Ralph Shumaker wrote: > Gus Wirth wrote: >> Ralph Shumaker wrote: >> [snip] >> >>> yum only installs up to the official stable version (1.6.3). One of the >>> developers of gnumeric said that they are no longer supporting that >>> version or the print problems in it and suggested that I move to version >>> 1.7.91 for which there is no rpm that I could find. 1.6.3 prints thru >>> gnome's print system whereas 1.7.90 and later print thru gtk+, >>> supposedly eliminating many of the printing problems in gnumeric. >>> >> >> Why aren't you using a spec file to build this package? >> > > I don't know what a spec file is. I wasn't aware of it until now.
A spec file is the "recipe" for building software on a rpm based system. It is a single file that specifies what the sources are, where they came from (URL), name, description, patches, special options to configure and installation. A single source package can be broken up into multiple binary packages depending on need. Read the book "Maximum RPM" which can be found online at <http://www.rpm.org/max-rpm-snapshot/>. There are some things out of date. Do NOT follow the advice about using the default system directories for doing builds. You should set up build directories under your own home directory. See this page <http://www.rpm.org/max-rpm-snapshot/s1-rpm-anywhere-different-build-area.html> for instructions. >> There might not be a spec file yet but you can use the one from the >> current package and then modify it. I do that all the time with things >> like the WINE packages. >> > > 'the current package' being what? gnumeric? one of the packages I've > already yum-installed? If gnumeric, which version? the one already > installed and working? or the one I'm trying to get to work? The current source package of gnumeric-1.6.3. If you can't build that then you won't be able to build the new one. >> You might want to practice with the existing package. Set up a personal >> build environment, install the source and then build the package. That >> will help you understand how things work, and the source package for >> Fedora may have patches which your source tarball doesn't include. >> > > 'Set up a personal build environment'? 'install the source'? I think > this is what I've done, or have been attempting to do. I've downloaded > the gnumeric-1.7.91.tar.bz2 > <http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/gnumeric/1.7/gnumeric-1.7.91.tar.bz2> > package into its very own directory 'gnumeric-1.7.91'. From there, I > extracted the only item in the bz2, namely the gnumeric-1.7.91 directory > along with its contents. The directory I'm working from is > '~/unpack/gnumeric-1.7.91/gnumeric-1.7.91'. I did a cd into that > directory and have been performing ./configure from there. > And I don't quite grasp what you are saying 'and the source package for > Fedora may have patches ...'. 'source package from Fedora'? No, please read the book. Right now you have no clue. It will take a while for you to learn enough to do this. I highly recommend working through the samples in the book. The only reason I know this stuff is because I have read the book and have been rebuilding packages for several years. > My goal is to get gnumeric 1.7.91 installed and working. If I have to > learn more than I ever wanted to know about ./configure and ./make and > ./make install, then so be it. I may forget parts of it later, but it > will be easier the next time I need to do it. You have a long road ahead. Gus -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
