GCC

[MisterESauce]

okay, so i'm trying to install gcc in linux and the help file tells me "either cc or gcc must be in your path or you must set CC in your environment before running configure. Otherwise the configuration scripts may fail."

what does this mean and how do i do it? please help, it's driving me nuts!

 

[Nothinman]

You're trying to compiled gcc, which ironically needs a compiler available. If you just want to install gcc find a package for whatever distro you're using.

 

[MisterESauce]

okay, that is very ironic... i gave it a shot but the package won't install because it needs glibc and various other libraries and when i try to install glibc it says i need glibc... that just sounds like a catch 22 to me!

 

[MisterESauce]

okay, i found an rpm for gcc and it says i need to install glibc which then says i need to install glibc-common but when i try to install that i get a message saying it's already installed... what the hell is up? please help me 'cuz i'm gonna rip my hair out soon!

 

[bersl2]

There are three basic elements on which the entire userspace is built: gcc (C compiler), glibc (C library), and binutils (linker, et al.), collectively called the toolchain. The problem is that each one is written in C and thus requires that all three are already present in some form.

The first C compiler, library, and linker were written in assembly, as was the original UNIX. After this, you could then write versions of these programs in C itself.

So basically, you need an already-working binary of a toolchain to compile a new toolchain. Since the dependency issues can get really hairy, distros do this for you. In other words, you need the gcc, glibc, and binutils that your distro gives you.

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Question time: what distro are you using?

 

[MisterESauce]

wow, thanks for the background! i'm using fedora core 3 x86_64 that i just installed last night. i chose the typical install options as i'm new to linux and wouldn't know what packages to chose otherwise. i assumed that this would install everything i needed to compile code and install drivers, etc. am i wrong?

 

[drag]

Depends on what setup you choose when you installed the OS. From what I remember Fedora offers several different install options such as "desktop" "server" "development", etc etc.

I think that the desktop or server doesn't have the developement tools installed automaticly. It's a bit of a security risk to install tools that users can use to build programs. Not a big one, but it's a issue, and many people wouldn't want to waste the disk space on them.

Should of choose "install everything" or "all" or whatever option they provide. Usually that is the best for a newbie because then you can be sure that your not missing anything.

Luckly for you Fedora has a decent package management system called YUM setup as default. It allows you to install packages and keep your system up to date easily.

You can also go thru your start menu and select package groups that way and you can probably install them off of your cdroms. Developement packages should be aviable thru that.

However for Fedora I like to install a version of apt-get (another package manager) from a 3rd party. It's from dag's rpms

Read thru his FAQ stuff on that page and install apt-get once you decide that you actually want to do that. Be sure to pick the one compatable with x86_64 and FC3.

That should setup everything automaticly for you. Then you can update and then install synaptic and get a nice GUI interface for selecting programs.

Doing that is much easier then trying to install everything from source and it includes many packages not aviable from Fedora (such as lame encoder codecs, and libdvdcss for playing encrypted DVD movies) by default for legal and practical reasons. Plus you still get official packages thru freshrpms (which should be setup automaticly with dag's apt version).

Hopefully that all makes sense.

 

[bersl2]

The default install for Fedora may not. The packages you need will be classified as developer tools or something like that. Look for terms like "glibc", "libc", "gcc", "g++", "binutils".

Somebody else can more easily take you through finding and installing the right RPMs; Fedora's not my style, so I don't know many specifics on it. You'll have better luck asking the n00b forum at LinuxQuestions.org.

 

[Nothinman]

i assumed that this would install everything i needed to compile code and install drivers, etc. am i wrong?

It would seem that you were. I haven't used FC3 personally so I can't vouch for their defaults, but you should be able to get gcc installed by just typing 'yum install gcc'.

 

[MisterESauce]

dood, you guys ROCK! thanks so much for all the info!