Re: Mixing tarballs and RPMs

[Tom Gilbert <gilbertt tomgilbert freeserve co uk>]

On Sat, 12 Jun 1999 jlh@geodesic.com wrote:

->Thanks.  I probably shouldn't call it a bug, but when a
->simple change, like compiling the latest advertised gnome-libs
->with default parameters, can completely destroy the desktop
->environment it should be called something more than
->"expected behavior".
->
->I followed your advice and _almost_ got a working gnome back.
->At least the task bar looks reasonable, and I can launch gnome-terminal
->and netscape from their correct icons.  But the gnome menu never
->fully recovered, and I can't set parameters in the "desktop settings"
->menu at all.
->
->I also tried to just reinstall from the RH 6.0 cdrom all of the
->gnome and control files, but that doesn't help either.  I'm now
->going to completely reinstall RH 6.0, and that's a big problem.
->It should not be that hard to save/restore state, but at least
->next time I know that I'll either have to set up a complete
->gnome-tarball installation, or just install from official RPMs.
->
->Thanks for your help,
->
->John

It shouldn't come to such drastic action as that. I'd hesitate to
reinstall redhat. You have a huge number of options still available before
that! Anyway, if you choose to stick with 'official' redhat stuff, you'll
be going a loooong while between updates.

I run a rh6 box, but I get the latest tarballs of software whenever I
need. Its not that big a deal. Linux is *not* like windows, you *don't*
blow out an entire operating system, 'cos a piece of software isn't set up
right. (Although people do that *far* too often in windows anyway).

One option if you don't want to fix your existing setup is to check out
ftp://ftp.inconnect.com/pub/unix/linux/redhat-6.0/contrib-updates/
this guy keeps right up to date, and, though 'unofficial', these rpms have
never failed me. Just install them as you would any other. Your
dependencies are sorted for you, and they install to the custom redhat
prefix.

The preferable option is to fix your current setup. Don't give up on it,
this is an oppurtunity to learn how it works. Learn from your
mistake. (And yes, it *was* a mistake, not a bug :-)). Blowing it away and
starting again won't teach you anything (except the install routine - off
by heart).

If you you did a complete "make uninstall" of gnome-core and libs before
installing again to the correct prefix, much of the work is done for you.
There are some things to look at to fix your remaining problems. (You did
do a "make clean" before re-configuring for the new prefix didn't you?).

If your Gnome menu is out of order, check it out. It should be found (on a
redhat system) in /usr/share/gnome/apps.
You may have it stuck in /usr/local/share/gnome/apps after the initial
mis-install. If so, su to root and move it.

If you can't make changes to certain preferences, check the permissions on
the files that store those permissions. After installing to the wrong
prefix, you may now find preferences loaded from the wrong place, or saved
to the wrong place. The best thing to do is have a good look through
/usr/local and /usr/local/share and blow away any gnome stuff that may be
hanging around from the previous mis-install.

Try running the config-tools from an xterm, so you can examine the stdout
and stderr. Open an xterm and type session-properties-capplet and see what
output you get when it tries to save your settings. These should highlight
any remaining problems.

You gnome-session may be trying to load stuff from /usr/local/... after
the mis-install, so a good idea would be to "rm -rf ~/.gnome*" - this is
an extreme measure however, and should only be done if necessary, you will
lose any customisations you have made. Do this if nothing else works. The
cleaner way is not to blow these directories away, but to go in and edit
stuff like ~/.gnome/session to remove incorrect references. Your call.

There's loads more.

<rant>
Blowing away an entire Redhat installation of over one
thousand assorted applications because one of them isn't quite right is
more than extreme. It makes me angy to hear stuff like this. Its
unnecessary and a shame to see. Especially when the fault is
technically yours for not reading the docs before installing. Just doing a
./configure --help before you started would have avoided all of this.

We all make mistakes, I'm not calling names or being rude. I've done it
myself. But I didn't blame gnome, I didn't call it a bug, and I didn't
blame Redhat.

If you were running Windows, and you tried to install microsoft office 97
onto your floppy disk drive instead of you c:\ drive, you wouldn't call
Microsoft and accuse them would you?

Your comment at the top about unexpected behaviour *is* unfair. The
./configure script does a hell of a lot, and is very smart, but it is
*not* phsycic. It cannot read your mind. If you call configure with no
arguements, it has to make a guess, and for most people, /usr/local is a
good place to default to. Redhat is not linux. It is a distribution of
GNU/Linux, which also happens to come in 20 or so other distributions, and
runs on more hardware configurations and platforms than should technically
be feasible.

Be thankful for gnome, and admit your own mistakes. Its ok to make them.
</rant>

Tom.

-- 
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   | Tom Gilbert, England                        pingu@linuxfreak.com |
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