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DMcCunney · 12-11-2009, 07:20 PM

Pet peeve: people who create install packages for software and apparently don't actually test them before release.

I run a Linux distro called Puppy Linux on my old Fujitsu Lifebook. Puppy is intended for older slower hardware, which the Lifebook is, with an 867mhz CPU, a slow HD, and a whopping 256MB of RAM. Puppy has been reported to run on P200 systems with 64MB of RAM, and it's a decent fit for the Lifebook. It's not what you'd call speedy, due to the slow HD, but things run without growing old and grey waiting for them.

But Puppy is a custom distro with its own package format. It doesn't use Red Hat RPM or Debian DEB files, which are the most common package formats. Instead, Puppy uses a package called a PET file, and various Puppy users have repackaged programs as PET files for use on Puppy.

Someone created a PET of Siag Office. Siag is intended as a lightweight office suite, with Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Calculator, File Manager, et al, for lower end machines. It installs fine, with one minor problem...

Linux, like Windows, makes extensive use of shared libraries - common code used by more than one program. On Windows, these are DLL (Dynamic Link Library) files. On Linux, they are .so files. Most libraries live in /usr/lib.

One library used by half of the Linux programs in creation is libtermcap. Programs expect to see /usr/lib/libtermcap.so.2, which in turn is a symbolic link to /usr/lib/libtermcap.so.2.0.8.

The Siag Office pet changes that, making /usr/lib/libtermcap.so.2 a smbolic link to a private copy of libtermcap.so.2.0.8 in an Siag Office directory, which apparently doesn't exist. So anything that needs to access libtermcap can't, because libtermcap.so.2 is a pointer to the real library, which doesn't exist. Try to reboot, and the system goes into an endless error loop, because login wants to access libtermcap.so.2 and cant.

I had to reboot from the Puppy CD, manually mount the hard drive partition where my Puppy install lives, and open a console window to fix the bad link from a command line.

I posted a note on the Puppy forums in the thread announcing the release of the Siag Office package. I can't wait to see the response...

______
Dennis

12-11-2009, 07:20 PM	#6917
DMcCunney New York Editor Posts: 6,384 Karma: 16540415 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: PalmTX, Pocket eDGe, Alcatel Fierce 4, RCA Viking Pro 10, Nexus 7	Pet peeve: people who create install packages for software and apparently don't actually test them before release. I run a Linux distro called Puppy Linux on my old Fujitsu Lifebook. Puppy is intended for older slower hardware, which the Lifebook is, with an 867mhz CPU, a slow HD, and a whopping 256MB of RAM. Puppy has been reported to run on P200 systems with 64MB of RAM, and it's a decent fit for the Lifebook. It's not what you'd call speedy, due to the slow HD, but things run without growing old and grey waiting for them. But Puppy is a custom distro with its own package format. It doesn't use Red Hat RPM or Debian DEB files, which are the most common package formats. Instead, Puppy uses a package called a PET file, and various Puppy users have repackaged programs as PET files for use on Puppy. Someone created a PET of Siag Office. Siag is intended as a lightweight office suite, with Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Calculator, File Manager, et al, for lower end machines. It installs fine, with one minor problem... Linux, like Windows, makes extensive use of shared libraries - common code used by more than one program. On Windows, these are DLL (Dynamic Link Library) files. On Linux, they are .so files. Most libraries live in /usr/lib. One library used by half of the Linux programs in creation is libtermcap. Programs expect to see /usr/lib/libtermcap.so.2, which in turn is a symbolic link to /usr/lib/libtermcap.so.2.0.8. The Siag Office pet changes that, making /usr/lib/libtermcap.so.2 a smbolic link to a private copy of libtermcap.so.2.0.8 in an Siag Office directory, which apparently doesn't exist. So anything that needs to access libtermcap can't, because libtermcap.so.2 is a pointer to the real library, which doesn't exist. Try to reboot, and the system goes into an endless error loop, because login wants to access libtermcap.so.2 and cant. I had to reboot from the Puppy CD, manually mount the hard drive partition where my Puppy install lives, and open a console window to fix the bad link from a command line. I posted a note on the Puppy forums in the thread announcing the release of the Siag Office package. I can't wait to see the response... ______ Dennis