delorie.com/archives/browse.cgi   search  
Mail Archives: djgpp/1998/10/28/23:23:15

Sender: nate AT cartsys DOT com
Message-ID: <3637F9F2.F2A0F150@cartsys.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 21:15:30 -0800
From: Nate Eldredge <nate AT cartsys DOT com>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.05 [en] (X11; I; Linux 2.0.35 i486)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: Repost: Disgruntled DJGPP programmer, was Newbie Question
References: <717d46$cd6$1 AT nnrp1 DOT dejanews DOT com>
Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com

ajschrotenboer AT lycosmail DOT com wrote:
> 
> I have all the utilities you should need to build GNU pkgs, but I can
> never make them work.
> I hate to have to call myself a newbie, after having been in computers
> for over 7 years, but in this case
> (GNU GCC & DJGPP) I guess that I am.
> 
> The only pkg I have ever been able to successfully build is Allegro.
> Any GNU pkg I try to build gives me
> an error of some sort.
> 
> For example, I was trying (again) today to build EGCS 1.1b. I have
> flex, autoconf, bison, sed, bash, grep,
> shell utilities (I think this is it, shl112b.zip, off of
> simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu/), file utilities, plus all the stuff
> necessary to write and build my own programs.
> 
> When I ran make I got the following error: "Missing Separator (106)". I looked
> in the
> makefile, and went to line 106. The line had
> an extra hard return. This also occurred at other places, such as 502,
> and 700 something. for these I
> removed the hard return, but then the trouble lines went into stuff
> about language hooks, and no obvious
> place to move the line up to.

Did you perhaps edit the Makefile with some editor?  Make, as you may
know, requires action lines to start with actual tab characters, and
many editors are uncooperative about leaving such things alone.

Is that the verbatim error message?  Seems to me GNU Make messages
usually look a bit different.  Is it possible you have some other `make'
along your path?
 
> What is wrong? Is the DJGPP env't too different from std Linux and
> Unix configs????

Well, yes. :)  But nevertheless, the necessary changes should be there.
 
> Am I forever to need precompiled binaries??? Waiting for somebody w/ a
> cross-compiler and some time
> and the gumption to provide binaries for me to use. I'm considering
> Linux, but at this time it just isn't
> practical.

Most DJGPP stuff is compiled natively (the libc is an exception (DJ
prefers SGI's), but as of 2.02 it should build nicely).  Are you using
Windows, and do you have LFN=Y?  Many packages were ported on LFN
systems, and the porters did not always go to the trouble to make things
build on an 8+3 system (this can be quite a bit of work).  The
README.DOS's or equivalents should talk about this; have you read them?

I can't actually speak to EGCS since I've never used it in any
incarnation, but this is true of many other packages.  For me, I might
be more able to help if you were to try to compile some other package,
like for instance Fileutils, and report your problems.  I have had
experience with building it.  An assortment of other configuration info
is often helpful too; AUTOEXEC.BAT, contents of environment, output of
`go32-v2', type/version of OS, etc, etc.

> Right now I'm using PGCC 1.0.1. I know there is a 1.1, but I can't use
> it w/o being able to build it or
> finding a precompiled binary for DJGPP. And Andrew Crabtree has not
> built & released 1.1 yet, not that
> I have anything against him.
> 
> I'm sorry if I sound disgruntled, but that's because I am. I've been
> asking questions about various build
> problems for a while (GNU MP, EGCS). Now I admit that before a couple
> of days ago, I really didn't
> have all the utilities I needed. But now I do. And it still doesn't
> work.
> 
> I think it's really pitiful that they can't even make a proper makefile for
> the DJGPP platform. The configure script doesn't seem to work for me. The
> makefile that it creates doesn't work. Can anybody tell me what's
> wrong?????????????

The autoconf-generated configure scripts don't usually work on DJGPP
without some tweaking.  Eli has a list of tips for this; you may be able
to find it in the archives.  Often GNU packages come with a `config.bat'
which does the same for DOS-ish systems.

Don't expect much more than a proper binary compilation even in perfect
conditions; people rarely bother to get `make install' and such to work.

It's true: getting the binary out the door takes precedence for most
porters, and making the build easy tends to be secondary.  Regrettable,
IMHO, but better than nothing-- they're volunteers.
-- 

Nate Eldredge
nate AT cartsys DOT com

- Raw text -


  webmaster     delorie software   privacy  
  Copyright © 2019   by DJ Delorie     Updated Jul 2019