rob wrote:
I too had literally the worst experience thus far in my Linux life trying to install GIMP 2.0 on a Fedora Core distro. Some blame may go to FC and some to the GIMP website. I do NOT know enough about installing software and administering Linux systems to accurately identify what made my experience so dreadful. However, let me point out that it just 'worked' on Windows. All I had to do was download the exe installer for GTK and GIMP, install A before B, and it was done.Rember you need all the -dev rpms if you want to compile stuff.
It would be a much much beter idea for you to install the rpm. Ditching
suse for debian would also be a good idea.
On Fedora, I tried installing RPM, but had failed dependencies that I could *not* find.
I tried compiling and installing from source, but ran into an endless confusing set of problems related to version conflicts reported by the system (causing me to learn a lot about compiling linked libraries, and setting environment variables etc. that I don't have time to learn just to get a piece of graphic software installed.)
I tried precompiled binaries, but again ran into problems with the system either missing some dependency, or some version conflict (I can't remember exactly).
The point is this.....it doesn't matter *why* it is difficult, it matters that it *is* difficult. The result is that people will not use the GIMP unless they are on Windows, or they are/have access to a Linux guru to install it.
My case is partly unique because as a Free Software advocate and developer, I *want* to learn all the internals regarding system administration and compiling, so I'll sweat through all the details and the frustrations until it works. I am also extremely motivated to get the GIMP installed on Linux, because I use Linux full-time at work, and only use Windows on rare occasions at home, plus I do image manipulation both professionally and for fun. Lastly, I committed to give presentations on the GIMP to LUGs, so I had better get my system setup. With all these motivations (and help from the community), I got GIMP working.
I had the liberty of switching distributions, because I just bought a new disk that I could migrate to, and I *wanted* to switch distros from RedHat (FC1) to Debian for a lot of reasons which are beyond the scope of this message. The point here is that mine is a very unique case. 99% of people will not, and should not be encouraged to, switch distributions just to get a single application installed. That said, I have to report complete satisfaction with installing GIMP 2 on Debian (Sarge). I followed a simple 3 or 4 step procedure (found from a link on Gimp.org) and it was done. It worked as good as the install process for Windows.
My hope is that the 'tricks' to installing on these notoriously difficult distributions can be added to GIMP.org. For example: Compiling from source is not recommended unless you know about X, Y, and Z. To learn more about X, Y, and Z, go here. You need -dev RPMs for all your tools and libraries. You can get those off your distro CDs if you have Source RPMs, or you can download them here.... Here is a walkthrough and some good diagnostic commands that will help you determine how your current system is setup (assuming you've got a working distro but are not a uber-geek and so don't know these magic incantations.) Here is a step-by-step decision tree to get GIMP installed depending on the answers to these diagnostic tools.
The outcomes I'm after are:
a) more happy users of the GIMP
b) less drag on the community answering questions related to 'ordinary' installs
-- FREePHILE We are 'Open' for Business Free and Open Source Software http://www.freephile.com (978) 270-2425 I was playing poker the other night... with Tarot cards. I got a full house and 4 people died. -- Steven Wright
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