Compiling software for use in a particular distro

[donecweb]

I am looking for a step by step set of instructions on compiling some open source software for SimplyMEPIS 6.5 or possibly deb. I am hoping to find instruction that take me through every step with some explanation of what each step is for. It doesn't matter what software just something fairly simple to give me an idea of the process so I can try and adapt the process to bigger attempts. If anyone knows where I can find a tutorial like this please let me know.

PS It would be best for me if the process could be GUI controlled but I fear that is not yet possible.

[SensoVision]

Don, I can't find a site where was instruction on howto compile kernel from the scratch.
Maybe if you name program we'll come step by step on compiling it?
If it help here is list of things I usually compile for myself so maybe you'll pick up something from it or name your program:
http://www.kernel.org - Linux Kernel
http://hugin.sourceforge.net - panorama creating software
http://www.winehq.org - WINE
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/ - The Movie Player
this is what I was able to remind quickly but I compile other software as well.

PS It would be best for me if the process could be GUI controlled but I fear that is not yet possible.

I'm afraid that this task wouldn't be automated to this level any soon...

Let me know if you interested.

[donecweb]

Thanks Denis, I am interested, but I don't know of a particular program I want to compile right now. I would like to start with something small and safe with not too many dependencies but a few to get the idea.

[SensoVision]

Kernel is probably most compiled source in the world and although it's pretty easy to compile it's could be tricky to select right modules, and if something goes wrong you may not be able to boot into system in a usual way. So let's start with something safer.
Wine is pretty easy but from what I remember you already got latest version.
I'm not sure about Mplayer but it could be tricky to compile on some machines.
So I would propose you panorama stitching software Hugin it should be relatively easy to compile and is very quality program(most powerful panorama program I've seen including commercial analogs). Although I realize that it may not be useful to you if you don't photographs panoramas, if it's so maybe just check http://sourceforge.net/ and pick some program or category which would be useful for you and we'll pick something else.

BTW Just got another idea Apache without MySQL and PHP(It could be added later and it's not hard to compile too) is very easy to compile and you can use it for site development later. Let me know your preferences.

[donecweb]

I wouldn't know what to do at this point with apache so I guess panorama would be the way to go.

[SensoVision]

ok let's start!
PART 1: Preparations.
1. Choosing right version: Many programs offer several versions for download, for people who doesn't have much experience in compiling, upgrading system and fixing programs which may arise during compilation I would recommend choosing stable version. Unstable version may have bugs and almost always require latest libraries to be installed in the system which may cause dependencies conflicts.
2. Installation Help: Almost any program provide tips or steps describing how to compile their program, this information could be very useful. Sometime it could be found in archive of downloaded program usually in files called readme, install. For Hugin it's possible to find tips about Ubuntu compilation(which are also somewhat relevant for other Debian based distributions including SimplyMEPIS) http://exolucere.ca/articles/compile-hugin-ubuntu and instructions in Install file in archive.
3. Libraries Requirements: to be compiled most programs require complier program and development libraries which contain necessary functions which are used in the program. Some developers post these instructions on the site or in inside archive or it couldn't be listed anywhere at all, and the only way to find out what program needs is to see compilation errors and install necessary packages.
For Hugin I've used instructions from INSTALL file, here it's what I've found.
gcc make libwxgtk2.6-dev libpano12-dev libboost-dev libboost-graph-dev libboost-thread-dev libboost-thread
This list is name of packages used in Debian they may vary in Mepis...
You can try install whole list like this "apt-get install gcc make libwxgtk2.6-dev libpano12-dev libboost-dev libboost-graph-dev libboost-thread-dev libboost-thread"
or since you prefer GUI solutions select these packages from Synaptic or other package manager in your system.
Since names may vary in your system try to strip "lib" prefixes and "dev" at the end of name. e.g. to find libwxgtk2.6-dev I would recommend to search for "wxgtk" or "wx gtk".

It's probably not full list of packages you many need to be installed, usually any distribution install only runtime libraries since most of people wouldn't compile programs themselves and having dev libraries only consume diskspace. But we'll be able to find out what packages isn't installed on your system in process of configuration. Also once you compile some program there is high chance that same libraries would be used for compilation of other programs later, so first time would be hardest I guess.

4. Configuration: Many sources of nowadays programs comes with a script called "configure" which save time of end user. Basically it performs checking of system to see what libraries and what versions are installed, checks if they are suitable for compiling and also create makefiles(special files which told to compiler how to compile program).
Once you install obviously needed packages you may run it and see what else need to be installed or if you can proceed with compilation.

Shell instructions: you may do almost every action listed below through GUI but just in case I've listed info how to do this in shell.

1. let's start with downloading program, directory where it would be downloaded /usr/local/src is specially designed to compile own programs, but many programs could be perfectly compiled in other directories, so you may choose different one.
cd /usr/local/src
wget -c http://mesh.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/hugin/hugin-0.6.1.tar.bz2

2. now let's unpack it and go inside newly created directory:
tar jxvf hugin-0.6.1.tar.bz2
cd hugin-0.6.1

3. now we may try to run configure file to see what's needed for program.
it could be done like this:
./configure
or
sh configure


That's all info for now, please check this information and let me if you have and difficulties with above-mentioned steps.
You may also run configure script and attach it's output here so I can see and figure out what libraries are missed and need to be installed.
Once you be ready we may proceed to next part of compilation process.

[donecweb]

2. now let's unpack it and go inside newly created directory:
tar jxvf hugin-0.6.1.tar.bz2
cd hugin-0.6.1

I feel real stupid but how do we unpack it and where do we unpack it?

[SensoVision]

I've changed directory to this one /usr/local/src by "cd /usr/local/src"
so current syntax of tar command would unpack whole archive to hugin-0.6.1
here is what key used for:
j - is used for bzip2 archive format z - is for gzip
x - extracting
v - show information verbosely
f - tells to use local archive for unpacking

So in the end we've got hugin sources here:
/usr/local/src/hugin-0.6.1

Hope I've answered your question, let me know if you got more questions.

I feel real stupid but how do we unpack it and where do we unpack it?

And don't feel so. Asking about something you don't know isn't stupid, stupid is to pretend that you know everything.

[donecweb]

I've changed directory to this one /usr/local/src by "cd /usr/local/src"
so current syntax of tar command would unpack whole archive to hugin-0.6.1
here is what key used for:
j - is used for bzip2 archive format z - is for gzip
x - extracting
v - show information verbosely
f - tells to use local archive for unpacking

So in the end we've got hugin sources here:
/usr/local/src/hugin-0.6.1

Could you give me an example of what you put into the Konsole so I could see how the syntax works?

[SensoVision]

sure thing whole part called "Shell instructions: " is actually console commands.

ok let's try this. Everything makred by bold is commands which could be executed in Konsole, Gnome Terminal or virtual terminals.
1. start Konsole and create file like this:
echo "testing data" > myfile.txt
file myfile.txt would contain text "testing data"

2. now let's compress it like this:
tar jcvf myarchive.tar.bz2 myfile.txt
this would create myarchive.tar.bz2 archive using BZIP2 compression which is usually more slow but in same time more effective than GZIP.

3. to extract just change key "c"(compress) in command options to "x"(extract) so the final command will look like this:
tar jxvf myarchive.tar.bz2
after executing this command myfile.txt would be extracted from archive and would be placed in same directory.

4. to compress in file using GZIP algorithm you need to use key "z" in options instead of "j" so command would look like this:
tar zcvf myarchive.tar.bz2 myfile.txt

to extract from archive just like in case with BZIP2 change key from "c" to "j"
tar zxvf myarchive.tar.bz2 myfile.txt

Hope it helps a bit, you may also find more information about working with archives in this thread in part called "Dealing with archives"

hope it will help out a bit.

[donecweb]

So in my baby step manner the jcvf, in the quote below, are the keys you are talking about, correct?

2. now let's compress it like this:
tar jcvf myarchive.tar.bz2 myfile.txt
this would create myarchive.tar.bz2 archive using BZIP2 compression which is usually more slow but in same time more effective than GZIP.

[SensoVision]

yes, it's keys or options, both terms seems to be used.

[SensoVision]

Don, so how things are going? Did you manage to get unpack program or run in some sort of problems?
I forgot to mention that if tar command doesn't work for some reason you could always use some GUI program like File-Roller.

[donecweb]

Not yet as I have been quite busy.

[SensoVision]

no problem. Just let me know when you got time and wish to continue.