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1 Since July 1996, most work on Octave has been done using a |
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2 Linux/GNU system, and a number of people who regularly test Octave |
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3 snapshot releases also primarily use Linux/GNU systems. |
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4 |
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5 However, I have recently started to receive a significant number of |
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6 reports from people who say that they can't compile or run Octave on |
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7 Linux/GNU systems. In nearly every case, the problem has turned out |
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8 to be that the compilers or libraries have not been installed |
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9 properly. I suspect that this often results from a botched upgrade, |
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10 or from attempting to install the compilers from the standard source |
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11 distributions. But in some cases, the cause has been a buggy Linux |
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12 distribution. Many of these problems go unnoticed because much of the |
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13 software for Linux is written in C, not C++. |
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14 |
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15 Octave compiles, but it won't run |
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16 --------------------------------- |
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17 |
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18 If you can compile Octave, but it crashes with a segmentation fault |
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19 right away, you probably have incompatible versions of libc and libg++ |
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20 installed, or you have a version of the dynamic loader, ld.so, that is |
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21 incompatible with your versions of the libraries, or both. |
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22 |
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23 On my development system, I am using the following software: |
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24 |
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25 * Linux kernel 2.0.6 |
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26 * gcc/g++ 2.7.2 |
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27 * libg++/libstdc++ 2.7.1.0 |
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28 * libm 5.0.5 |
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29 * libc 5.2.18 |
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30 * libncurses 3.0 |
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31 * ld.so 1.7.14 |
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32 |
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33 I know from experience that the versions listed above seem to work |
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34 well together. But if you have a newer version of the kernel, you may |
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35 need a newer version of the C library. I don't have time to keep up |
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36 with all the various library versions (life is much too short for |
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37 that), nor do I know which combinations are supposed to work together. |
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38 That sort of information should be clearly stated in the release notes |
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39 for the libraries. If it is not, please ask the maintainers of the |
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40 libraries to clarify the documentation. |
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41 |
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42 Octave won't even compile |
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43 ------------------------- |
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44 |
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45 If you can't compile Octave, you should first check to see that your |
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46 compiler and header files are properly installed. Do you have |
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47 multiple versions of the g++ include files on your system? Are you |
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48 sure that your copy of g++ is finding the right set? You can find out |
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49 by compiling a simple C++ program with -v: |
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50 |
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51 bash$ cat foo.cc |
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52 #include <iostream.h> |
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53 int main (void} { cerr << "yo\n"; return 0; } |
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54 |
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55 bash$ g++ -v foo.cc |
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56 gcc -v foo.cc -lg++ -lstdc++ -lm |
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57 Reading specs from /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i486-linux/2.7.2/specs |
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58 gcc version 2.7.2 |
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59 /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i486-linux/2.7.2/cpp -lang-c++ -v -undef ... |
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60 #include "..." search starts here: |
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61 #include <...> search starts here: |
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62 /usr/lib/g++-include |
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63 /usr/local/include |
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64 /usr/i486-linux/include |
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65 /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i486-linux/2.7.2/include |
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66 /usr/include |
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67 End of search list. |
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68 ... |
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69 |
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70 If the location of the correct set of include files is not listed in |
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71 the search path, then you might be able to fix that with a symbolic |
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72 link. However, if your version of libg++ was not compiled with your |
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73 current version of gcc, you are likely to run into more trouble. |
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74 |
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75 The linker can't find -lieee |
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76 ---------------------------- |
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77 |
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78 This can happen because your libraries don't match your version of |
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79 gcc. Some recent Linux distributions don't include a libieee.a file |
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80 because IEEE support is now the default and the library is no longer |
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81 needed, but the gcc specs file still adds -lieee to the linker command |
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82 if gcc is invoked with the -mieeefp flag. I believe that you should |
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83 be able to fix this by editing the gcc specs file. In it, you should |
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84 find something like this: |
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85 |
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86 %{!shared: %{mieee-fp:-lieee} %{p:-lgmon} %{pg:-lgmon} \ |
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87 %{!ggdb:-lc} %{ggdb:-lg}} |
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88 |
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89 changing it to |
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90 |
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91 %{!shared: %{p:-lgmon} %{pg:-lgmon} %{!ggdb:-lc} %{ggdb:-lg}} |
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92 |
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93 should keep gcc from adding -lieee to the link command. You can find |
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94 the location of the specs file by running the command gcc -v. |
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95 |
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96 If you can't edit the gcc specs file for some reason, another solution |
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97 that should work is to create an empty libieee.a file in the Octave |
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98 src directory using the command: |
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99 |
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100 ar cq libieee.a |
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101 |
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102 My system doesn't have g77 |
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103 -------------------------- |
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104 |
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105 A binary release of g77 that should work with gcc 2.7.2 is available |
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106 from sunsite.unc.edu in the directory /pub/Linux/devel/lang/fortran. |
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107 There is also a Debian package for g77. |
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108 |
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109 Problems with g77 on Debian 1.2 systems (and possibly others) |
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110 ------------------------------------------------------------- |
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111 |
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112 The location of the compiler binaries has changed, so the g77 0.5.18 |
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113 package can not be used without modification. The problem is that the |
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114 Debian package was built for gcc 2.7.2 and not 2.7.2.1 and the f771 |
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115 backend is installed in the wrong directory. |
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116 |
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117 Version 0.5.19 of g77 has just been released. A fixed Debian package |
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118 may be made available soon. Until then, you can make things work by |
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119 copying f771 and libf2c.a from /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i486-linux/2.7.2 to |
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120 /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i486-linux/2.7.2.1. |
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121 |
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122 Upgrading your compiler and libraries |
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123 ------------------------------------- |
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124 |
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125 Installing libg++ on a Linux system is not as simple as it should be, |
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126 because libg++ shares some basic I/O code with the Linux C library, |
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127 and they must be compatible. You should get and read the release |
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128 notes for the compiler and libraries. |
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129 |
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130 If you decide to install versions of the libraries that are older (or |
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131 newer) than the ones you already have, you should follow the |
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132 directions in the release notes very carefully. |
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133 |
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134 |
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135 If you have comments or suggestions for this document, please contact |
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136 bug-octave@bevo.che.wisc.edu. |
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137 |
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138 John W. Eaton |
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139 jwe@bevo.che.wisc.edu |
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140 University of Wisconsin-Madison |
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141 Department of Chemical Engineering |
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142 |
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143 Thu Dec 19 13:07:46 1996 |
