updating an existing GNUstep installation (was: Re: FOSDEM Aftermath - the Hotel / Notes from preparing and giving my talk)

[Lars Sonchocky-Helldorf]

I am going to answer several mails at once, sorted by topic

Anfang der weitergeleiteten E-Mail:

> Von: Truls Becken <truls.becken@gmail.com>

> I could be wrong, but isn't this just ./configure; make; make install
> in each of -make, -base, -gui, and -back, plus making sure to source
> GNUstep.sh and to start gdomap on boot?

> Try sudo -E

Thanks Truls for this hint, that solved it (you see, I'm not a  
command line hero)



> Von: Wolfgang Lux <wolfgang.lux@gmail.com>

> In my experience, the best choice for installing GNUstep from  
> source is to start with gnustep-startup and use its ./ 
> InstallGNUstep script.



> Von: "Riccardo Mottola" <multix@ngi.it>

> Apart from that, if you have debian get all the dependencies for  
> you and then install your apps(without overwriting the existing  
> apps, but installing "from scratch" starting from core) it is  
> veryeasy: ./configure && make install works for whole core. I do it  
> all the time. It works for me on gentoo, debian, netbsd, openbsd,  
> freebsd and (partly, using stuff from sunfreeware) on solaris. YOu  
> can isntall in the system domain or in the local domain: it will  
> work both ways.



> Von: David Chisnall <theraven@sucs.org>

> This makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong.  To install  
> GNUstep on FreeBSD, I do this:
>
> 1) Install the gnustep-make port.
> 2) svn co the three core modules.
> 3) gmake each and gmake install as root.
> 4) Profit!!
>
> Am I missing out on some vital bits of understanding?  Is it more  
> difficult if you use the FHS layout (but why would you do that?)


> Von: Nicola Pero <nicola.pero@meta-innovation.com>

> I think this is the reason you got into trouble - you had already  
> an installation of GNUstep on your machine - from your distribution  
> -, and were trying
> to overwrite it with a new installation - from source.  That is  
> reasonably easy once you know how things work  
> "internally" (filesystem layouts etc),
> but it could definitely be confusing if it's your first  
> installation ;-)

> The standard and easy way to get this working under GNU/Linux is to  
> add
>
>  . /usr/GNUstep/System/Library/Makefiles/GNUstep.sh
>
> to your /etc/profile.




> Von: David Chisnall <theraven@sucs.org>

> I believe that a number of Linux distributions now include  
> something like this in /etc/profile:
>
> for I in /etc/profile.d/*
> do
>         source $I
> done
>
> On these systems, it would be nice to install (or symlink)  
> GNUstep.sh in /etc/profile.d.

Thanks David, this is actually the case on Ubuntu too, and I did  
exactly as you proposed now (remove the sourcing from /etc/ 
bash.bashrc and symlink GNUstep.sh in /etc/profile.d)



Thanks to everybody for all the tips, maybe I wasn't clear enough in  
my first mail (or I mixed up simply installing GNUstep with what I  
did): I wanted to update the existing GNUstep installation (e.g. what  
I installed with Synaptic). Nicola was right on the money with what  
he said: I first had to figure out where all the GNUstep stuff was  
gone in the sort of FHS layout Ubuntu uses (everything is smeared all  
over the place this way - did I mention I hate FHS?) and then find a  
way to pull the right strings and push the right switches to make  
everything end up in the place it should. This is - well - a special  
situation, not exactly what a beginner should face (but then again I  
often hear the advice to "install from SVN" here on the list when  
something doesn't work. So "updating an existing GNUstep installation  
from SVN" is maybe not so unusual). I also found out that without  
copying core/make/installation-domais.conf to /etc/GNUstep/ and  
editing it several things end up in /local/ subdirectories when doing  
a ./configure --with-layout=fhs-system in gnustep-make thus not  
overwriting the existing installation.

My idea here: have an simple option (for configure of gnustep-make?)  
that triggers an update of an existing installation exactly as it was  
before. Is something like this doable and realistic?

regards,

        Lars

P.S.: I have attached an (revised) list of commands I used to update  
my GNUstep installation on Ubuntu

Ubuntu_GNUstep_update_from_SVN.txt
Description: Text document