Compiling from Source

[Oxwivi]

Tell me everything about it.

[Swagman]

It's possible !!

[Spice Weasel]

It's a hell of a lot easier than most people seem to think, most of the time it just takes two commands (and sometimes googling for an error message to see which lib you need).

[Oxwivi]

Yeah, I did tried it myself. I just want to know all the issues and everything about it.

[LowSky]

Yeah, I did tried it myself. I just want to know all the issues and everything about it.

um... ok?

if you compile from source you need to know all dependencies beforehand are taken care of. If they are not the app may not install correctly or not run. Compiled applications may run a bit quicker do to being set up for the equipment they will run on and not a generic setup that pre-made packages are made for.

[Oxwivi]

Will there be problems of compiling the same thing on different distro?

And dependencies of compilation tools or the software/package?

[Spice Weasel]

There won't be problems on other distros unless the filesystem layout is different (like GoboLinux) or some libraries or dependencies of the program you are compiling are missing.

[cariboo]

Compiling from source can be easy, or it can be a big pain in the derrier. If you are trying to compile bleeding edge stuff, you can go days, or even weeks before you get a successful compile. Have a look at the gnome-shell (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1603874) thread, for an example of a program that is a large problem for a lot of folks.

[Oxwivi]

How does filesystem affect compiling?

[Oxwivi]

What is the problem with compiling gnome-shell?

[Oxwivi]

Oh, and does different software compilation need different tools, possibly?

[I'mGeorge]

First of all source folders, which contains the data that needs to be compiled, usually comes as a tar.gz archive.Compiling from source could be something really tedious when you wanna install a software with a lot of dependencies, 'cause you have to find every one of them,if you don't have them already installed, but the process itself it's easy and not that hard to understand.
In the classic way it resumes to 2 or 3 commands executed inside the source folder


./configure
make
make install (optional)

There are of course some other ways to compile from source, using scons for example.

I strongly recommend for the file browsers to be compiled from source 'cause they perform a little bit faster, but the thing it's generally speaking, compiling from source ain't something for those without a lot of patience.

Another thing about compiling from sources it's that you have to keep your source folder, 'cause you need it if you wanna uninstall the compiled software later. If you don't keep it, uninstalling a compiled from source software can also be something really annoying as you would have to remove the program manually, and in linux this ain't something really practical.

[cariboo]

What is the problem with compiling gnome-shell?

Read the thread.

[Spice Weasel]

How does filesystem affect compiling?

The program you are compiling has instructions to send files to /usr/share/.

What if /usr doesn't exist, and instead there is /System, /Programs and /Shared (for example in GoboLinux)?

[Simian Man]

Compiled applications may run a bit quicker do to being set up for the equipment they will run on and not a generic setup that pre-made packages are made for.
That is almost never the case in practice.


The program you are compiling has instructions to send files to /usr/share/.

What if /usr doesn't exist, and instead there is /System, /Programs and /Shared (for example in GoboLinux)?
Actually GoboLinux uses symlinks to map standard locations to there file layout, so even that shouldn't cause problems.

[forrestcupp]

Compiled applications may run a bit quicker do to being set up for the equipment they will run on and not a generic setup that pre-made packages are made for.Sometimes you have to set the right flags for it to be optimized for your system, or it will just end up running the same as the generic pre-made packages.


How does filesystem affect compiling?Different distros use different directory structures. If you compile it in one distro and move it to another, it may look for the dependencies in the wrong place.

[Oxwivi]

Another thing about compiling from sources it's that you have to keep your source folder, 'cause you need it if you wanna uninstall the compiled software later. If you don't keep it, uninstalling a compiled from source software can also be something really annoying as you would have to remove the program manually, and in linux this ain't something really practical.
Why would I need the source files to uninstall? Please elaborate.

[Barrucadu]

You need to keep the makefile (and possibly some other things) around so you can uninstall the software, as it wont be tracked by the package manager. Unless, of course, you built a package for it.

[odiseo77]

To the OP: to avoid the need of keeping the sources directory (and for practical reasons), you can install checkinstall and execute checkinstall -D as root (instead of "make install"); it will generate a .deb package from the compiled program that you can cleanly and easily uninstall later with dpkg, aptitude, synaptic, or any other package manager.

[Oxwivi]

Thanks for the tip, odiseo77. But I'm looking to learn of all the issues concerning GNU/Linux in general, not just Ubuntu.

[Paqman]

Keep in mind that on a system with a package manager like Ubuntu's APT, compiling from source can sometimes be bad idea. This is because packages compiled from source disregard the complicated system of dependencies that the package manager maintains. This can lead to instability.

Generally speaking, it's better to stick to software from the repos unless something just isn't available. Even then PPAs or .deb files are a better option than compiling from source.

[I'mGeorge]

Why would I need the source files to uninstall? Please elaborate.

so you could run the command


make uninstall


if you don't keep it the usual OS package manager would not know how to uninstall it as it doesn't has the paths to where the software's several data files were installed. Of course for Debian/Ubuntu as already suggested you could use checkinstall -D instead of make install so synaptic would track your data. You could also make a deb (rpm)package out of a source dir, but that ain't really a practical thing to do, but if you want to find more about it cache this out http://www.quietearth.us/articles/2006/08/16/Building-deb-package-from-source

By the way don't give too much credit to those that say all the time compiled from source software works better. This it's only in theory in practice ain't that much of a big deal difference. But anyway I would still recommend the use of a compiled from source file manager, a lightweight one so it would perform as faster as it could being as compatible as it should :-)

[sandyd]

The only real good things about compiling from source are

a) add extra/weird options to the program that were not in the distribution's binaries

b) ensure library compatability

c) get newest software.

If your looking to get the newest software and expecting yourself to compile a lot of packages, go for Gentoo Linux.

[forrestcupp]

The only real good things about compiling from source are

a) add extra/weird options to the program that were not in the distribution's binaries

b) ensure library compatability

c) get newest software.

If your looking to get the newest software and expecting yourself to compile a lot of packages, go for Gentoo Linux.
Good advice. The only reason I think is good enough is for the very rare program you might find out there that doesn't have a package already built for it. Most of the time, even for the newest software, there's someone out there putting out the package pretty quickly.

How's the baby and your husband/brother? :)

[Oxwivi]

Library compatibility? May ask for more details?

Oh, and forrestcupp, I think it's better for your sake and the one you're talking to, to keep personal matters in PM. :)

[forrestcupp]

Oh, and forrestcupp, I think it's better for your sake and the one you're talking to, to keep personal matters in PM. :)

It was just a joke based on another discussion a while back. :)

[Oxwivi]

It was just a joke based on another discussion a while back. :)
I know that, I remember you asking about something similar to sandyd in his/her thread, though I don't remember what the thread was about or your question.

[Shining Arcanine]

Tell me everything about it.

I use Gentoo Linux. Take your pick:

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
http://www.gentoo.org/
http://www.slackware.com/

[sandyd]

<snip>

How's the baby and your husband/brother? :)
great!
contrary to what my friends said, raising a baby is actually fun, even though she apparently won't let let either of us go further 1m away from her :P

and it turns out that one of the problems I was anticipating was actually not one at all (I was worried about my american eskimo, but it seems that teaching her to stay away from the baby was easier than I thought)

[sandyd]

Library compatibility? May ask for more details?

Oh, and forrestcupp, I think it's better for your sake and the one you're talking to, to keep personal matters in PM. :)

it was announced publicly in my 'getting married' thread. I giggle like mad each time I hear it now :)

[Oxwivi]

May I ask again what is library compatibility?