So, I finally broke down over the weekend, getting so frustrated with a the GPU not powering up under Linux that I installed FG on Windows.
If I want to get FG last stable under Fedora 17, I have to compile it myself, only 2.6 is on the repo. The process is probably similar to compiling current GIT. Which took me more than 5 hours to get right, which means a normal user can't do it. I frequently use compilers, know the FG structure, can read scripting language, know RPMfinder and other tools... my wife is a normal Linux user who never in her life compiled anything. The problem isn't the obvious things - the problem are the implied things. Like cmake warns about libsvn not being installed and being needed for Terrasync. Now, I happen to know what Terrasync is, I also happen to know what libsvn is for, my wife doesn't. Searching on the 'Add software' tool for libsvn draws a blank, but I know that it stands for subversion, so I find it. I install boost, yet cmake throws an error that it can't find config files - WTF, I just installed it... Wait a minute, there's a different package which contains cmake support for boost, maybe if I install that as well? In the end, cmake runs through, but the compiler then bitches about its inability to find libXmu (or so)? So, I know what to do, I look for the lib in /usr/lib64, see what the name is. open CmakeCache.txt, look by what name cmake wants the lib to be identified, pass that as explicit parameter to cmake - voila, it finally compiles. Then I had the funny directory issues I metioned , but that was just me trying to do user install instead of system wide - self-inflicted, one might say. If anyone believes that a normal Linux user can install last stable FG this way, he's kidding himself. For Ubuntu, there's the download and compile script, I don't know how good that is and what it assumes about packages being installed - but since the package manager is different, sure doesn't work on Fedora. Now, I installed FG on windows. One package, double-click, I don't even need to know if I am on Windows Vista or Windows 7, one click to select the 64bit version, 30 seconds later I am on the runway. Want current GIT instead of 2.8.5 - no problem, just copied the 64bit binaries from Jenkins, copied my FGData, and I'm seeing the state of my latest merge request (copying 6.3 GB was the only delay here). Please don't get this wrong - I'm a Linux person to the bone. I like xterm, using command lines, the ability to see configuration files directly, the ability to use commands which actually do what I tell, and desktops free of 'Your computer is at risk!' and other attention-grabbing messages very much. But... why? Why do I need to make a song and dance to get the last stable under Linux when it works no fuss under Windows? Are we genuinely unable to provide a working generic 32 and a 64bit set of binaryies for Linux? I know that lib paths and versions are different across distribtions, but can't one simply compile the thing static? Of course it'll be much larger, but I have a 1 TB harddisk which is 10% full after I copied every last mp3 and movie from external storage device onto it - I don't mind if the binary is 20 times the size. I am genuinely at a loss here. A normal Linux user has practically no change to get last stable on his box running if it isn't in his distro - a normal Windows user gets everything nice and streamlined. Does anyone else understand this? * Thorsten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monitor your physical, virtual and cloud infrastructure from a single web console. Get in-depth insight into apps, servers, databases, vmware, SAP, cloud infrastructure, etc. Download 30-day Free Trial. Pricing starts from $795 for 25 servers or applications! http://p.sf.net/sfu/zoho_dev2dev_nov _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
