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]

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

[fanoodlehey]

I get

# 2/10 - Checking out multimedia base files.
svn: Can't connect to host 'anonsvn.kde.org': Connection timed out

ERROR: The SVN transfer didn't finish successfully.

My network connection is up and running so I'm guessing this is something to do with my firewall. I use Guarddog. What protocol do I need to open up for SVN to work?

Maybe that's not the problem. Any ideas?
Note: I'm using KDE3.5

Thanks.

[fanoodlehey]

Yes. I confirmed that it was my firewall by disabling it momentarily. Now how do I allow SVN from guarddog?

Thanks for any help.

[mlomker]

Now how do I allow SVN from guarddog?

It looks like it's TCP 3690. This how-to isn't about firewalls, though, so I don't want to stray that far off-topic here. I also have not tested this on KDE 3.5. I don't know if the beta comes with the right -dev files or not.

[souled]

FYI, My problem about the dcopserver and not docking is fixed... somehow. I restarted my computer and reinstalled kdebase-dev, and fired up amaroK and it's normal now. Not sure as to the cause of the poblem.