Tell me more ×
Super User is a question and answer site for computer enthusiasts and power users. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 3 down vote favorite

My actual problem is: How do I install the Python module for Gnash?

But apart from that, what basic concept am I not understanding about installing packages on Linux?

I am used to installing packages using package managers – mostly apt-get and zypper. I have occasionally installed from source, often with no trouble. However I recently installed Gnash and discovered that it has a Python binding that must be compiled from source and this has led down a rabbithole making me feel stupider at each turn.

First, I attempt do a ./configure --enable-python in the gnash source dir. This ends up failing with an error that

package pygtk-codegen-2.0 isn't found

The lead developer, Rob Savoye, was kind enough to point me at packages.debian.org, telling me I just need to locate this package. After many failed searches, I found that the python-gtk2-dev package contains this ... file? script? Great, but I couldn't figure out how to obtain the python-gtk2-dev package. It doesn't exist in any of my openSUSE configured repositories.

So I headed to the GNOME site and searched, found that the PyGTK package contains pygtk-codegen. Download the tarball, cd, ./configure, and this fails because I don't have GLIB. After some more searching I use zypper to install glib2-devel (libglib-2.0 was already installed), and now PyGTK fails to configure because I don't have GObject.

Find that, download tarball, cd, ./configure, fail. I don't have gobject-introspection-1.0, apparently. I DO have gobject-introspection installed, and it's version is ≥ 1.0, but that's what the script says.

So I will readily admit I am new to Linux, but I have to be missing some basic step here. Can anyone give me a clue about any of the above? Is it normal to have to install one dependency after another like this? Is OpenSUSE the wrong distro? What would make this process not so horrible?

share|improve this question
Now I'm not very familiar with SUSE but I did some searching and it looks like there is a package out there for gobject-introspection. Have you tried using the package manager to install it? – Mike Keller Aug 5 '11 at 15:55
@Mike I actually have that package installed, which is one of the many maddening things. That particular configure script complains that I do not have "gobject-introspection-1.0", though my version is > 1.0. Part of what I'm asking is whether source installations are usually this finicky and I should get used to it, or perhaps whether I'm going about it wrong. – Jason Boyd Aug 5 '11 at 21:00
It sounds like you are going about it the wrong way. Honestly when possible if you are already using packages it's best not to start compiling additional items. Because a) it's not registered with the package manager b) it subverts part of the point of the package manager. If you can find a package that solves the dependency that's the best bet, it shouldn't make its way into the package repository unless all of it's dependencies are available there as well. Did you try out TehNthDegree's suggestion? – Mike Keller Aug 8 '11 at 20:49

migrated from stackoverflow.com Aug 5 '11 at 9:17

2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

First of all, you should add the "Packman" repository for Opensuse. Packman is the largest 3rd party build service for opensuse packages. See this list for additional Opensuse repositories. I recommend using "zypper" for package management, but yast will also work just fine.

Add packman to zypper (as the root user) like:

zypper ar http://packman.inode.at/suse/openSUSE_11.4 packman11.4

Then, you need to find and install the python-gtk and python-gtk-devel packages. Use zypper search to find the exact packages names before installing (I don't know them off the top of my head)

zypper search python-gtk
zypper install python-gtk-xx, python-gtk-dev-xx

Installing these packages should resolve your dependency problems

share|improve this answer
thanks. I actually already have the packman repository, and IIRC (I'm at work right now so can't check) python-gtk was not being found. I wonder if something is configured incorrectly? I had refreshed the repositories, plus the packages in question are quite old. I'll try this again when home. – Jason Boyd Aug 9 '11 at 17:21
up vote 0 down vote

You can use software.opensuse.org to search a package you need. You can add repository to your system using zypper or just using 1-Click-Install provided in the search result.

share|improve this answer
I'll take a look at whether I have that repository. I assumed that opensuse would install with the major repositories, at least pure open source ones. But from people's suggestions, sounds like having the right repositories may be the solution. – Jason Boyd Aug 9 '11 at 17:22

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.