[R] installing R on slackware linux, another route

[Jonathan.Yuen@evp.slu.se]

On Thu, 20 Jan 2000, Christopher Marshall wrote:

> I have been reading the archives of this list and
> noticed a post from Murray Jorgensen asking about how
> to install R under slackware.

Much interesting stuff about how to bypass the rpm stuff deleted...

> 
> To add such a link, go to /lib as root and type
> 
> ln -sf libncurses.so.5 libncurses.so.4
> 

Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but if my memory of how shared
objects and ldconfig function under linux, this may cause problems, maybe
not with R but with other programs!!

The differences between the so.4 and the so.5 are MAJOR changes, and the
major number was changed (from 4 to 5) because there are modifications in
the library that are not consistent between 4 and 5.  You can change the
minor numbers (which we don't see here), but usually ldconfig in linux
takes care of that.  On my (really hacked up) linux machines, I just
installed libncurses5.  When I type 

ldconfig -v | grep libncur

I get

libncurses.so.5 => libncurses.so.5.0

Here the minor number is 0, though a later version will be 1, or 2, etc.
When the people doing ncurses can't keep backwards compatibility, they
change the major number, and you get libncurses.so.6.0 (it doesn't exist,
does it?) which ldconfig will link to libncurses.so.6 and the whole thing
starts again.

ncurses 5 may handle some things different from ncurses 4.  The safest
thing is to get libncurses.4.? installed and let ldconfig make the links.

Jonathan

Jonathan Yuen, Professor in Plant Pathology     phone: 46 18 672369
Dept. of Ecology and Crop Production Sciences   fax:   46 18 672890
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences     http://www.tvs.slu.se
Box 7043                                        email replies to
S 750 07 Uppsala, SWEDEN                        Jonathan.Yuen at evp.slu.se 



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