RFC: don't ask users to do 'sudo make install'

RFC: don't ask users to do 'sudo make install'

[Justus Winter]

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Hey everyone,

I just noticed that running configure says:

> All required packages were found. You may now run the following
> commands to compile and install notmuch:
>
>        make
>        sudo make install

I think that this is a very poor advice in general and we shouldn't
give it to users. I know that the default prefix is /usr/local, but
installing notmuch this way makes it very hard to uninstall it later
(there is no uninstall target).

If someone decides to install notmuch from source and later on using
his or her favorite package manager, the once installed notmuch in
/usr/local will still be found and before the one in /usr and thus be
preferred.

Maybe we should mention stow (https://www.gnu.org/s/stow/)?

Justus

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love u alot @,@

Re: RFC: don't ask users to do 'sudo make install'

[Tomi Ollila]

On Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:25:45 +0100, Justus Winter <4winter@informatik.uni-hamburg.de> wrote:
> Hey everyone,
> 
> I just noticed that running configure says:
> 
> > All required packages were found. You may now run the following
> > commands to compile and install notmuch:
> >
> >        make
> >        sudo make install
> 
> I think that this is a very poor advice in general and we shouldn't
> give it to users. I know that the default prefix is /usr/local, but
> installing notmuch this way makes it very hard to uninstall it later
> (there is no uninstall target).

Too bad there is no better 'default' way to do things -- 
configure - make - make install is the way most software provides
their installation sequence.

But where does 'sudo make install' work by default? on Ubuntu, on
new Fedoras. Where else ?

The 'uninstall target' is also hard problem as it would require configured
source directory (and possibly information gathered during installation
to know what to uninstall) -- To do a separate uninstallation too that is
installed during notmuch installation would be something I don't remember
seeing done in unix environments ever...

> If someone decides to install notmuch from source and later on using
> his or her favorite package manager, the once installed notmuch in
> /usr/local will still be found and before the one in /usr and thus be
> preferred.

Hmm, I've screwed my PATH setting as there usr/local/* comes after /usr/* ;/

> Maybe we should mention stow (https://www.gnu.org/s/stow/)?

Hmm, in addition to mentioning it there should be step-by-step
information how to proceed with it to compile and install notmuch
(and all the prerequisities required) using stow. That should not
be too hard -- just log the installation steps. Maybe SomeBody(TM)
takes some effort there ?

> 
> Justus

Tomi

Re: RFC: don't ask users to do 'sudo make install'

[Rainer M Krug]

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On 07/12/11 14:37, Tomi Ollila wrote:
> On Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:25:45 +0100, Justus Winter
> <4winter@informatik.uni-hamburg.de>
> wrote:
>> Hey everyone,
>> 
>> I just noticed that running configure says:
>> 
>>> All required packages were found. You may now run the
>>> following commands to compile and install notmuch:
>>> 
>>> make sudo make install
>> 
>> I think that this is a very poor advice in general and we
>> shouldn't give it to users. I know that the default prefix is
>> /usr/local, but installing notmuch this way makes it very hard to
>> uninstall it later (there is no uninstall target).
> 
> Too bad there is no better 'default' way to do things -- configure
> - make - make install is the way most software provides their
> installation sequence.

Because of these problems, I use checkinstall to create a deb file ( I
am using Ubuntu) which I can then un-install again if I want to, or
update, or anything the package manager can do.

Rainer

> 
> But where does 'sudo make install' work by default? on Ubuntu, on 
> new Fedoras. Where else ?
> 
> The 'uninstall target' is also hard problem as it would require
> configured source directory (and possibly information gathered
> during installation to know what to uninstall) -- To do a separate
> uninstallation too that is installed during notmuch installation
> would be something I don't remember seeing done in unix
> environments ever...
> 
>> If someone decides to install notmuch from source and later on
>> using his or her favorite package manager, the once installed
>> notmuch in /usr/local will still be found and before the one in
>> /usr and thus be preferred.
> 
> Hmm, I've screwed my PATH setting as there usr/local/* comes after
> /usr/* ;/
> 
>> Maybe we should mention stow (https://www.gnu.org/s/stow/)?
> 
> Hmm, in addition to mentioning it there should be step-by-step 
> information how to proceed with it to compile and install notmuch 
> (and all the prerequisities required) using stow. That should not 
> be too hard -- just log the installation steps. Maybe SomeBody(TM) 
> takes some effort there ?
> 
>> 
>> Justus
> 
> Tomi

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Re: RFC: don't ask users to do 'sudo make install'

[David Bremner]

On Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:05:02 +0100, Rainer M Krug <R.M.Krug@gmail.com> wrote:

> Because of these problems, I use checkinstall to create a deb file ( I
> am using Ubuntu) which I can then un-install again if I want to, or
> update, or anything the package manager can do.

Note that in recent versions of notmuch, "make debian-snapshot" is
probably a better option than checkinstall, since it uses the "official"
debian packaging that ships with notmuch.

I don't know how practical/useful it is to support something similar for
other distros / OSes, but we could certainly consider it.

d

Re: RFC: don't ask users to do 'sudo make install'

[Rainer M Krug]

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On 07/12/11 15:34, David Bremner wrote:
> On Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:05:02 +0100, Rainer M Krug
> <R.M.Krug@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Because of these problems, I use checkinstall to create a deb
>> file ( I am using Ubuntu) which I can then un-install again if I
>> want to, or update, or anything the package manager can do.
> 
> Note that in recent versions of notmuch, "make debian-snapshot" is 
> probably a better option than checkinstall, since it uses the
> "official" debian packaging that ships with notmuch.

Interesting. I assume, I have to do

./configure
make
make debian-snapshot

but this resulted in the following error:

dpkg-buildpackage: warning: (Use -d flag to override.)
debuild: fatal error at line 1348:
dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -D -us -uc failed
make: *** [debian-snapshot] Error 29

I also tried it with the sudo afterwards, but I got the same error, so
I used checkinstall again and it worked without problems:


sudo checkinstall --fstrans=yes


But why did I get this error?

Rainer


> 
> I don't know how practical/useful it is to support something
> similar for other distros / OSes, but we could certainly consider
> it.
> 
> d


- -- 
Rainer M. Krug, PhD (Conservation Ecology, SUN), MSc (Conservation
Biology, UCT), Dipl. Phys. (Germany)

Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology
Stellenbosch University
South Africa

Tel :       +33 - (0)9 53 10 27 44
Cell:       +33 - (0)6 85 62 59 98
Fax :       +33 - (0)9 58 10 27 44

Fax (D):    +49 - (0)3 21 21 25 22 44

email:      Rainer@krugs.de

Skype:      RMkrug
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Re: RFC: don't ask users to do 'sudo make install'

[David Bremner]

On Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:54:05 +0100, Rainer M Krug <r.m.krug@gmail.com> wrote:
> Interesting. I assume, I have to do
> 
> ./configure
> make
> make debian-snapshot

Just "make debian-snapshot" should work if you have the packages
dpkg-dev and fakeroot installed.

> dpkg-buildpackage: warning: (Use -d flag to override.)
> debuild: fatal error at line 1348:
> dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -D -us -uc failed
> make: *** [debian-snapshot] Error 29

Is this all of your output? It's a pretty generic error saying
dpkg-buildpackage didn't work. If there is no other output, then I guess
you might be missing dpkg-buildpackage.

d

Re: RFC: don't ask users to do 'sudo make install'

[Rainer M Krug]

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On 07/12/11 20:52, David Bremner wrote:
> On Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:54:05 +0100, Rainer M Krug
> <r.m.krug@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Interesting. I assume, I have to do
>> 
>> ./configure make make debian-snapshot
> 
> Just "make debian-snapshot" should work if you have the packages 
> dpkg-dev and fakeroot installed.
> 
>> dpkg-buildpackage: warning: (Use -d flag to override.) debuild:
>> fatal error at line 1348: dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -D -us -uc
>> failed make: *** [debian-snapshot] Error 29
> 
> Is this all of your output? It's a pretty generic error saying 
> dpkg-buildpackage didn't work. If there is no other output, then I
> guess you might be missing dpkg-buildpackage.

Nope - installed.

I looked more closely, and dtach was missing. Installed it, and it is
working now.

Thanks a lot,

Rainer

> 
> d


- -- 
Rainer M. Krug, PhD (Conservation Ecology, SUN), MSc (Conservation
Biology, UCT), Dipl. Phys. (Germany)

Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology
Stellenbosch University
South Africa

Tel :       +33 - (0)9 53 10 27 44
Cell:       +33 - (0)6 85 62 59 98
Fax :       +33 - (0)9 58 10 27 44

Fax (D):    +49 - (0)3 21 21 25 22 44

email:      Rainer@krugs.de

Skype:      RMkrug
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