Possible to get stuff from apt-get?

[Dark Rider]

Yes, I'm back with another newbie question. At least I'm trying. As my ex wife would say, " Very Trying..." LOL

I am attempting to get a program called Gnome Mud, it's a mud client application. I understand it will work in any DE even if Gnome isn't installed. The Repos don't have it that I can find and the instructions on the net say I can " sudo apt-get install gnome-mud". Of course I tried this and get a message saying it cant find apt-get. Can someone point or push me in the right direction? Thanks.

[nightflier]

The "apt-get" program is a Debian app, and does not directly transfer to VL. We have "slapt-get", which is similar.

Just like the Debian package manager Synaptic is like a GUI version of apt-get, our package manager Gslapt prettifies slapt-get. Both use the same repositories and underlying mechanisms. They do the same thing, just in different ways. If you can't find it in Gslapt, slapt-get is not going to find it either.

[Dark Rider]

I was afraid you were going to say exactly that. So, what are my options for getting this app installed? Here is the download page. http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/gnome-mud/0.11/ It looks like I have choices of different versions in different zip package formats. I downloaded the "latest" and I can extract it but I have no idea what to do with it.

Edit:

 I think perhaps I should get this file gnome-mud-0.11.2.tar.gz  and try the instructions here to install : http://www.opensourcebistro.com/Tutorial/VL60/Install_apps/page

This package has an install file telling me how to compile from source. I'll try to follow these directions. Wish me luck, I'll need it.

[Dark Rider]

My luck didn't last. ./configure seemed to go o.k. after I downloaded and installed the gnet library. ( I noticed configure was having problems because it could not find gnet, so I check Gslapt to see if it was installed.) Make seemed to go o.k.. Make Install didn't go so good. I get a bunch of errors in the output saying it could not make certain directories because permission is denied. What's my next move?

[nightflier]

Make sure you run "make install" as root, if you want a system wide installation.

Seeing that you have been putting in some time getting MUD to run, I had to do some research on it. Understand it is a text based, on-line multiplayer game. I see that there are a number of clients for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_MUD_clients
Some of the clients seem more capable than others. Are you just looking for a good one, or do you want gnome-mud specifically?

[Dark Rider]

Make sure you run "make install" as root, if you want a system wide installation.

Seeing that you have been putting in some time getting MUD to run, I had to do some research on it. Understand it is a text based, on-line multiplayer game. I see that there are a number of clients for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_MUD_clients
Some of the clients seem more capable than others. Are you just looking for a good one, or do you want gnome-mud specifically?

That was my problem.. I didn't make install as Root. Now I know. Thanks, it worked fine. Hey, I compiled my first Linux app. It wasn't hard at all. I'm a happy camper about that.

Trying to find a good client has been a chore. I need one with an automapping feature because it will be very handy as I'm building this mud. If I didn't need the automapper, I'd just use Telnet. I'm designing my own game you see, not just running a pre-configured game world. Gnome Mud has such an automapper that's supposed to work well.  It's a journey because I'm having to learn the scripting language for this Mud to build the game. The language is called LPC and it's based in C. My plan is to learn this scripting language to build the game then if it don't drive me crazy learn C itself.

[Chris530]

Vpackager has made me lazy.

[Dark Rider]

Vpackager has made me lazy.

Now there ya go throwing a newbie for a loop. I had to look that up. Google Code was the first hit, says, " vpackager is a tool with a graphical user interface for the building and maintenance of Vector Linux's .tgz/.tlz software packages. It facilitates the creation of packages by automating the compiling, documenting, compression and tarballing steps involved in the creation of a package."

Doesn't look like something I'll be using anytime soon but it's good to know about.

[MarkGrieveson]

Using vpackager, I created a Vector package out of the source for gnome-mud, and installed it on my computer (see screenshot).  I tried to attach the package I made, but this forum would not let me:

Code:

gnome-mud-0.11.2-i586-1vl70.txz.
You cannot upload that type of file. The only allowed extensions are doc,gif,jpg,mpg,pdf,png,txt,zip,swf, tgz, tlz, gz, bz2.

Given that tlz files are allowed, it's odd that txz files are not allowed.  Anyway, if you wish to make a Vector package of Gnome-mud yourself to install on your computer, just be sure to install gnet first.  Then you should be able to use vpackager to create and install gnome-mud on your computer out of the source file gnome-mud-0.11.2.tar.gz.

[Dark Rider]

Oh.. I get it.. I could have used the Vpackager on the source to make a package that installs easier than having to type the commands in the terminal.. is that what your saying.. neat-o. I was thinking vpackager was only for people who wanted to package apps for the repos.. but your right.. if you can do that, you can use it for your own system. Thanks for the info.

What if you don't have all the dependencies needed for the package? I suppose the newly created install package will fail? Does the installer tell you that your missing dependencies like it would if you were trying to ./configure?

So far I've compiled 3 apps using ./configure, make and make install. I think it's easier than finding a package to try to install from if Gslapt doesn't have the package. I did run into a wall on one app though.. it wanted a version 1.42 and version 2.0 of QT - these must be a very old libraries. I can only find newer in the repos so i could not install the app. Well, i could have gotten 2.0 I think, but I would have to downgrade my current QT and that didn't sound wise to me. I don't know what could be using my current version, and I didn't want to mess anything up.

[Chris530]

Sorry Dark I should have elaborated a bit more.  You can find vpackager from the xfce menu under 'Development'
Vpackager is a breeze, mostly point and click which is why I said it was making me lazy.

[Dark Rider]

Not a problem Chris. You mentioned it which was good.. I won't rub it in by reminding you that Mark came to the rescue, Ah Ha. You didn't realize I had never heard of it. It's tough being the new guy. You guys don't know what I know or what I don't know. Er.. sometimes I don't know what I know but I do know I don't know Shania Twain on a personal level and that makes me sad. ( don't tell my wife)

Thanks for the info. I know it Now.. I think.

( sorry, I think I have watched way too much Monty Python in my time)

[MarkGrieveson]

What if you don't have all the dependencies needed for the package? I suppose the newly created install package will fail? Does the installer tell you that your missing dependencies like it would if you were trying to ./configure?

In the case of Gnome-mud, vpackager did tell me that gnet was required.  gnet is a package in Gslapt, so after installing this vpackager successfully made a package out of the source of gnome-mud that successfully installed (however, it only worked with version 0.11.2 and not with the 0.11.1 source you were working with).  

vpackager is okay, but not super reliable with dependencies, admittedly.  Sometimes even when it successfully makes a package, the end-result won't install.  The true test of success is if it can be installed and run in the end (but, that's also the true test of success for installing straight from source).

So far I've compiled 3 apps using ./configure, make and make install. I think it's easier than finding a package to try to install from if Gslapt doesn't have the package.

That works too, if you prefer.  Whenever possible I prefer to install something from a package, rather than straight from source, since uninstalling or upgrading is often easier using the former rather than the latter method.  Generally, when I wish to install something, I'll proceed in the following order:

• check if it's in Gslapt
• check if it can be found at http://slackfind.net/en/, using version 13.37, since Slackware packages are often compatible with Vector
• find the source, and see if I can make a Vector package out of it using vpackager
• find the source, and install from source

Note:  when successful, the completed packages from vpackager are found in the /tmp file.  When you go there with Thunar, the file manager, you can right-click on the package (which generally has an extension of .txz) and this will give you the option to either install or upgrade (the latter if a previous older version already exists on your system).

[Dark Rider]

Thanks for the additional info Mark. Yeah, I remember I had to search for Gnet before Gnome Mud would ./configure right.

 I think I learned more about Linux using Vector than I did trying other distros.  My purpose for using it now requires that I make it work and forced me away from the G.U.I. I just hope the Terminal doesn't get much harder than that.