HOW-TO: Building amaroK from SVN source

[mlomker]

I've always had odd problems with the version of amaroK that came with Breezy and Hoary. It is also my favorite application on linux! For that reason I like to have the very latest version of it installed. The way to do that is to periodically build it from the latest SVN source.

The amaroK community provides an automated script that makes the process fairly easy, but you have to install a number of development files in order to get it to compile. This how-to will walk you through that process.

Remove any installed version of amaroK

sudo apt-get remove amarok amarok-arts amarok-xine amarok-gstreamer

Install necessary development files

sudo apt-get install kdelibs4-dev subversion unsermake automake1.9 kdebase-dev build-essential ruby
sudo apt-get install libgstreamer-plugins0.8-dev #gstreamer support
sudo apt-get install libxine-dev #xine support
sudo apt-get install libmp4v2-dev libfaad2-dev #aac/mp4 tag editor support
sudo apt-get install libtunepimp2-dev #recommended-supports lookups for song lyrics, etc.

Download Taglib 1.4 for i386 or PowerPC. If you run another architecture then download the source and compile your own.

Change to the download directory:

sudo dpkg -i taglib-1.4_i386.deb

Download the script and install amaroK

Right click and download the amarok-svn.sh script. Save or move it to a directory where you can keep the amarok source files in (your home directory is probably the easiest, ~). The script will create a directory underneath the one that you run it from.

Change to your directory:

sudo chmod +x amarok-svn.sh
./amarok-svn.sh

Say 'yes' when prompted whether or not to use sudo for installation. You can take the defaults for the rest of the questions.

The first compile process takes a few minutes but future updates (run every few days if you wish) only download the new files and take much less time. The script automatically downloads/compiles/installs amaroK for you. You will find an icon in your menu once the installation is complete.

Gnome Users: Reboot.

See this post if you're interested in mysql support.

Troubleshooting

amaroK's main webpage

wiki for the script

[Mrtn]

I will try it as soon as I get home. What do you need to do to switch to the download directory? I am a newbie to Ubuntu and linux in general so forgive me for asking.

I put mine in a folder in my home directory.. lets say /home/maarten/

How would I change to that folder?

[mlomker]

I put mine in a folder in my home directory.. lets say /home/maarten/

cd /whatever/dir to change directories. This is my favorite command-line tutorial.

[Dr. Nick]

sudo apt-get install kdelibs4-dev libxine-dev libstreamer-plugins0.8-dev

It should be libgstreamer-plugins0.8-dev I believe. Thanks for the how to, I am trying it out now

[mlomker]

Originally Posted by Dr. Nick It should be libgstreamer-plugins0.8-dev I believe.

Thanks. Fixed the typo. Let me know how it goes.

[comradevik]

i'm on gnome.. going to try this now because amarok is the best thing ever created. i loved itunes before, but itunes couldn't wake me up in the morning

[mlomker]

Originally Posted by comradevik i'm on gnome..

You could skip the kdebase-dev if you only use gnome (Xine as well if you prefer gstreamer). It won't hurt to build them though...just adds a couple of seconds to the compile.

[Dr. Nick]

Didnt work or me, gives errors telling me to start dcopserver, Im on gnome btw.

I think I messed up at the begennig but how can I start over? I deleted the amarok-svn folder but want to get rid of what it already installed and try again.

Any chance to have the script to just compile and not install? I would like to use checkinstall to make a deb for easy removal later.

[mlomker]

Dr Nick, sorry for accidentally editing your post. That's the second time that I've done that this week. I shouldn't work on the computer while drinking Guinness, I guess.

Here's the response that I meant to send:

Didnt work or me, gives errors telling me to start dcopserver, Im on gnome btw.

It might be better to post the failed output from the ./configure portion of the script. I didn't experience this problem.

I think I messed up at the begennig but how can I start over? I deleted the amarok-svn folder but want to get rid of what it already installed and try again.

There's no easy way to do that because each of those packages installs many other packages due to dependencies. I test my how-to's using a VMWare virtual machine for this very reason (it can easily be rolled back) but that isn't an option on a normal install.

Any chance to have the script to just compile and not install? I would like to use checkinstall to make a deb for easy removal later.

I didn't write the script, the amaroK developers did. The setup isn't configured in a way that checkinstall would work. It'd take an actual developer (I'm just a systems admin/documenter) to figure that out, I suspect.

[souled]

I installed everything but the kdebase, and when I run the script I get ERROR: get-amarok-svn.sh 1.4 and higher requires kreadconfig, which wasn't found in your $PATH! Any ideas?

Thanks for the HOWTO.