place.
> > >
> > > did you run ldconfig afterwords?  you need to run ldconfig
> >
> > I'd never heard of ldconfig. That didn't help either.
> >
> > > > And how about a link on the gnucash page someplace
> > > > where we can just download it and put it wherever it needs
> > > > to go. That would have saved me (and I suspect lots of other
> > > > people) needless grief.
> > >
> > > All the rpm's you need are available on rufus.w3.org
> > > That is one of teh best places to find missing rpm's
> >
> > OK, how like I said, I've downloaded probably about 10
> > rpms now and they're like spagetti. How about clearly
> > listing what's needed on the web page and in what order.
> > You guys could probably describe what's needed in a
> > few minutes and save lots of your potential fans hours.
> >
>
> The trouble is it varies greatly from distribution to distribution
> (not what's required so much as the different package names etc.),
> and even from version to version of the same distribution.
>
> By far the easiest way to get gnucash working is to purchase or
> download a distribution that includes gnucash.  This includes at least
> the latest Suse, Redhat, Mandrake (I think), Debian unstable, and
> others.

I did that - as I said, RH7.2 but that version crashes when I try to
import my qif file so I figured I'd try the latest and then file a bug
report.

Why can't you just put all the .so files that are needed but are
difficult to get going (like gal and gtkhtml maybe) together
in one tar or something, post it on the gnucash webpage
with a paragraph about where to put them (including running
'ldconfig' if necessary)? I don't mind downloading an rpm or
so, but as I mentioned above, I quit after probably 10
downloads - that was too much. There's got
to be a better way.