Compiling and binary or executable file?

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#1

I have downloaded Meshlab and followed the instructions for compiling. No errors, assume everything worked. What now. I thought I would see a executable somewhere, but nothing. The documentation doesn’t give any explanation as to the next step. I am a beginner in this area and don’t know what to do next. I can’t seem to find any explanation on the web as well or I’m just tired of getting the runaround there. Am I supposed to see a binary after “make” and make files have been created or used. Assume I know nothing. Any knowledge dropping would be appreciated. Thank you.

Using KDE4.8.5, gtx560, i7, Opensuse 12.2(release 2)

#2

> I have downloaded Meshlab and followed the instructions for compiling.
> No errors, assume everything worked. What now. I thought I would see a
> executable somewhere, but nothing. The documentation doesn’t give any
> explanation as to the next step.

yes, it is initially a pretty steep learning curve…

because there are 10,000 (maybe 100,000+) different programs,
applications, scripts, utilities, etc etc which can be compiled to run
on openSUSE (or any Linux) i’d suggest it might be wise for you to
ask this Meshlab specific question in a forum populated by a high
number of Meshlab users and/or developers…

so this being one of the (probably) 95,000 programs i’ve never heard of,
i will try to google up a Meshlab forum or two for you, have a look:

https://www.google.com/search?q=linux+“meshlab+forum”

i’d recommend you ask in one or more other places…

but please note: none of the above should be taken to mean you that you
erred in asking here…far from it…you are welcome to ask specific
questions on any application you wish, i’m just saying you might get a
faster and more useful answer to this question if placed in an area
where more Meshlab users hang out…but, who knows a Meshlab guru might
come through here at any minute…so, check back here also…

now for the best answer i can give (with zero knowledge of Meshlab): you
might try this in a user terminal/console to see if your system knows
where the executable is hiding:


which meshlab

if it returns an answer other than “which: no meshlab in (blah blah
blah)” then try just ‘meshlab’ in the same terminal and see if something
pops up…

if the utility named “which” doesn’t find an executable by that name on
your system that might be because:

  • the default Meshlab executable goes by another name, a fact that a
    Meshlab Guru would know instantly (which is why you need to find one)
    and maybe you only have to seek Meshlab instead of meshlab (remember:
    those two words are completely different on Linux)

or

  • the compile instructions given were not clear enough for a user of
    your current expertise, so maybe there was an error in the compile
    process…did you see any error messages in the output…

–
dd
http://tinyurl.com/DD-Caveat

#3

This is what is written inside <somepath>/MeshLabSrc_AllInc_v132/meshlab/src/install

To create the installer simply use nsis to run the script "meshlab.nsi" in this dir.
remember to modify the script when changing the qt version (the qt dll files are specified in a absolute way)
#4

On Tue, 05 Feb 2013 06:06:02 GMT, ebitz <ebitz@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org>
wrote:

>
>I have downloaded Meshlab and followed the instructions for compiling.
>No errors, assume everything worked. What now. I thought I would see a
>executable somewhere, but nothing. The documentation doesn’t give any
>explanation as to the next step. I am a beginner in this area and don’t
>know what to do next. I can’t seem to find any explanation on the web as
>well or I’m just tired of getting the runaround there. Am I supposed to
>see a binary after “make” and make files have been created or used.
>Assume I know nothing. Any knowledge dropping would be appreciated.
>Thank you.
>
>Using KDE4.8.5, gtx560, i7, Opensuse 12.2(release 2)

In Linux compiling from source follows a pattern of commands:

cd <program source directory>

…/configure <makefilename> ;
this configures the sources package to the local system

make <makefilename> ;
this does the make (compile and some linking)

sudo make install <makefilename> ;
installs the software in the normal system path

sudo make uninstall <makefilename> ;
uninstalls the software

for rpm based distributions such as Red Hat/Fedora and opensuse/SLED/SLES:
If you have the “spec” file for the program use that to build an rpm for
it so that zypper and yast can help you manage it.

?-)

#5

On 2013-02-10 04:47, josephkk wrote:
> In Linux compiling from source follows a pattern of commands:

That’s the general case. Always read the “install” file to make sure if
they apply to your particular case.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)

#6

If you want, you can always look for a pre -compiled RPM, even some Fedora/RH/CentOS will run on openSUSE.

From the meshlab website
Http://sourceforge.org/apps/mediawiki/meshlab/index.php?title=Compiling

Looks like Meshlab requires special libraries, make you get them all before attempting to compile.
Skimming the instructions, you can try the command line method or QTCreator, all req for those compilation methods should be in standard openSUSE repos. The CLI method should be simpler.

If you really did succeed in compiling as noted above usually there is a README file that describes how to launch, otherwise usually there is a fairly obvious file somewhere. You may have to apply executable permissions to it, the from a command line in the same directory as the file


$ ./<filename>

TSU

#7

> If you want, you can always look for a pre -compiled RPM, even some
> Fedora/RH/CentOS will run on openSUSE.

Definitely a good idea to try. I’ve installed a lot scientific Linux
software from RH-based builds (mostly Fedora) with no problems. The only
downside is that you won’t necessarily have the latest version, and bear
in mind that the latest version compiled for an RH-based distro won’t
necessarily work with your version of openSUSE unless you’re confident
in messing about with library dependencies manually (and I can see
that’s not the case!). I find a good first port of call is pbone’s rpm
URL: http://rpm.pbone.net .

Once you’re up and running and comfortable with Linux, then it’s worth
looking into how to configure and compile programs yourself. It’s
generally true that you’ll end up with a better-customised version, but
on the whole with most programs (albeit with exceptions), I don’t find
much benefit of manual install compared to binary install except seeing
lots of verbose crap on the screen… (apologies to Gentoo friends :slight_smile: ).

#8

On Sun, 10 Feb 2013 11:54:17 GMT, “Carlos E. R.”
<robin_listas@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>On 2013-02-10 04:47, josephkk wrote:
>> In Linux compiling from source follows a pattern of commands:
>
>That’s the general case. Always read the “install” file to make sure if
>they apply to your particular case.

Yessir. I do not do this if i can avoid it, but i remember (a bit
painfully) “mostly” the basics. I have had a lot of added pain because i
did not do this reliably.

?-)

#9

You find the built executables and libraries in src/distrib/

#10

http://sourceforge.net/projects/meshlab/files/meshlab/MeshLab%20v1.3.2/

Meshlab was last updated in August of 2012
so gcc 4.3 or 4.1 WILL be needed

it builds with gcc 4.3 BUT with a TON!!! of “deprecated” warnings

from the README

Compiling MeshLab
Note:
Some plugins of MeshLab invokes functions exported by external libraries. You have to compile these libraries before attempting to compile the whole MeshLab’s code.

To compile MeshLab and all MeshLab plugins:
First compile the needed external libraries

cd MESHLAB_DIRECTORY/src/external
qmake -recursive external.pro
make

then compile MeshLab and its plugins
cd MESHLAB_DIRECTORY/src/
qmake -recursive meshlab_full.pro
make

Alternatively you can directly compile only a subset of the whole meshlab by using the meshlab_mini.pro. This minimal subset does not require any external library (give a look at the .pro itself for more info).

cd MESHLAB_DIRECTORY/src/
qmake -recursive meshlab_mini.pro
make

this is a qmake project and there is NO install option , and it dose what qt projects should NOT do.

It builds in the source folder instead of a “build” folder like qt projects are supposed to

the binaries do end up in
/MeshLabSrc_AllInc_v132/meshlab/src/distrib/