Installing SLIB 3b1 with Guile 1.8.6 (to work with Gnucash 2.8.8) [SOLVED]

Installing SLIB 3b1 with Guile 1.8.6 (to work with Gnucash 2.8.8) [SOLVED]

[Tom Browder]

I have successfully gotten slib version 3b1 to work with guile 1.8.6.
The following instructions from paragraph 6.6.1 of the guile 1.8.6
manual (http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/manual/html_node/SLIB-installation.html#SLIB-installation)
have been corrected according to my experience (Centos 5.2, x86_64):

[Note that instructions need to be updated to work with slib 3b1; note also
that the link to the SLIB installation is broken.]

==========

6.1.1 SLIB installation

The following procedure works, e.g., with SLIB version 3b1 (see SLIB
installation):

   1. Unpack SLIB and install it using make install from its directory. By
      default, this will install SLIB in /usr/local/lib/slib/. Running make
      installinfo installs its documentation, by default under
      /usr/local/info/.

   2. Create a symlink in the Guile directory to SLIB, e.g.:

                mkdir -p /usr/local/share/guile/site
                ln -s /usr/local/lib/slib /usr/local/share/guile/site/slib

   3. Use Guile to create the catalog file, e.g.,:

                # guile
                guile> (use-modules (ice-9 slib))
                guile> (require 'new-catalog)
                guile> (quit)

      The catalog data should now be in /usr/local/share/guile/site/slibcat.

      If instead you get an error such as:

          Unbound variable: scheme-implementation-type

      then a solution is to get a newer version of Guile, or to modify
ice-9/slib.scm to use define-public for the offending variables.

   4. Test the installation by executing the following at the command line:

                guile -c "(use-modules (ice-9 slib)) (require 'printf)"

==========

Notice that the instructions for setting environment variables, for
some reason, did not work for me.  I have seen several other threads
from other folks who have had the same experience, i.e., environment
variables not working.

Notice also that the directory /usr/local/share/guile/site was not
produced during the guile installation, and putting the slib directory
under /usr/local/share/guile/1.8 didn't work either.

I hope someday to know enough about the two packages to find out why
the interface is not more robust.

Good luck slib users, especially those trying to install gnucash from source!

Cheers,

-Tom

Tom Browder
Niceville, Florida
USA

Re: Installing SLIB 3b1 with Guile 1.8.6 (to work with Gnucash 2.8.8) [SOLVED]

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi,

Tom Browder <tom.browder@gmail.com> writes:

> [Note that instructions need to be updated to work with slib 3b1; note also
> that the link to the SLIB installation is broken.]

IIUC, the only differences is that you used .../guile/site instead of
../guile/1.8, and that you removed the reference to
$SCHEME_LIBRARY_PATH, is this correct?

Note of these is supposed to make any difference, from which I conclude
the instructions in Guile's manual are already correct.  :-)

> 6.1.1 SLIB installation
>
> The following procedure works, e.g., with SLIB version 3b1 (see SLIB
> installation):

The important point with this sentence is that SLIB is third-party
software, so it's the section of the SLIB manual referenced here that
has the last word anyway.

> Notice also that the directory /usr/local/share/guile/site was not
> produced during the guile installation

To me more precise, it's $datarootdir/guile/site and
$datarootdir/guile/1.8 that are produced.  So if you choose
$datarootdir_!=_/usr/local/share, then no, that directory is not
created---but it's not in Guile's `%load-path' either.

Thanks,
Ludo'.

Re: Installing SLIB 3b1 with Guile 1.8.6 (to work with Gnucash 2.8.8) [SOLVED]

[Tom Browder]

On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 7:33 AM, Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> wrote:

Hi, Ludo', thanks for the response.

...
> Tom Browder <tom.browder@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> [Note that instructions need to be updated to work with slib 3b1; note also
>> that the link to the SLIB installation is broken.]
>
> IIUC, the only differences is that you used .../guile/site instead of
> ../guile/1.8, and that you removed the reference to
> $SCHEME_LIBRARY_PATH, is this correct?
>
> Note of these is supposed to make any difference, from which I conclude
> the instructions in Guile's manual are already correct.  :-)

Well, the instructions I removed were ones I tried and they didn't
work, so I don't think they should go in the manual.

>> 6.1.1 SLIB installation
>>
>> The following procedure works, e.g., with SLIB version 3b1 (see SLIB
>> installation):
>
> The important point with this sentence is that SLIB is third-party
> software, so it's the section of the SLIB manual referenced here that
> has the last word anyway.

Its instructions don't work, either.

>> Notice also that the directory /usr/local/share/guile/site was not
>> produced during the guile installation
>
> To me more precise, it's $datarootdir/guile/site and
> $datarootdir/guile/1.8 that are produced.  So if you choose
> $datarootdir_!=_/usr/local/share, then no, that directory is not
> created---but it's not in Guile's `%load-path' either.

Not correct for guile 1.8.6, I used the defaults,
/usr/local/share/guile/site was not produced.

Cheers,

-Tom

Re: Installing SLIB 3b1 with Guile 1.8.6 (to work with Gnucash 2.8.8) [SOLVED]

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi,

Tom Browder <tom.browder@gmail.com> writes:

> On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 7:33 AM, Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> wrote:

>> The important point with this sentence is that SLIB is third-party
>> software, so it's the section of the SLIB manual referenced here that
>> has the last word anyway.
>
> Its instructions don't work, either.

Then it's an SLIB bug that ought to be reported.

>> To me more precise, it's $datarootdir/guile/site and
>> $datarootdir/guile/1.8 that are produced.  So if you choose
>> $datarootdir_!=_/usr/local/share, then no, that directory is not
>> created---but it's not in Guile's `%load-path' either.
>
> Not correct for guile 1.8.6, I used the defaults,
> /usr/local/share/guile/site was not produced.

Hmm, you're right, sorry for the confusion.  Anyway, the ../1.8
directory is usually populated only by Guile-provided files, while
../site is where third-party modules should be installed.

Thanks,
Ludo'.

Re: Installing SLIB 3b1 with Guile 1.8.6 (to work with Gnucash 2.8.8) [SOLVED]

[Tom Browder]

On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 12:40 PM, Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> wrote:
...
> Tom Browder <tom.browder@gmail.com> writes:
...
>> On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 7:33 AM, Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> wrote:
>
>>> The important point with this sentence is that SLIB is third-party
>>> software, so it's the section of the SLIB manual referenced here that
>>> has the last word anyway.
>>
>> Its instructions don't work, either.
>
> Then it's an SLIB bug that ought to be reported.

Okay, I'll do that., Ludo'.

Regards,

-Tom