Re: guile-2.0.11 installation on system with 2.0.5

[Federico Beffa <beffa@ieee.org>]

Chris Vine <chris@cvine.freeserve.co.uk> writes:

> On Sun, 14 Sep 2014 21:16:39 -0400
> mhw@netris.org wrote:
>> Federico Beffa <beffa@ieee.org> writes:
>>
>> > Neil Jerram <neil@ossau.homelinux.net> writes:
>> >
>> >>
>> >> This is just a guess, but what happens if you do this:
>> >>
>> >> $ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib /usr/local/bin/guile
>> >>
>> >> Regards,
>> >>      Neil
>> >
>> > With this it works!
>> >
>> > I notice that there is an /etc/ld.so.cache file. Do I somehow need
>> > to update it?
>>
>> Yes, you update it by running "ldconfig" as root.  This needs to be
>> done when installing libraries outside of your package manager, not
>> only for Guile, but for essentially all packages containing libraries.
>
> I would not recommend doing that where the OP has two _binary
> compatible_ versions of the same library in different prefixes (as he
> appears to have), otherwise the one which will be found and linked in
> will depend on the dynamic linker's look-up order from
> reading /etc/ld.so.conf.  This could be the old micro version where in
> a given case the OP in fact wants the new one, or conversely the new
> micro version where he in fact wants the old one.
>
> Presumably in the general case he wants the micro version supplied by
> the distribution's package manager to be linked in, otherwise he would
> simply have replaced that one with the (binary compatible) newer
> version of the same library.  Presumably also he wants the updated
> version which he has installed to be linked in instead only when
> specially called.  If that is right, he is much better off putting his
> updated version in a directory which is _not_ specified
> in /etc/ld.so.conf, and invoking it on the occasions when he does not
> want the general case to apply by setting the LD_LIBRARY_PATH
> environmental variable for that invocation.  Then he is guaranteed to
> have the correct version loaded in.
>
> Chris

Your guess is correct: The distribution that I'm using (Debian wheezy)
ships 2.0.5 as the newest guile version and I need to keep it to satisfy
dependencies of other distribution supplied packages.  However, I would
like to experiment with a newer version of guile. I will then follow
your advice and install it in a different directory.

Thanks for all the explanations!
Regards,
Fede