I've been fighting a whole day with UNIX utilities - so sorry if I appear confused! I'm describing my painful and (so far) fruitless process a little because maybe someone may correct me, or maybe describing the process might be helpful to someone later on. If you want to skip this, the question is bolded below.
So I'm trying to convert a Linux program developed using kdevelop. I'm trying to make it run on Windows 7. (This is the SHoUT Speech Took mentioned here, developed by Marijn Huijbregts).
I've wasted half a day trying to install kdevelop on Windows, only to understand that kdevelop can't run on Windows and that I've been installing KDE all that time :( (If kdevelop CAN run on Windows, information would be highly appreciated).
OK, so following the advice in SO's Best environment to port C/C++ code from Linux to Windows, I installed MinGW32 only to find out that SHoUT's makefile contains targets such as aclocal, autoheader etc. - I've come face to face with the hitherto unknown GNU Build System.
I'm now in the middle of installing GnuWin32 using GetGnuWin32. This is taking hours. And I suspect that once it finishes, I'll stumble on something else.
A day of pain - and still not one code line compiled :((.
So, I'm thinking about an alternative approach: Install Linux and run kdevelop as a cross-compiler to compile to Windows. As this is a console application, MAYBE it'll be easier.
So, finally, my question:
If I want to install Linux guest in VMWare Workstation (8, running on Windows 7 host), I understand I need a "distribution". I understand there's a ton of distributions, some free, some paid.
Which distribution should I choose which would run kdevelop and be as simple as possible? I just want to ##$$ing compile, and I can't stand one more day like this...
Avi
Edit:
I've tried compiling the code using VS - very tedious. Many differences between Linuix/GCC and windows/MSVC. Moreover, this is code deveoped by someone else, and I'm not even sure that the program sovles the business needs. So I've decided on the following process:
Configure Linux and run the software on Linux.
Validate that program solves business rule. If not - Abort.
Try cross oompiling on Linux. If running on Windows, verify by comparing outputs to those obtained on Linux. If good - Done.
Try compiling on Windows using ported Windows versions of the GNU Build tools. Use understanding and values obtained from building on the Linux target. If good - Done. Else
Abend and try another solution to the business problem, or try the MS tools (again using understanding and values obtained from building on the Linux target).
Many distributions are possible. Mandriva is KDE based.
But you can also install a Debian distribution, and install KDE in it.
I suggest to contact the ShOUT project community.
You should not cross-compile. MinGW can come handy but it is not required. What you need is to port the code and its dependencies to Windows, and there is nothing wrong if you use Visual Studio, for example.
I am using Ubuntu on VirtualBox OSE and through it use kdevelop and it runs seamlessly. Alternatively you can try kubuntu.
Why VirtualBox OSE - Free, Mature
It is easier to compile with MinGW on Windows than cross compile on Linux.
Build system... It could be quite easy to write Your own. Much easier than actual porting of C++ code. Could be even easier than using GNU Build System.
Please DON'T install Linux! It will take you another half a day and another questions asked here if you're doing it for the first time.
Just install VirtualBox and grab some VirtualBox image from some site. Kubuntu should be working fine with your KDE stuff: http://virtualboxes.org/images/kubuntu/
It will get you a running KDE Linux in just 5 minutes.
Related
I'm currently working on a Linux project. This project needs to run under every Linux distribution (without installing any package/libraries/others for the clients) and it's a bit hard to do it well.
I already tried to do it myself, see this, i have also tried to use CDE but it didn't work well since i got an error with some distribution. For example:
Ubuntu 8.04: Impossible to read the header ELF
Debian 7.8: version of GLIBC_2.14 not found
So, i would like to know if there is a way to get a package of my program who can run under every Linux distribution.
Thanks
Edit: I would like to avoid the static compilation, since my program is pretty big.
There are big differences between linux distributions, especially version of libraries and package management system.
The only way how to do it is to build/compile your project against all libraries you need to use statically, and distribute them with your project.
For example skype and ejabberd do it this way.
Just today i checked my ubuntu with installing wine in it ,
Delphi 3 to 7 worked perfectly (Rad studios did not work because they use .net scraps).
But all of the application i made worked perfectly!!!!!
And i heard that it also works well in mac with WineBottler
Is it possible to create a header linux executable and put my vcl application and requird wine stuff into it and distribute as a single executable (.bin)
there is(was) a solution for Linux from Borland, called Kylix. Kylix is based on some older Qt-stuff.
But I would give FreePascal/Lazarus a try, it's pretty cool! and the compiler compiles for many different platforms.
I guess this is what winelib is for. However I have never tried it. (Wasn't Kylix Delphi + winelib compiled for Linux?)
Since Wine is now stable (reached the 1.0 version some time ago), it could make sense to ask the user to install it using its Linux packages manager. It's very fast and easy. So Wine will be always up to date, according to the distribution used.
Then it's very easy to install any Windows program with Wine.
Since Delphi executables are mostly self-contained (if you don't use the BDE or some external database libraries), your clients will install your Delphi application alla "Windows" way, that is, by running a Setup program from Wine.
And it will work fine, as is.
Using WineLib is not a good idea, even not advised by Wine developers, as far as I remember. At least for closed-source software: in one or two years, perhaps you won't release another version of your program, but Wine and WineLib will have evolved a lot... If you use Wine as an external package, your client can be sure there will be some end user enhancements.
If your software is purely Open Source, then using WineLib could make sense. But even the WineLib headers can evolved, so perhaps your source won't evolve at the same speed...
I have about a few problems with a new install of the Qt SDK. I probably only need advice, but specific answers are also welcome. Before I begin a mini-story, I am running RHEL5 on academic license under VirtualBox on OSX 10.6. Using Qt version 4.5.3. This is my situation...
1.) I couldn't compile because g++ wasn't found. I fixed this by creating a link: g++ -> g++34. This allowed me to compile but it generated more errors at link-time. I had installed the framework in my home directory unintentionally so I uninstalled/reinstalled the entire SDK to /usr/local/qt.
2.) At this point I could compile but the linker complained about a missing freetype package. I had that already installed but wasn't sure why it couldn't be found. So I installed a few packages that I thought might be missing like libqt4-devel and libqt4-devel-debug. I also installed a few other general programming packages for later use.
3.) Somehwere in this process I can no longer run qmake. I ran it before and I have it installed at /usr/local/qt/qt/bin/qmake. I could create a link to it (though I shouldn't have to OR I could ensure that the location was in the PATH var). However, at this point Qt Creator says there's no Qt installation found. I re-pointed it to the installation location (using Tools/Options) but it still won't run qmake or anything else for that matter...
I only need this linux install to compile and test my Qt projects which I am developing in OSX. So my question is, should I just wipe this RHEL install and start over? And if so, should I use something else like Ubuntu? I am having plenty of hassles that I don't want to deal with as is. Note, this project will require good OpenGL support.
Is there a particular reason that you don't simply use the Qt package that's part of RHEL?
If for some reason you need to build your own, you can get all of the build dependancies with:
$ yum install yum-utils
$ yum-builddep <whatever the qt package's name is>
#scotchi is right, and you should try to use the Qt package that comes with your system unless you need a very different version. I don't know what version of Qt comes with RHEL but if its not up-to-date enough for you (and it might not be, see below) then you could consider changing OS versions. I would only do this after trying his suggestion though, because you may be able to get things working without the hassle of a full OS install.
Now, as to why you might want to switch: RHEL is, as its name ("Enterprise Linux") indicates aimed at companies who want to run servers, or large deployments of desktops. It emphasizes stability and reliability over being cutting edge. Fairly often the version of the compiler and development libraries lag a little behind the curve. This is what their clients want: a stable platform they can develop against and run programs on for a period of time, not constantly needing to keep up with the latest changes, and thoroughly tested. But for people doing development at home it may not be necessary to stay that conservative. I don't know if this is for work, school or personal programming, but it sounds to me like you should move to one of the more desktop-oriented distros. Ubuntu is great, as is Fedora. If you prefer a RHEL-like environment, then choose Fedora.
One of our projects is a cross-platform piece of code. We build it on Windows, Linux, and Solaris/SPARC mostly. Of the 3, we deal with Solaris the least and it's a maintenance pain to keep our SPARC box up and running and in general Solaris administration is not our competency.
A few years back I built a working cross-compiler for SPARC64 on Linux, and that part worked great. What stopped us from going forward was the last part of our build process, which involves building a Solaris package with pkgmk and pkgtrans.
I was never able to find a Linux solution for building pkg files that can be installed on SPARC Solaris -- does anyone know if one exists today?
I have personally used the tools from Heirloom project: http://heirloom.sourceforge.net/
The idea was to cross compile for Sparc on a faster Linux machine and build also the package.
I don't know that anyone has done the work to build it on Linux, but Sun has released the pkgmk sources as part of the OpenSolaris source base.
See https://hg.java.net/hg/solaris~on-src/file/tip/usr/src/cmd/svr4pkg/ for the source to the entire suite of SVR4 pkg* commands, though it may have dependencies on other libraries as well.
Before resorting to stackoverflow, i have spend a lot of times looking for the solutions. I have been a linux-user/developer for few years, now shifting to windows-7.
I am looking for seting-up a development environment (mainly c/c++/bash/python) on my windows machine. Solutions i tired -
VirtuaBox latest, with grml-medium (very light debian-based distro)
some how managed to install it in VBox, but lots of issues still regarding Guest-Additions, sharing files, screen-resolutions. Tired with it, now.
MinGW
installed it, added to %PATH%, along with GVIM. Now i can use powershell, run gvim, vim, and mingw from the shell as bash. But no manpages, its a lot of convenience to have them availble, locally and offline. But i think it gives me a gcc development
Do i need mySys now. i can installed it if it provides me with manpages and ssh.
Cygwin
Has avoided till now. But i think it will give me manpages, gcc-utils, python-latest.
Something called Interix.
any taker for that. is it recommened.
What are the best practices? What are you guys following, i dont have a linux-box to ssh to, well if Vbox things works fine at some point of it, i can then ssh to my VBox. I have lost of time setting it up, so abandoning it for a while.
I think only VirtualBox solution will let try things like IPtables, or other linux-system-frameworks.
I checked this
Best setup for Linux development from Windows?
do you recommend coLinux or its derivatives. If yes advices or consideration before i try that.
I recommend VirtualBox+Ubuntu. Cygwin just doesn't cut it for certain tasks and is in beta for Win7.
Here is what I do for Python development on Windows:
EasyEclipse for Python (includes eclipse, subclipse, pydev)
GNU Win32 Native Windows ports for GNU tools
Vim and Emacs (for non-IDE editing work)
I would see if MSysGit can provide what you want first. also since man pages aren't really anything hugely impressive... it might just be possible to just copy them. I've had problems with cygwin, although to be honest I'm not happy with MSys, MSysGit, or Cygwin. I wish someone would build one that was more... linux like. I would if I had to use windows every day, fortunately I only have to use windows sparingly.
IMO I'd say VirtualBox + Gentoo Linux + KDevelop4, Gentoo will give you the control you need over your environment.
I'm doing exactly the opposite of you, I have gcc/qt4 installed on wine to compile for windows and using Linux primarily.
If you want to do development of POSIX applications (mostly command line), with all the familiar Linux tools, then cygwin is your best bet.
It probably include everything you are used to.
But if you will try to do Windows development (anything with UI, drivers, services), then Visual Studio is really gold.
And in general Visual Studio is just great for anything, if you want to spend the time and money. Good IDE, great debugger. I highly recommend it. And if you are in Rome, do what the Romans do :-)
I would recommend Bloodshed DevC++ as a good basic non-microsoft specific Windows solution for developing ANSI C/C++ code. Personally I just use Visual Studio 2008 and ignore all the Microsoft specific extensions.
For Python there is the wonderful Komodo Edit software that is free, personally the IDE version is what I prefer, but I use an old 3.5.3 version that works for me. And they have a very popular Python package called ActivePython as well, that has a bunch of Windows specific extension modules.
Personally cygwin just feels and acts like a hack to me and is painful to setup and maintain. I think running Linux/Unix in a Virtual Machine is much less hassle if you are looking for a *nix environment. Getting a really genuine *nix environment feel is going to be very hard under Windows.
The following suggestions hold if you are not going to do complex template programming as the c++ IDE's other than visual studio SUCK, they cannot efficiently index modern C++ code (the boost library).
I would suggest using Netbeans (it has far better support for C++ than eclipse/CDT) with the following two build environments. Both are important if you want to cross-compile and test against POSIX and win32. This is not a silver-bullet, you should test on different variants of UNIX once in a while:
I would suggest installing Mingw and Msys for windows development, its nice when you can use awk, grep, sed etc on your code :D generative programming is easier with shell tools as well -- writing generative build scripts is a bitch to do effectively of the command line in windows (powershell might have changed this).
I would ALSO suggest installing Cygwin and using that on the side. Mingw is for programming against the win32 low-level API, Cygwin is for programming against the POSIX standard. Cygwin also compiles a lot of software that you would otherwise have to port.
Also once you get your project up and running you can use CMAKE as build environment, its the best thing since sliced bread :P You can get it to spit out build definition for anything and everything -- including visual studio.