[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: while compiling Perl ...



> I tried to recompile Perl today because I'm trying to understand why
> latex2html bombs out on a call to dbmopen.  This is the first time
> I've compiled a file from the debian/source tree, and realized
> I don't know this:
> Should one expect that the files in the source directory have all been
> edited so that a simple 'make' (or in the case of Perl, 'Configure') with
> all the defaults is exactly what should be done to reproduce what's in
> the .deb package, or do the diffs have to be applied (and if so, exactly
> how does one go about doing that?).

No. You should expect to have a file 'debian.rules' (a script for make),
with targets 'build', 'binary', 'clean'. 
The 'debian.rules' file calls configure for you, and makes with appropriate
CFLAGS etc.
'./debian.rules build' in the perl directory should build a .deb file
one directory above.

> On the subject of Perl, can anyone interpret this warning message that
> comes from the Perl Configure program:
> *** WHOA THERE!!! ***
>     The recommended value for $d_dbm_open on this machine was "undef"!
>     Keep the recommended value? [y] 

This means that on plain Linux, the default is not to compile with 
dbm support. On your system, perl's Configure finds this support,
and if you answer 'n' to this question, it will include dbm support
in your perl.

> Does this explain why latex2html fails (i.e., goes into some kind of loop
> and returns no error message, even inside an eval) on dbmopen calls?
> Is there a fix?

Are you using the a.out version? I've also made an ELF version, which
requires elf-libgdbm.

Greetings,
Ray
-- 
Cyberspace, a final frontier. These are the voyages of my messages, 
on a lightspeed mission to explore strange new systems and to boldly go
where no data has gone before. 


Reply to: