I've trolled these forums for awhile now, enjoying the plethora of information and experienced users, but being that this is my first post / tutorial, please bear with me ;]. Because the repos have yet to be updated with the latest version of Pidgin and the release seems to fix some memory leaks that have plagued the little bird for awhile now, I figured a concise set of instructions on how to do this would be appropriate. I've noticed a few people compiling new versions but while unknowingly keeping the old libpurple, which may or may not be a good thing, and this tutorial will make use of the most up-to-date version.
Note: I realize that I simply could've posted a deb for most of this, but compiling from source is a handy skill that many have yet to learn or feel comfortable with. It allows one to liberate themselves of practices such as "deb begging" or adding a new (possibly insecure) repo to download one app. This guide is also fairly Gutsy specific, but should be easily modified to just about any other release.
Other handy information regarding compiling Pidgin can be found here.
Current Version: 2.4.1 [ChangeLog / Download]
1) Remove old Pidgin et. al.
Open a terminal and type / copy-and-paste the following:
Code:
sudo aptitude purge pidgin pidgin-data libpurple0
Do not fear, as this will not remove your pidgin settings, logs, accounts, aways, etc.
2) Prepare to compile Pidgin
Click on the main menu and select "System->Administration->Software Sources". Make sure the box next to "Source code" is checked.
Open a terminal and type / copy-and-paste the following:
Code:
sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude install build-essential checkinstall
This will install the necessary tools to compile anything, if you haven't already done so.
Open a terminal and type / copy-and-paste the following:
Code:
sudo apt-get build-dep pidgin
Allow it to download and install the plethora of packages that are required to compile Pidgin.
3) Download and compile Pidgin
The pidgin source can be found at pidgin.im or directly by clicking here.
Extract the archive either by right-clicking on it and clicking "extract here" or by running the following command in terminal:
Code:
tar -jxvf pidgin-2.4.1.tar.bz2
Get into your newly created directory:
Get compiling! Retrieve a beer and/or cup of tea as, depending on the speed of your computer, the 'make' command may take some time.
Code:
./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-gnutls=yes
make
sudo checkinstall
(For those interested, the '--enable-gnutls=yes' is required for Google Talk and MSN support.)
Enjoy watching the waterfall of text for a bit. When presented with a series of questions after running 'sudo checkinstall' simply press enter to accept the defaults.
*Important Note* Sometimes, for reasons I don't fully understand, checkinstall will seemingly stop doing its business at "Installing Debian Package." In the event that this happens, simply press enter to accept whatever dialog is appearing and checkinstall is hiding from you. I believe it's asking if you want to overwrite an old file leftover from the old install (and therefore answering yes is the way to go), but can anyone confirm this?
After more text floods the screen, you should have Pidgin compiled and installed. Try running it by typing 'pidgin'.
4) Other Notes
If when trying to run Pidgin, you receive the error:
Code:
pidgin: error while loading shared libraries: libpurple.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Try running these two commands in terminal:
Code:
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libpurple.so /usr/lib/
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libpurple.so.0 /usr/lib/
The error is caused by Pidgin looking for its libraries in the wrong place (likely due to the omission of '--prefix=/usr' from configure). The previous two commands link where it thinks they are to where they actually are. You should now be able to run Pidgin successfully!
You can run a
Code:
sudo rm -rf pidgin-2.4.1/
to get rid of your source directory but make SURE you're removing the directory and not anything else as a 'rm -rf' can be a nasty one if used carelessly.
Also, because of an inconsistency in version naming, update-manager or your other package managers may attempt to "upgrade" you back down to the old version that's in the repos, thinking that it's newer. To get this to stop happening, open Synaptic and search for pidgin, pidgin-data, and libpurple0 (you'll have to do this one by one as it resets your search after each). After searching for each, highlight it and click on 'Package->Lock Version' up top. This will keep update-manager from touching it and constantly suggesting an update.
The following command will remove Pidgin at anytime (since you were smart and used 'checkinstall'):
Code:
sudo aptitude remove pidgin
Enjoy having fewer memory leaks and be sure to post any suggestions / questions \m/ ;]
ChangeLog
11/21/07 - added '--prefix=/usr' option to the ./configure command (suggested by ImpressMe)
11/28/07 - Updated to reflect the release of 2.3.0 (thanks to goldencako for testing) and added a link to the Pidgin tutorial provided by the Ubuntu Documentation Project (thanks to Rippie). Also added the '--enable-gnutls=yes' ./configure option to enable support for MSN and Google Talk.
12/8/07 - Fixed a small typo (thanks to Chonnawonga!) and updated the guide to reflect the release of 2.3.1.
12/28/07 - Made the "important note" more obvious 
~
3/3/08 - Updated to reflect the release of 2.4.0 (thanks to mafsi for testing).
4/3/08 - Updated to reflect the release of 2.4.1 and added the "Software Sources" step (thanks to h2z!).
Adv Reply
Re: HowTo: Compile Pidgin 2.2.2 From Source
Originally Posted by ImpressMe
Re: HowTo: Compile Pidgin 2.2.2 From Source
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