Installing latest xfce4-terminal

mobius · 2024-02-27 21:46:03

Hi. I've just installed Devuan 5.0.0 desktop-live in a VM, and played with it a bit. I notice xfce4-terminal is version 1.0.4, and there is no later version in the repos that I can see. I downloaded xfce4-terminal 1.1.2 from the github page, but am having trouble installing it, following the instructions on that page.

First, can I just install over the old one? Or, should I remove the old one first?

The instructions say, after decompressing, to do './configure' as root, which results in an error 'configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH'. Checking package manager, I see that GCC 12 is installed, and whereis shows it in /usr/lib/gcc and in usr/share/gcc, but neither are in the path. How should I proceed?

boughtonp · 2024-02-27 22:24:42

Devuan is an OS for people that want stable well-tested software NOT the latest versions - it is not a rolling source distro (like Artix/Gentoo/Slackware/etc).

Further, trying to install packages from GitHub is liable to cause problems - if one has a good reason to install from source (for a newer version than "apt-get source" will give), the correct location to obtain the source code is either git.devuan.org/devuan or sources.debian.org (depending on whether Devuan has modified that package or not), but again there's no guarantee that compiling newer source will work.

Finally, if gcc is actually installed then the binary will be at /usr/bin/gcc - which is in the path - and if you're not aware of things like that, it's a good sign you need to do more learning before trying to install from source (or that you shouldn't bother because you probably don't need the latest version, or if you really do need it then go with an OS that provides it out of the box, like those mentioned above).

Last edited by boughtonp (2024-02-27 22:28:10)

mobius · 2024-02-27 23:59:08

Turns out gcc-base was installed, but not gcc. Installed gcc-12 (with dependencies), but ./configure still fails because /usr/bin/ contains gcc-12 (a link), rather than just gcc. Are there more associated gcc packages which need to be installed?

fsmithred · 2024-02-28 10:06:55

Install build-essential and linux-headers-<version> to compile software.

A better way would be to backport xfce4-terminal and make a deb package so that your package manager knows about it.
https://wiki.debian.org/BuildingFormalBackports

Either way, you might need to build more packages to satisfy dependencies.

I think you got better advice in the first reply.

mobius · 2024-02-28 18:13:34

Okay, thanks for the info. Installed those mentioned, plus several other required dependencies. Getting very close... now get the error: "checking if the X11 windowing system is enabled... dependencies missing: x11 >= 1.6.7, gdk-x11-3.0 >= 3.22.0". Unfortunately, couldn't find those in the package manager, even with all repos enabled.

Ready to pass on building from source on this distro, but certainly willing to continue if any further help is forthcoming. I'm going to have to learn to do this sooner or later.

swanson · 2024-02-28 21:16:01

What bells and whistles do xfce4-terminal 1.1.2 have?

mobius · 2024-02-28 21:36:23

Hi. The ones that are specifically of interest to me: the ability to modify the shortcuts for the terminal screen buffer, namely Scroll Line Up, Scroll Line Down, Scroll Page Up, Scroll Page Down, Top of Buffer, Bottom of Buffer, which are presently set to: Shift+Ctrl+Up, Shift+Ctrl+Down, Shift+PgUP, Shift+PgDn, Shift+Home, Shift+End; and which I wish to set to Alt+Up, Alt+Down, Alt+PgUp, Alt+PgDn, Alt+Home, Alt+End.

In xfce4-terminal 1.1.2, the first four of those are now editable in the Preferences dialog; unfortunately, the last two are still not available for editing.

If I knew how, I could simply patch the 1.0.4 binary, but I haven't a clue how to do that, or whether it is even possible.

boughtonp · 2024-02-28 23:39:14

I don't see shortcut preference changes in the v1.1.2 changelog (at //gitlab.xfce.org/apps/xfce4-terminal/-/tags), but v1.1.0 appears to have a bunch of potentially-relevant changes.

Since Devuan Testing has v1.1.1, a sensible first step would be to test that in a VM and see if it does have the desired functionality. If so, looking into what it might take to get that version backported would be worth checking.

mobius · 2024-02-29 00:23:41

Yes, I believe that 1.1.1 does have those changes. I am unclear as to your suggestion:

Add Devuan Testing repos to existing Devaun installation, or

Install Devuan Testing in VM?

Getting it backported makes sense, but I am complete unaware how to do that?

swanson · 2024-02-29 07:20:43

1.1.2 configured on my setup. Just missed two packages, which I installed.
Example of what configure told me:

checking for libxfce4ui-2 >= 4.17.5... not found
*** The required package xfce4ui-2 was not found on your system.
*** Please install libxfce4ui-2 (atleast version 4.17.5) or adjust

So I apt searched for liblibxfce4ui-2-dev and installed it. The other missing was a "vte"-package.
I'm on Devaun 5 too and have build-essential and linux-headers-xx installed since a long time.

When compiling one must consider that often times the source Readme does not mention ALL necessary libs needed.

stopAI · 2024-02-29 12:09:09

You can get all dependencies of xfce4-terminal with simple command:

apt build-dep xfce4-terminal

P.S.

NEVER run

 ./configure

as root.

Just run it as regular user.

Last edited by stopAI (2024-02-29 12:10:05)

boughtonp · 2024-02-29 15:42:33

mobius wrote:

I am unclear as to your suggestion:
Add Devuan Testing repos to existing Devaun installation, or
Install Devuan Testing in VM?

I was suggesting running Devuan Testing in a VM to confirm that the v1.1.1 provides what you want.

I have also yet to properly checkout how backports are created - though the link fsmithred provided probably provides that information (and there looks to be a simpler guide at //wiki.debian.org/SimpleBackportCreation for personal use) - but the first step is confirming there's a suitable version in Debian/Devuan repos, hence why the suggestion to try the version Devuan Testing provides.

mobius · 2024-02-29 20:10:27

@swanson, thanks for confirming.

@stopAI

You can get all dependencies of xfce4-terminal with simple command:

apt build-dep xfce4-terminal

Thanks for this! After this, I was able to build xfce4-terminal (I think).

NEVER run

 ./configure

as root.

Just run it as regular user.

Could you explain this? When I run as user, I get:

./configure: line 1941: config.log: Permission denied
./configure: line 1951: config.log: Permission denied

But when run as root (as in the github readme), it completes.

So, after this, I ran make and make install. Apart from several errors about things being deprecated, it appeared to complete successfully. But I can't seem to find/run this new version.

In the build directory, there is a terminal/ directory, in which there is a xfce4-terminal executable file, which is three times the size of the old one. But when I run this file, I get the old version 1.0.4 terminal.

whereis xfce4-terminal gives two results: /usr/bin/ and /usr/local/bin/. The former appears to be the old executable (dated 2022-05-24), and the latter appears to be the same as in the build/terminal/ directory (dated today, 2024-02-29) and almost three times the size of the former. But running any of them just gives the old 1.0.4 terminal.

So, not sure where to go from here.

@boughtonp, backporting may be helpful for other users as well, but not convinced that it should be left in the hands of a beginner.

swanson · 2024-02-29 20:25:19

What are the permissions on the source dir?

And did you use

./configure --prefix=/usr

as stated in the build instructions?

mobius · 2024-02-29 20:27:49

Okay, pardon my mistake. After I closed the current terminal, launching a new terminal from /usr/local/bin/ or from the desktop opens the new 1.1.2 terminal. Launching from /usr/bin/ still loads the old 1.0.4 terminal. I'm still curious why the new one is three times the size of the old one.

mobius · 2024-02-29 20:34:05

@swanson, the build directory was in my Downloads/ directory, whose permissions are rwxr-xr-x, in a xfce4-terminal-1.1.2/, whose permissions are the same.

No, I did not use --prefix=/usr, which I did not find in the github readme.

So, it's good now, but so I know for next time, why don't run ./configure as root? And, where are the instructions to use --prefix=/usr? And, where those permissions sufficient?

mobius · 2024-02-29 20:41:10

By the way, I checked xfce4-terminal 1.1.2 binary on a different distro, and its size was similar to my current 1.0.4, so still wondering why the one I built is three times the size? Could it have to do with including all localizations?

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#1 2024-02-27 21:46:03

Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#2 2024-02-27 22:24:42

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#3 2024-02-27 23:59:08

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#4 2024-02-28 10:06:55

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#5 2024-02-28 18:13:34

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#6 2024-02-28 21:16:01

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#7 2024-02-28 21:36:23

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#8 2024-02-28 23:39:14

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#9 2024-02-29 00:23:41

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#10 2024-02-29 07:20:43

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#11 2024-02-29 12:09:09

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#12 2024-02-29 15:42:33

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#13 2024-02-29 20:10:27

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#14 2024-02-29 20:25:19

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#15 2024-02-29 20:27:49

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#16 2024-02-29 20:34:05

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

#17 2024-02-29 20:41:10

Re: Installing latest xfce4-terminal

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