Re: FVWM: XFree86 upgrade: fvwm2 and libXpm.so.4

From: Paul D. Smith <pausmith_at_nortelnetworks.com>
Date: 24 May 2000 13:15:38 -0400

There have been a lot of questions and answers, I just wanted to note a
few things:

 1) My opinion is that the method you used to upgrade X wasn't optimal.
    There are a ton of things installed in the typical /usr/X11R6 which
    don't come with X itself. I suspect you'll find that xpm is just
    the tip of the iceberg for missing tools and libraries.

    What I would recommend, if you can't or don't want to use your
    package management system to do the upgrade (which would be my first
    choice) is that you make a complete _copy_ of your existing
    /usr/X11R6 directory, as a backup. Then install the new one _on top
    of_ your existing hierarchy, instead of separately.

    That way you should keep all your existing libraries, plus add the
    new ones (they're all different .so versions, etc.), and get all the
    new servers and standard X apps while still keeping the ones that
    don't come with X.

 2) Xpm uses Imake which... well, let's face it, Imake sucks. That's
    why it's so much more obscure and difficult to build than your
    typical autoconf package. But, since Xpm is almost always provided
    pre-built these days it just doesn't seem worthwhile to fix it.

 3) The reason Xpm doesn't run ldconfig on install is that many systems
    don't have or need it, and Xpm builds on any X-based system. Also,
    ldconfig requires root permissions and many people don't install as
    root. I agree it _could_ be added to the docs as a "you may need
    to..." note, but... see #2 :).

 4) You don't need the libXpm.a file, unless you want to build Xpm
    statically into an app. The .a files are not used in any way during
    dynamic linking.

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Paul D. Smith <psmith_at_baynetworks.com>         Network Management Development
 "Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   These are my opinions---Nortel Networks takes no responsibility for them.
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Received on Wed May 24 2000 - 12:16:09 BST

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