[dundee] woes from linux [learning curve] mountain

[Robert McWilliam]

On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 10:21:38PM +0100, Digit (SG) wrote:
> i want to install a tiling window manager.

Good. They are fun. 

> it says to me:
> 
> "bash: ./configure: No such file or directory"
> 
> i went back and re-read the readme,
> ... nothing jumps out as to the solution,
> 
> and i'm left with the very strong impression that there's some secret geek
> lingo meaning that i'm not yet privy to.
> 
> does the "dot slash" ( ./ ) refer to something else needed there?

The dot slash is a way of telling the shell to look in the current
directory for the executable rather than the directories listed in the
PATH environment variable. What you are trying to do with ./configure
is run the configure script that came with the source you want to
install. From the response you were getting I suspect you weren't in
the right directory when you issued the command. The ./configure
should be issued from the root of the source tree, you should see a
file there called configure. Alternatively you can replace the ./ with
a path to the configure script that doesn't depend on the current
working directory (e.g. ~/dwm_directory/configure)

> or have i been putting things in the "wrong" directory?
> (makes me wanna try gobo linux with it's unique and inspired restructuing
> for the filing system hierarchy structure)

Doesn't matter where you put things for building them, the 'make
install' step of the build process puts them into the folders they
need to be in (but you can usually make changes to what those are at
the ./configure stage). 

> "Arch *Linux Forums* / Xmonad: A brilliant window
> manager<http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=35865>In
> many *wm*, it isn't the default behavior, but you can *configure* it.
> *...*After
> *installing* the packages from *source* it just worked. *...*"

xmonad is the WM I'm currently using so I'd certainly recommend it. It
is going to be a bit more of a problem to install than some of the
others though as it is written in Haskell, and the haskell development
tools needed to build it are not normally installed so you'll likely
have to set them up first. Was it trying to install them that you have
to run ./configure for the xmonad install, because that isn't actually
part of the install process for xmonad itself? 

> n i know it's gonna make me look foolish for not knowing what's going to be
> ridiculously simple to someone else.

Not knowing how something works doesn't make you look foolish. You're
miles ahead of those who don't even want to know. 

      Robert

________________________________________________________
Robert McWilliam     rmcw at allmail.net    www.ormiret.com

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy
enough people to make it worth the effort.
     -- Herm Albright