Solaris

Hi all,

I'm trying to verify that I can build x applications on Solaris 10 and am using xcalc & xeyes as my test applications:

git://anongit.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/xcalc
git://anongit.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/xeyes

Running autogen.sh on this fails with:
error: must install xorg-macros 1.8 or later before running autoconf/autogen

Configuring xeyes fails with:'
checking for XEYES... configure: error: Package requirements (x11 xt xext xmu) were not met:

Package kbproto was not found in the pkg-config search path...'

It seems that any x application I try to build simply doesn't have the required developer libraries/headers to work properly. Does anybody know where I can get these for Solaris 10? Or if they exist?

I know X works on my current instance because I can run /usr/openwin/bin/xcalc and get the gui calculator... I just can't build it.

Thanks!

You cannot build from latest source code while using an older X11 build environment. You might have better luck with Solaris 11.2 (ou 11.3beta). With Solaris 10 you should have a look to the source code version used to build the bundled X11 utilities: Source Code for Open Source Software Components: Oracle Solaris

Thanks for the hint... Just to clarify, that means I have to build a new X-server for Solaris if I want to build any X-applications right? If I distribute this built application to any other Solaris host will I also have to transfer the X-Server I built? Is there a recommended X-server for building x-applications on Solaris 10?

Thanks!

No, it is never required to build a new X server. Don't confuse X server (a program that typically run on the user's desktop) and X libraries/utilities.

If you create your own applications, you can build them on your X11 environment and they will run on target platforms that have the same X11 version or newer, and also possibly an older one.

The issue you have is due to a requirement of the bundled X11 applications. You can certainly avoid the autogen/kbproto/pkg-config nightmare and simply use a custom, simple Makefile to create your own X11 application. On your Solaris 10 host, you can also certainly build the xeyes and xcalc binaries the same way, using custom makefiles or just the command line.

Darn haha... that sounds really complicated for somebody that hasn't really had much build experience except for configure, make depends, make, search forums for any breakages and make again and finally make install.

I wouldn't even know where to begin for converting automake scripts into plain makefiles for the given OS- the first google result for many queries seems to be this forum

Any idea about good resources where a budding system administrator could learn these skills? I have a fresh CS degree and have always been a linux enthusiast... where did I miss the stage where advanced building is formally taught? Or is my knowledge deficiency just a phenomena of universities now focusing on java & conceptual teachings

It is unclear what you are trying to achieve. xcalc and xeyes binaries are already included with Solaris 10. Should you want to rebuilt them for some reason, you need to pick the sources I provided a link to, the ones on the git repository are too recents. Should you want to create new X11 applications, you should absolutely not take them as examples. They were already outdated 25 years ago by using the Athena widgets which have been obsoleted by toolkits Motif/OpenLook that were themselves also obsoleted since that time by GTK+ and QT ...

Ultimately, I'm trying to build complex applications like Firefox, Emacs, gtk+ based tools, etc.

Currently I can only achieve this using a pkgsrc build environment which provides its own "modular-xorg" (and just about everything else except an initial c/c++ compiler) when compiling applications. If I try to build using Solaris's native x-libraries, most packages will break. I'm just trying to figure out if that's something that can be fixed by providing the simplest way to reproduce my breakage, building any simple x-application on Solaris (eg xeyes). I also am not sure what effect their modular-xorg has if I was to ever distribute a compiled binary to other Solaris 10 machines.

I'm new to both pkgsrc and advanced building so there's a lot that doesn't make sense and pkgsrc, though getting packages built quicker, adds a layer of abstraction which makes things more confusing when they break. I would like to avoid it if I can, but maybe I can't because I can't even build xeyes without it .

The question is the same as it was, how do you build [modern] x-applications on Solaris 10 if the development header files that come with most other platforms aren't there? I know that you've kind of answered this question above but your solution seems unfeasible given the quantity of packages which will not build before actually getting to the package which you need. It is also naturally impossible for a newbie like myself :|

I do appreciate all that you've answered so far though. It has helped me to somewhat further understand this new world of Unix/Solaris which I have recently been thrown into.