If xmkmf and/or make succeeded without errors, you may proceed to the next section. However, in "real life", few things work right the first time. This is when your resourcefulness is put to the test.
Link error: -lX11: No such file or directory, even after xmkmf has been invoked. This may mean that the Imake file was not set up properly. Check the first part of the Makefile for lines such as:
TheLIB= -L/usr/X11/lib INCLUDE= -I/usr/X11/include/X11 LIBS= -lX11 -lc -lm
-L and -I switches tell the compiler and linker where to look for the library and include files, respectively. In this example, the X11 libraries should be in the /usr/X11/lib directory, and the X11 include files should be in the /usr/X11/include/X11 directory. If this is incorrect for your machine, make the necessary changes to the Makefile and try the make again.
The fix for this is to explicitly link in the/tmp/cca011551.o(.text+0x11): undefined reference to `cos'
math library, by adding an -lm to the LIB or LIBS flags in the Makefile (see previous example).
This is a sort of bare bones equivalent of xmkmf.make -DUseInstalled -I/usr/X386/lib/X11/config
# ldconfig updates the shared library symbolic links. This may not be necessary .
Makefiles use unrecognized aliases for libraries present in your system. For example, the build may require libX11.so.6, but there exists no such file or link in /usr/X11R6/lib. Yet, there is a libX11.so.6.1. The solution is to do a ln -s /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6.1 /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6, as root. This may need to be followed by a ldconfig.R5 libs are named libX11.so.3.1.0, libXaw.so.3.1.0, and libXt.so.3.1.0. You generally need links, such as libX11.so.3 -> libX11.so.3.1.0. Possibly the software will also need a link of the form libX11.so -> libX11.so.3.1.0. Of course, to create a "missing" link, use the command ln -s libX11.so.3.1.0 libX11.so, as root.libc version 5.4.4 or greater. Even the more recent StarOffice 5.0 will not run after installation with the new glibc 2.1 libs. Fortunately, the newer StarOffice 5.1 solves these problems. If running an older version of StarOffice you would, as root, need to copy one or more libraries to the appropriate directories, remove the old libraries, then reset the symbolic links (check the latest version of the StarOffice miniHOWTO for more information on this). Caution: Exercise extreme care in this, as you can render your system nonfunctional if you screw up. You can usually find the latest updated libraries at Sunsite.No such file or directory error message. In this case, check the file permissions to make sure the file is executable and check the file header to ascertain whether the shell or program invoked by the script is in the place specified. For example, the scrip may begin with:
If Perl is in fact installed in your#!/usr/local/bin/perl
/usr/bin directory instead of the /usr/local/bin one, then the script will not run. There are two methods of correcting this. The script file header may be changed to #!/usr/bin/perl, or a symbolic link to the correct directory may be added, ln -s /usr/bin/perl /usr/local/bin/perl.
When a package requires libraries not present on your system for the build, it will result in link errors (
undefined reference errors). The libraries may be expensive proprietary ones or difficult to find for sone other reason. In that case, obtaining a statically linked binary either from the author of the package or from a Linux user group may be the easiest to implement fix.
libc 6 / glibc 2 libraries from the older libc 5. Precompiled binaries that worked with the older library may bomb if you have upgraded your library. The solution is to either recompile the applications from the source or to obtain newer precompiled binaries. If you are in the process of upgrading your system to libc 6 and are experiencing problems, refer to Eric Green's Glibc 2 HOWTO.
Note that there are some minor incompatibilities between
glibc versions, so a binary built with glibc 2.1 may not work with glibc 2.0, and vice versa.
Makefile. This enables gcc's extra, non-ANSI features, and allows building packages that require these extensions. (Thanks to Sebastien Blondeel for pointing this out.)Warning: A program with setuid as root may pose a security risk to your system. The program runs with root privileges and thus has the potential for doing significant damage. Make certain that you know what the program does, by looking at the source if possible, before setting the setuid bit.
You may wish to examine the Makefile to make certain that the best compilation options for your system are invoked. For example, setting the -O2 flag chooses the highest level of optimization and the -fomit-frame-pointer flag results in a smaller binary (though debugging will then be disabled). Do not play around with this unless you know what you are doing, and in any case, not until after a trial build works.
In my experience, perhaps 25% of applications build "right out of the box". Another 50% or so can be "persuaded" to build with an effort ranging from trivial to herculean. That still means a significant number of packages will not build no matter what. Even then, the Intel ELF and/or a.out binaries for these might possibly be found at Sunsite or the TSX-11 archive. Red Hat and Debian have extensive archives of prepackaged binaries of most of the popular Linux software. Perhaps the author of the software can supply the binaries compiled for your particular flavor of machine.
Note that if you obtain precompiled binaries, you will need to check for compatibility with your system:
The binaries must run on your hardware (i.e., Intel x86).The binaries must be compatible with your kernel (i.e., a.out or ELF).Your libraries must be up to date.Your system must have the appropriate installation utility (rpm or deb).If all else fails, you may find help in the appropriate newsgroups, such as comp.os.linux.x or comp.os.linux.development.
If nothing at all works, at least you gave it your best effort, and you learned a lot.