[GRASSLIST:8760] Re: install grass 6.0.1 under ubuntu 5.4

[David Finlayson]

Grass works well under Ubuntu, but I've found installing grass is a
bit tedious because the shared libraries have slightly different names
than are found on the typical RPM-based distros on which the binaries
are developed. The trick is to set up sim links between what GRASS
wants to see and the libraries you actually have installed. The SECOND
time you do this, it takes about 5 minutes...

1) Download the tarball from the grass site. If you want the latest
and greatest go here:

http://grass.itc.it/grass61/binary/linux/snapshot/

2) Then follow the special directions for Debian-based distros on the README:

http://grass.itc.it/grass61/binary/linux/snapshot/README.html

There is a list of required/recommended libraries in the readme. Go
down the list and type:

sudo apt-get install <name of library>

Use the Debian names for the libraries (they are shown in parenthesis)

3) Then cd into /usr/lib and start creating sim-links as described in
the README. Usually, the only difference is that Debian/Ubuntu have
extra digits for the version number, but grass will need the exact
name in order to run (hence the sim links).

Fire up grass and watch for errors that indicate it couldn't find a
library. You probably missed one above (or the maintainers of the
readme did) and you will need to go through steps 2 and 3 again for
that library.

The next time you upgrade grass, the process goes much faster because
the libraries and simlinks are mostly already in place.

If you wouldn't mind writing down the exact steps you took to get it
installed, we could post that to the Wiki for future Ubuntu users.
I've had grass installed for so long that I don't know what is
required of a fresh Ubuntu user to get it working. I am putting
together a script to compile Grass on Ubuntu from CVS source. But
there again, I don't know which libraries were originally missing.

One cool thing about going through all this is that you are no longer
dependent on Ubuntu to update their copy of GRASS when a new feature
you need is released. Also, it is not much more difficult to compile
grass from source (basically more of the same with the development
libraries) which opens up the possibility of making small
modifications to programs you use frequently (like changing the
default color for symbols or something like that).

If you have any troubles, email the list and I will help you out if I
can. I'm pretty happy with Ubuntu and would like to see GRASS work
well with it.

David






On 10/26/05, pmarc <paulomarcondes at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2005/10/26, Maning Sambale <esambale at yahoo.com>:
> > But, how can I install grass 6.0.1 under ubuntu 5.4?
> > I'm trying the synpatic package manager and i can't
> > seem to make the deb repository syntax correct?
> > Please help.
>
> Under debian, your /etc/apt/sources.list should look like
>
> deb http://your.preferred.repo [stable|testing|unstable] main contrib non-free
>
> it should be "almost" the same, except for the version's name.
>
> Are you using the universe repo? Try that.
> --
> Paulo Marcondes
> http://rj.debianbrasil.org
>
>


--
David Finlayson
Marine Geology & Geophysics
School of Oceanography
Box 357940
University of Washington
Seattle, WA  98195-7940
USA

Office: Marine Sciences Building, Room 112
Phone: (206) 616-9407
Web: http://students.washington.edu/dfinlays