No subject

[Stevet at mississippi.water.ca.gov]

20 June 1997

   My Supervisor forwarded an E-Mail from the GRASS group concerning the
operation of GRASS on Linux OS up-grades.
   I  started  with an old version of Linux, installed GRASS  (from  the
port  that  "Andy" in Germany sold on CD) and worked my  way  through  a
couple of upgrades. My current Linux OS is ver> 2.0.27....

                  I still have no problems with GRASS!!

Using "Andy's" CD, I've never had a problem with GRASS. If I do a  "fix"
in  a script for LINUX/GRASS,  I then run that same script on  both  our
Sparc  compile of GRASS and our DEC compile of GRASS and  get  identical
results across all three. And people, that is as good as it gets.

A small history might help.
  I tried to upgrade to Slackware 3.2 (the 4-disk set from Walnut  Creek
CDROM),  but  a number of things didn't work very well and some  not  at
all. I am a member of a "book of the month" type club and timing can  be
everything. I had ordered a tile:  "The LINUX Internet Server" by  Kevin
Reichard (Patrick Volkerding contributing); The MIS Press, 115 West 18th
Street,   NY,NY  10011,  http://www.mispress.com;   ISBN   1-55828-545-8
copyright 1997; price marked as $40 (US dollars). It arrived while I was
cursing the Slackware 3.2 problems and there was a CD-ROM in the book. I
used it and my problems with LINUX went away. I then re-loaded GRASS and
I do not have any GRASS problems.
  I  do NOT use the g++ or any other compiler that wants to be COBOL.  I
only  load (from the OS) just what is needed and seldom  anything  else.
Just  as no one car can be both a Formulae One and an off-road  vehicle,
the  same is true of your computer configuration. Keep it "lean, mean  &
to the point" and you will have far less problems.
  Also  keep in mind that UNIX is not a true OS. It is a  community,  at
best.  Don't  adopt their standards. Instead, be  efficient.  Keep  your
things  in tight (don't get scattered around). Use names and paths  that
are   consistent   with   iso-9660   standards   (cd-roms)   and    file
sharing/distribution problems disappear.  (but teacher said....) OK, the
professor  at  university may well be a walking enceclopedia.  This  was
valuable  before  the time of books. Professors live in  a  vacuum  like
books  on a shelf and I've never seen an encyclopedia build a  bridge  I
would walk across.
   And  lastly  - approach all things today cited as "NEW  &/or  BETTER"
with total distrust. (It usually means - "You get to debug it because  I
wouldn't/couldn't".)  The Missouri State slogan is "Show Me!". Adopt it.
Demand it.

Steven L. Turner  LLS        stevet at water.ca.gov
GIS Tech. Support
Land & Water Use Unit
Statewide Planning Section
Division of Planning and Local Assistance
Department of Water Resources
State of California
1416 9th Street, Rm 150
Sacramento, CA  95814