I need some help with compiling an application from source. Please

I’m trying to compile the program WinFF from source.

I used this application all the time with openSUSE 11.2, and Ubuntu but Packman has no package for 11.3

I know I could ask for it to be repackaged and someone would probably do it but I would like to take the opportunity to try something new. (for me anyway)

I found some useful step by step instructions and read some sticky posts by Oldcpu and gave it a go. I didn’t get very far.

As you can see in my posting below when I unpacked the tar ball and went to run the configure command and there I hit a snag.

linux-2vac:~ # cd /usr/local/src
linux-2vac:/usr/local/src # ls
winff-1.3.0-source.tar.gz
linux-2vac:/usr/local/src # tar xvzf winff-1.3.0-source.tar.gz
winff/
winff/changelog.txt
winff/clean.bat
winff/clean.sh
winff/docs/
winff/docs/License-Documents.txt
winff/docs/WinFF.ca.odt
winff/docs/WinFF.ca.pdf
winff/docs/WinFF.en.odt
winff/docs/WinFF.en.pdf
winff/docs/WinFF.es.pdf
winff/docs/WinFF.es_AR.odg
winff/docs/WinFF.fr.odt
winff/docs/WinFF.fr.pdf
winff/docs/WinFF.nl.odt
winff/docs/WinFF.nl.pdf
winff/fpc-res.res
winff/languages/
winff/languages/winff.ar.po
winff/languages/winff.bg.po
winff/languages/winff.ca.po
winff/languages/winff.de.po
winff/languages/winff.el.po
winff/languages/winff.es.po
winff/languages/winff.es_AR.po
winff/languages/winff.es_UY.po
winff/languages/winff.fr.po
winff/languages/winff.gl.po
winff/languages/winff.he.po
winff/languages/winff.hu.po
winff/languages/winff.it.po
winff/languages/winff.ku.po
winff/languages/winff.nb.po
winff/languages/winff.nl.po
winff/languages/winff.pb.po
winff/languages/winff.pl.po
winff/languages/winff.po
winff/languages/winff.pot
winff/languages/winff.pt.po
winff/languages/winff.ru.po
winff/languages/winff.sl.po
winff/languages/winff.sr.po
winff/languages/winff.sv.po
winff/languages/winff.tr.po
winff/languages/winff.zh.po
winff/languages/winff.zh_CN.po
winff/License.txt
winff/presets.xml
winff/README-Presets.txt
winff/README.txt
winff/RESOURCES.RC
winff/resources.res
winff/unit1.lfm
winff/unit1.pas
winff/unit2.lfm
winff/unit2.pas
winff/unit3.lfm
winff/unit3.pas
winff/unit4.lfm
winff/unit4.pas
winff/unit5.lfm
winff/unit5.pas
winff/unit6.lfm
winff/unit6.pas
winff/winff-icons/
winff/winff-icons/16x16/
winff/winff-icons/16x16/winff.png
winff/winff-icons/24x24/
winff/winff-icons/24x24/winff.png
winff/winff-icons/32x32/
winff/winff-icons/32x32/winff.png
winff/winff-icons/48x48/
winff/winff-icons/48x48/winff.png
winff/winff-icons/add.png
winff/winff-icons/clear.png
winff/winff-icons/convert.png
winff/winff-icons/play.png
winff/winff-icons/README-Icons.txt
winff/winff-icons/remove.png
winff/winff-icons/settings.png
winff/winff-icons/winff_logo2.svgz
winff/winff.1
winff/winff.ico
winff/winff.lfm
winff/winff.lpi
winff/winff.lpr
winff/winff.rc
winff/winff.res
linux-2vac:/usr/local/src # ls
winff winff-1.3.0-source.tar.gz
linux-2vac:/usr/local/src # cd winff
linux-2vac:/usr/local/src/winff # ls
changelog.txt License.txt unit1.lfm unit4.lfm winff.1 winff.rc
clean.bat presets.xml unit1.pas unit4.pas winff.ico winff.res
clean.sh README-Presets.txt unit2.lfm unit5.lfm winff-icons
docs README.txt unit2.pas unit5.pas winff.lfm
fpc-res.res RESOURCES.RC unit3.lfm unit6.lfm winff.lpi
languages resources.res unit3.pas unit6.pas winff.lpr
linux-2vac:/usr/local/src/winff # ./configure
bash: ./configure: No such file or directory
linux-2vac:/usr/local/src/winff #

Since this is new to me I have no idea what to do next. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I have installed the 64-bit 11.2 rpm on 64-bit 11.3 and it seems to be working fine. Just download them:
For 32-bit:
http://packman.links2linux.org/download/winff/696505/winff-1.3.0-0.pm.1.2.i586.rpm

For 64-bit:
http://packman.links2linux.org/download/winff/696581/winff-1.3.0-0.pm.1.2.x86_64.rpm

Once you have downloaded either one of them (depending on your computer architecture) install it. For example for 64-bit (become root first by doing su -):


cd /location/where/the/winff/rpm/file/is
zypper in winff-1.3.0-0.pm.1.2.x86_64.rpm

Thanks for the reply. It installs but when i try to run it I get an error window that says “Access violation press ok to risk data corruption or cancel to kill program”

I’m using 32 bit. Perhaps that’s where the difference is

Do you get any additional output from the terminal (Konsole on KDE) when you run winff through there?

This is the terminal output:

stuart@linux-2vac:~> winff

[WARNING] Out of OEM specific VK codes, changing to unassigned
[WARNING] Out of unassigned VK codes, assigning $FF
[FORMS.PP] ExceptionOccurred
Sender=EAccessViolation
Exception=Access violation
Stack trace:
$B746F1DE
$0828EAAD
$081BD92B
$081BCB7A
$0817BB28
$0817B715
$0817C70A
$0817BC05
$0817B715
$0817C70A
$0817BC05
$08077E01
$0807D0EC
$0807E1A9
$0817B715
$0817C70A
$0808550E
TApplication.HandleException Access violation
Stack trace:
$B746F1DE
$0828EAAD
$081BD92B
$081BCB7A
$0817BB28
$0817B715
$0817C70A
$0817BC05
$0817B715
$0817C70A
$0817BC05
$08077E01
$0807D0EC
$0807E1A9
$0817B715
$0817C70A
$0808550E

You may be right about encountering this error only on 32-bit. I will try it on my 32-bit laptop soon and let you know if it works or not.

While I do not want to interfere in your discussion, I want to point out that the compilation is NOT sometthing to be done as root. You should do the unpacking, the configure and the make steps as a normal user. Only the instal step should be done as root.

Thanks for the tip. I didn’t know that. Could that be causing my problems with trying to compile the program or install the rpm from 11.2?

linuxminded wrote:
> Could that be causing my problems with trying to compile the
> program or install the rpm from 11.2?

anything done which does not comply with standard practices can
(more likely will) cause problems, instability, insecurity, system
failure etc etc etc…

i may have missed one, but so far i have never seen a competently
written README which instructed the user to become root for configure
or make…on the other hand i’ll bet several thousand how-to-compile
guides clearly say to never run configure or make as root, ever!

note: It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions
than to undo the problems caused by not.


DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]
Be it ever so humble, there is no place like 127.0.0.1.

I realy do not know. When you do this as root it means to me that you are doing more as root. Where do you have all sorts of files you downloaded, interneiaite results, etc.? Those should all be within a user owned environment (most probably inside your home directory), but when you are more or less loged in as root a long time, it is very easy to put files on places where they should not be, or remove thiings by accident, etc.

I agree. I read all the ReadMe files and none included instructions etc. They only had program descriptions like are displayed in Yast to tell what it does.

Anyway, I’m still stuck with not being able to run the configure comand either as normal or root.

Oh and just to clarify. I don’t make it a habit to go mucking around as Root. I switched over after the command failed as normal user the first time.

I also tried to convert the old RPM using the “rpm --rebuilddb” command and got the same error when I started the program as when I tried to install the old RPM.

Maybe it’s time to say **** on it and learn how to run FFmpeg from the command line. Seems like the easiest solution.

I only posted because you were using root where not needed and the others did not comment on that. I did not read your post thouroughly. I now tried, but I am hampered by the fact that you did not post computer output between CODE tags (Posting in Code Tags - A Guide).

But I see that you used cd to go to a directory (where all the unpacked stuff is), then an ls there to show what is there (the same things that were allready shown by the tar output). As you can see there is no configure there, thus doing ./configure is not a sensible thing to do. But there is a README.txt. Does it say you must do the ./configure?

And then of course, please move the whole bunch there to a directory within your home directory. It should not be in /usr/local because you are not root when handling this.