Help a Newbie please

English Programming/Scripting
#1

Hi all, I have a question, I’m trying to setup openbox desktop manager, and one of the components of my desktop environment will be tint2 taskbar, well I downloaded it and compiled, did “make install”, but I can run it only from inside its directory (I mean I cant run it just simply typing in konsole “tint2” command but rather “cd” to its ~/Download/tint2/ dir and run it only there) how can I make it global?

I do understand(or I think I do) that its execution file(or dir) should be put into some /usr/bin or other dirs but which one I don’t know, in fact I just don’t want to mess up with it as I can screw everything.

Sorry for this is a rather lame question and I should read man first of all, but I just don’t have enough time now(lie) and simply dont know where to look for an advice, so I will appreciate if anyone could help with this.

p.s. why do I need it to be executed this way, so I could write a script and make openbox start it at startup.

#2

you should run configure (and anything thing else before) as yourself
a regular user, then run “make install” as root, that will install it
to the system and place the executable in the path for all users (as
you say, globally)…

just use “su” to change to root and give the root pass, then issue
your make install…

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]

#3

Hi,

If your application has a ‘configure’ script (you can either look into the source tree or eventually by reading a INSTALL or README file which should have instructions for the build) you can do the following:

  • move into source dir
  • execute: ./configure --prefix=/usr
  • make
  • su && make install

Then it should be on your path (/usr/bin).

I would like also to point ya to something, there is something in openSUSE we call OBS, openSUSE Build Service, which we brag a lot about because it’s awesome… Through it’s web interface you can find available packages from other users… including of course: tint2.

It’s probably easier if you pick up your software from a development group or from a user who made it available.

http://build.opensuse.org

Hope it helps ya out.

#4

You can have openbox as your default wm any time … but I don’t understand why/what you have to compile something.
BTW, if you install the LXDE desktop (or later the lxde pattern : zypper in -t pattern lxde ), you’ll have openbox. Lxde doesn’t have it’s own window manager, it uses openbox by default.

#5

Thank you for your answers. but, this is what says cat INSTALL for tint2:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr …/
make
sudo make install

what should I write in “/usr…/”??? should I write my where-I-want-to-install-tint2-dir or
usr/share/ etc.??? and make doesn’t work without cmaking, so thats why I asked, I did compile it with cmake - make - sudo make install - but it works only from its own dir, maybe because I messed the “cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr …/” string and wrote wrong /usr/… path, dont know now.

LXDE works with openbox? ok I should try it, didn’t know, thank you, well anyway I want to setup it myself.

#6

letian wrote:
> Thank you for your answers. but, this is what says cat INSTALL for
> tint2:
>
> mkdir build
> cd build
> cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr …/
> make
> sudo make install
>
> what should I write in “/usr…/”??? should I write my
> where-I-want-to-install-tint2-dir or
> usr/share/ etc.??? and make doesn’t work without cmaking, so thats why
> I asked, I did compile it with cmake - make - sudo make install - but it
> works only from its own dir, maybe because I messed the “cmake
> -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr …/” string and wrote wrong /usr/… path,
> dont know now.
>
> LXDE works with openbox? ok I should try it, didn’t know, thank you,
> well anyway I want to setup it myself.

hmmmm…you said in your subject line that you are a newbie…so, i
wonder why you are doing all of this trouble?

i mean, openbox–why?

what is openbox’s advantage over the window manager which you have to
really work hard to avoid with a default install of openSUSE??

i’m not saying don’t install openbox, far from it…you are very
welcome to install whatever you wish…

but, this is an openSUSE forum, not a openbox forum, nor a tint2 forum…

you can’t automatically expect there to be tint2 experts in this forum…

if you have a question about what the author of the tint2’s install
file meant for you to put in “cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr …/”
then write him (or her) and ask…or, find a tint2 forum…

note: i’m neither angry nor trying to be dismissive, i’m actually
trying to be helpful in saying you seem to need to find a tint2 guru,
and as far as i know i’ve never seen one of those here…

but i bet you can get on the trail of one here:
http://www.google.com/search?q=source+tint2

try it…and, when you do if you learn that the problem is with
openSUSE then lets work on helping you file a bug report…ok?

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]
When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

#7

Since openbox is in the standard repositories let me assume you have it
already installed and it works.
The rest of the post is about tint2 which exists prebuilt in the OBS and can
be installed with 1-click (for 11.3).

http://tinyurl.com/24aynyl

–
openSUSE 11.2 64 bit | Intel Core2 Quad Q8300@2.50GHz | Gnome 2.28 | GeForce
9600 GT | 4GB Ram
openSUSE 11.3 64 bit | Intel Core2 Duo T9300@2.50GHz | Gnome 2.30 | Quadro
FX 3600M | 4GB Ram

#8

well, again thank you for your patience, yes I know I can use a default manager that is bundled with SUSE or LXDE, but I never liked the easy way, but anyway you’re right its SUSE forum, I just thought that cmake …/usr/…blabla path is something default, well I will then follow to tint2 forum, and thanks again for your links, I will surely try them out, thanks!

#9

I’m not a pro with cmake, some people say wonders about it… I can’t really help ya much… but using an existing rpm would avoid you some source carnage and most likely provide better integration with the system if you are unexperienced with this. If you really want to compile your stuff and you actually like that kinda stuff, I would recommend ya to branch one of the existing projects for tint2 on OBS and rebuild it with osc. Of course you need to go through some documentation, but you can look into other peoples spec files and see the proper commands for cmake and stuff like that. Just a hint if you want to spare some time investigating and learning… maybe who knows… you are one of the future ‘joe packagers’ for openSUSE :slight_smile:

Welcome aboard. I would help you more if I could, but I love to see when someone is committed to learning something and isn’t too shy to ask for. Best of luck dude.

#10

How to install openbox:

zypper ar -f http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/X11:/windowmanagers/openSUSE_11.3/ X11:Windowmanagers
zypper in openbox

Mind the SuSE version, this is for 11.3.

This is not a good advice, as this will install a package without the package manager being able to recognize it - which means you can not upgrade it, let the package manager consider it as a fulfilled dependency or even uninstall (unless you have a working uninstall script). Depending on the package (or the number of packages installed this way) it can create a lot of chaos. If the compilation of a sourcecode is necessary, one should build an .rpm instead of ‘make install’.

Make love, not install.

#11

Thanks for you enlightening, but to make an RPM you will need pretty much to know how to build a package. RPM’s aren’t created from thin air as you might understand.

I’m not much in favor of the source carnage, but I won’t be the one deciding that. If you didn’t felt such a rush of throwing me down, you would see that the text you point serves actually as a tiny ramp to introduce OBS (openSUSE Build Service) which is most likely a tool of interest. If one is capable of building up a package from the source with a bit more of help I’m pretty sure he will also be able to use OBS to package it, as making the spec files and understanding osc isn’t pretty much of an accomplishment compared to being able to build a package from source and understand it’s process.

We should not hand over the fish to the people, but instead learn them how to fish! Specially when a user is already half of the way. If you noticed, I’ve also pointed him to the OBS repositories as a nice way of finding software.

I hope you don’t take this as a ‘personal attack’ also.

Best of luck.

#12

I hope you don’t take this as a ‘personal attack’ also.

I do not. When looking closer, actually both our points complement.

#13

“Make love, not install." ))) these sounds like words of old and experienced, I will remember that, package manager is always a preferable choice, as it does a lot more than make actually can I think, but still some pieces(dependencies) are scattered in the internet like stars in space, so there is no a package manager to find them for you( Thank you.

#14

thanks I will try to dig into it.

#15

Thank you for your answers. but, this is what says cat INSTALL for tint2:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr …/
make
sudo make install

what should I write in “/usr…/”???

I would write:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local
make
su -c 'make install'

Reason: openSUSE rpm packages will never put anything into /usr/local but when I put my self compiled stuff there, I know that I can delete it later on without breaking things.

This requires having /usr/local in the path.

#16

thanks for advice, I just went through this chapter in my book “OpenSUSE 11 and SLES Bible” now I know that I should better put this into my .bashrc file " -export PATH=$PATH:/home/{my tint2 dir}" this will do the trick, anyway thank you for your help!