Installing Novell Client on 11.2

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#1

When trying to install Novell client (novell-client-2.0-sp2-sle11-i586.iso) on my 11.2 box, I get the following error: “Problem: nothing provides libbfd-2.19.so needed by novell-xtier-base-3.1.6-12.i586”.

The libbfd library is provided by binutils. I have binutils-2.19.51-10.26.4.i586 installed, and it provides /usr/lib/libbfd-2.19.51.20090527-10.26.4.so. I made symlinks (/lib/libbfd-2.19.so and /usr/lib/libbfd-2.19.so) but it didn’t help.

Do you guys know any solution? Thanks in advance.

#2
  • adosztal,

locate the novell-xtier-base-3.1.6-12.i586.rpm and install it with
rpm -Uvh novell-xtier-base-3.1.6-12.i586.rpm --nodeps

Now run the nlc_install script.

No idea if this will result in a working Novell client, but it is unsupported on openSUSE 11.2 anyways :wink:

Please note that the Novell client specialists hang out over on forums.novell.com. Please post there if this didn’t help you.

Uwe

#3

Install was successful but I got the same error when trying to start it.

I know it’s for SLE11, I just gave it a try. :slight_smile:

#4

I’ve got it working on an 11.2 system (granted it was an upgrade from 11.1, but it did reinstall novclient when I did a zypper dup to upgrade). I made a symlink for the version of libbfd that it wanted against the version of libbfd that comes with 11.2 (which is a minor update to the 11.1 version) and after running client configuration through Yast it has been fine.

#5
  • ryuu7988 wrote, On 11/14/2009 08:26 PM:
    > I’ve got it working on an 11.2 system (granted it was an upgrade from
    > 11.1, but it did reinstall novclient when I did a zypper dup to
    > upgrade). I made a symlink for the version of libbfd that it wanted
    > against the version of libbfd that comes with 11.2 (which is a minor
    > update to the 11.1 version) and after running client configuration
    > through Yast it has been fine.

Can you give me the exact versions you see, please?
This is interesting: While I got the Novell client up and running with the 11.2RC, I got a KDM error upon login with the released version.

Uwe

#6

What was this symlink? I tried /lib/libbfd-2.19.so and /usr/lib/libbfd-2.19.so but it didn’t help.

#7

I just got this working on my laptop (64bit OpenSuSE 11.2 - fresh install).

Steps to Make It Work:

  1. Grab the binutils-2.19-9.3.x86_64.rpm from whatever mirror is handy. Make sure it matches what novell client you’re trying to install in terms of arch.
  2. Grab the latest and greatest novell client ISO from novell.
  3. rpm2cpio binutils-2.19-9.3.x86_64.rpm | cpio -idv
  4. You now have ./usr in your directory. Copy all the library files to the right places. If you’re 64bit, you’ll see ./usr/lib64 and the .so files need to be copied to /usr/lib64. If you don’t have a fresh install, check to make sure there’s no symlinks or whatever in the way.
  5. Mount the novell ISO as loopback. Unlike previous releases, you MUST use ncl_install for the installation. Adding it to yast and using package groups is a recipe for delicious fail.
  6. Choose to ignore any grousing about libbfd. Break dependencies! (This is “option 2”).
  7. ldconfig and reboot.

Tada.

#8

Hi folks,

Thanks to jknarr for explaining how to do this. Works a charm.

I couldn’t get auto-login to work - for some reason the entry it creates in Startup Applications doesn’t work. The command it uses is ‘/opt/novell/ncl/bin/gnome-login.bsh’. I suspect that it might not like the quotation marks.

I did a combination of 2 things to get it working:
Added the following line to the end of /etc/bash.bashrc…
PATH=$PATH:/opt/novell/ncl/bin
Created a new item under Startup Applications (Control Centre)
Name: Novell Login Command: gnome-login.bsh

Now it logs in and maps the drives automatically :slight_smile:

I suspect a tidier way to fix this might be to edit /opt/novell/ncl/bin/ncl_autologin.desktop and remove the quotation marks (as well as giving it a better name than “No name”) as it probably just copies this file to your Gnome profile. Haven’t tested this yet.

#9

Sorry to double post. Thought I’d be able to pop back and edit my original comment, but was mistaken.

Rather than what I suggested above for auto-login, I’ve poked around a little more and found a better way that should fix it for all users. There’s no need to add the path to bash.bashrc as it’s already being added to the path somewhere else.

Just open /opt/novell/ncl/bin/ncl_autologin.desktop and replace the contents with the following:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Exec=gnome-login.bsh
Hidden=false
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true
Name=Novell Login
Comment=Automatically login to the Novell network

After logging out and in a few times, and possibly running ncl_autologin to establish the startup item, it starts working. I can only assume that the format of the .desktop file has changed, or perhaps the Type field is required nowadays.

Seems to me a good idea is to also edit /etc/gdm/PostSession/Default and add:
nwlogout -t NAME_OF_TREE
before the ‘exit 0’. This should logout the user if they log out of GNOME, rather than just leaving their connection hanging there like it does by default.
Edit: Nnnngh that doesn’t seem to work either!

#10

BINGO

The logout script runs as root, so you have to run it as $USER instead. Also you have to put the nwlogout line BEFORE the Xreset lines, as the Xreset script… does what it says on the tin, and kills the $USER variable.

So, just after #!/bin/sh in /etc/gdm/PostSession/Default :

su $USER -c ‘/opt/novell/ncl/bin/nwlogout -t TREE_NAME_HERE’

Does the trick here.

Feel free to merge these 3 posts.

#11

On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:06:04 GMT, deryk
<deryk@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
>Hi folks,
>
>Thanks to jknarr for explaining how to do this. Works a charm.
>
>I couldn’t get auto-login to work - for some reason the entry it
>creates in Startup Applications doesn’t work. The command it uses is
>’/opt/novell/ncl/bin/gnome-login.bsh’. I suspect that it might not like
>the quotation marks.
>
>I did a combination of 2 things to get it working:
>Added the following line to the end of /etc/bash.bashrc…
>PATH=$PATH:/opt/novell/ncl/bin
>Created a new item under Startup Applications (Control Centre)
>Name: Novell Login Command: gnome-login.bsh
>
>Now it logs in and maps the drives automatically :slight_smile:
>
>I suspect a tidier way to fix this might be to edit
>/opt/novell/ncl/bin/ncl_autologin.desktop and remove the quotation marks
>(as well as giving it a better name than “No name”) as it probably just
>copies this file to your Gnome profile. Haven’t tested this yet.

I suggest that you be real thoughtful here. Single quotes in a shell
script has a specific executability meaning that you should pay
attention to. gnome-login may be a special variable name as well.

#12

I have a newer version of binutils installed; binutils-2.19.51-10.26.4.x86_64

Will this work? I can’t uninstall or downgrade it because of dependencies.

RS

#13

I wanted to follow up on my post since it became real popular on google real quick.

A few (minor) changes:

  1. I realize now there’s an /opt/novell/ncl/lib64, include, share and bin directories. It’s MUCH better to copy the libraries here and edit ld.so.conf than it is to copy them system wide. Edit /etc/ld.so.conf to add this path to the top of the search list and you’ll be golden. Just remember the trick in case you need to switch up libbfds later.
  2. On a brand new, fresh install of OpenSuSE 11.2, there’s an extra step. When you’re done all the steps in the 7th post of the thread, you do need to go back and add the ISO as an install source and then tell the system to upgrade the package group.

Otherwise, I’ve done this to about 7 desktops so far here with no issues.

#14

i found a usefull repo, using this on 11.2 fixed my nofsd segfault.

Index of /NCL-2.0/SLE11-x64

also version seems to be more recent

#15

Hi DHallen, may I ask you if junction points works with this client version?
(of course if you have some junction points in your netware filesystem).

Official release states that they are supported, but with OpenSuse 11.1 all I got was an empty directory where the junction point was placed … so I didn’t bothered to try installing the client with OpenSuse 11.2.

Thanks in advance.

#16

Seems to be the client you can download from Novell.
I didn’t manage to get this one installed either <G>

Hey jknarr, would you mind writing a step by step instruction for the NCL install?

Uwe

#17

Hi ,
sorry i did not test it with junctions points,

Dirk

#18

Hi!
I also have openSUSE11.2 64bits and i followed this instruction, but it want work. Not even ncl_tray will start. It was allot of complaining about missing dependencies.

RS

#19

Thanks for the good work. Would it be possible to elaborate a little on this so some of us newbies could follow along? ie:

  • Does this work for the 32 bit as well?

Originally Posted by jknarr View Post

I just got this working on my laptop (64bit OpenSuSE 11.2 - fresh install).

Steps to Make It Work:

  1. Grab the binutils-2.19-9.3.x86_64.rpm from whatever mirror is handy. Make sure it matches what novell client you’re trying to install in terms of arch.
  2. Grab the latest and greatest novell client ISO from novell.
  3. rpm2cpio binutils-2.19-9.3.x86_64.rpm | cpio -idv - think I managed this, not really sure though
  4. You now have ./usr in your directory. - off the root?? It is there allready Copy all the library files to the right places. -What library files, where are they If you’re 64bit, you’ll see ./usr/lib64 and the .so files need to be copied to /usr/lib64 - what about 32 bit, not needed???. If you don’t have a fresh install, check to make sure there’s no symlinks or whatever in the way - how do I do that, what is a symlink?.
  5. Mount the novell ISO as loopback. _ how? I have been trying and am using the CD not the ISO. Unlike previous releases, you MUST use ncl_install - can you give the command line to run it? for the installation. Adding it to yast and using package groups is a recipe for delicious fail.
  6. Choose to ignore any grousing about libbfd. Break dependencies! (This is “option 2”).
  7. ldconfig and reboot.

It would be great if you could do a detailed walk through as I know I am not the only newbie trying to gt this to work. Novell should really fix their bugs but until then we are stuck.

Thanks
Bob

#20

Here is more of a step by step that I found…

clayeweb.org Blog » Installing Novell Client on openSUSE 11.2

Not sure about the 32/64 bit question though.

Dan V.