[conspire] Breezy Badger/configure something

[Nick Moffitt]

On 03Jan2006 06:13PM (-0800), Rick Moen wrote:
> Hoping to close the loop:
> 
> > Why isn't gcc on my $PATH?  I know it's installed.
> 
> I'll bet it _isn't_.  Here's why I would guess that:
> http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-3642.html says...
[much ignorance of Ubuntu's/Debian's font of packaged software snipped]
> > Well... you can also obviously get it from their repository, in package
> > called 'build-essential', by simply running 'apt-get install build-essential'

Then Rick wrote again:
> "build-essential" is, if memory serves, a meta-package the installation
> of which pulls down onto your system a good selection of software-build
> tools.

I actually tend to ignore the actual package names used to install
development tools.  Why?  Because apt-get build-dep is a fantastic way
to install a *complete* set of build dependencies for a particular
package.

To make use of it, you first have to make sure that you have "deb-src"
entries in your /etc/apt/sources.list file.  For Ubuntu, there may be a
selection in the package management tools, but I typically do it
manually with lines such as the following:

deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy main
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy universe

Once these are installed, and "sudo apt-get update" run, it is possible
to install all of the necessary tools to build, say, vim by running
"sudo apt-get build-dep vim".  Note that this goes by source package
name and not the resulting binary package.  So running the build-dep
command just described will grab all the GNOME and TCL development
packages you can tolerate.

...but it will *also* install the full development toolchain, if needed.
It's very handy, and I often prime a new machine with a "sudo apt-get
build-dep glibc" just for sanity's sake.

-- 
"These people program the way Victorians dress.                Nick Moffitt
It takes two hours and three assistants to put on your   nick at teh.entar.net
clothes, and you have to change before dinner.
But everything is modular."    -- Miles Nordin, on PAM