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Author Topic: A REAL installer for Lazarus  (Read 21486 times)

LazaruX

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Re: A REAL installer for Lazarus
« Reply #15 on: May 02, 2010, 09:41:40 pm »
Well, the setup program could do something similar to the packet manager, and check what is installed needed by lazarus and what not.
As I know NetBeans is also a developer environment, not only for Java, but also C++.

Marc

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Re: A REAL installer for Lazarus
« Reply #16 on: May 02, 2010, 10:03:34 pm »
Well, the setup program could do something similar to the packet manager, and check what is installed needed by lazarus and what not.
As I know NetBeans is also a developer environment, not only for Java, but also C++.

I did a google search:
 lazarus ld lib not found -> 11000 hits
 netbeans ld lib not found -> 5500 hits

So the problem exists there too. And either NetBeans is less uses or C++ are used to install their development libs.
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theo

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Re: A REAL installer for Lazarus
« Reply #17 on: May 02, 2010, 10:40:03 pm »
Netbeans itself is a Java Application.
Not sure what parts of it do if you want do develop C/CPP or PHP.
I do not think it's going to install distro specific gcc environment or apache/php either.

vfclists

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Re: A REAL installer for Lazarus
« Reply #18 on: May 02, 2010, 10:53:41 pm »

I have to say I sympathize with Lazarus developers for a reason. People who write programs are developers. They are supposed to be capable of reading documentation, following the steps and testing the results properly.
If things don't work they are supposed to document the findings and report the results back to the original developers to see if there are bugs in the system or the documentation is incorrect or incomplete.

I really can't sympathize with programmers who say things are difficult to install. There are always people out there who can help.

What I have to admit about FPC/Lazarus is that it is hard for a newcomer to get a bird's eye view of how it all hangs together. It is difficult to know who is in charge of his or that or who is in charge of what area. It doesn't seem to have taken shape well enough to be broken down into clearly defined parts which can be assigned to leaders and different groups.
I for one seeing how the whole setup looks like, just need the information on how to compile everything from scratch, from FPC to Lazarus. Once I know that I can carry on from there.
Currently I am even afraid to add new components and not even sure how to add libraries in case I break my existing setup, and It just ain't right.

A Software developer is like a builder. He doesn't need the architect to layout in detail the steps needed for construction, he only needs the plans. FPC/Lazarus leading developers should produce a single detailed document on how it all fits together, or how it is meant to. Once that is clear the community should be able to do the rest.

If such a already document exists, just point me/us to it. We can then all contribute to it, each in his own little way. The FPC/Lazarus community needs a webchick of its own. (Males not need apply)  O:-)

Lazarus 3.0/FPC 3.2.2

Marc

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Re: A REAL installer for Lazarus
« Reply #19 on: May 02, 2010, 11:34:44 pm »
Currently I am even afraid to add new components and not even sure how to add libraries in case I break my existing setup, and It just ain't right.

Just a tip.
NOTE: The following applies only if you have been compiling everything with the same compiler (or you have only one compiler installed). When you are using multiple compilers, I'll consider you as experienced and knowing what you are doing.

Lazarus consists of 3 parts:
1) the IDE
2) the LCL + compiled packages
3) the compiler + libraries (FPC + RTL + FCL)

Starting with 3.
You only have one version installed. Your /etc/fpc.cfg points to the locations if this compiler. When installing lazarus packages nothing is changed here. So no worries at this point.

Now 2)
When installing packages, nothing of the existing LCL + Packages is changed. OK there might be a rebuild, but this is done by the same compiler, so the result are the same units.

Finally 1)
When installing package, the IDE is rebuild and the new components are added to the ide. This can indeed be tricky. But..... if you keep a copy of your working lazarus executable (only the exe is needed), you can use that exe as a fallback when recompilation failed.

(from the early pre fpc 1.0 versions I kept my habit of having a backup of at least 5 previous versions of the ide)
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jhmos

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Re: A REAL installer for Lazarus
« Reply #20 on: May 03, 2010, 01:34:48 am »
I don't think there is any fundamental problem with the current Linux install systems, its just that the packages need improving (for Ubuntu at least). From my experience, the Ubuntu packages work fine (except for the Help System) if no other Lazarus version has been installed before but may trip up not adjusting configuration files to point to new paths (like in fpc.cfg). It would just take someone familiar with package scripts or someone willing to learn. The Help System probably just needs the path options to have correct defaults, currently does not seem to match paths and hierarchy of where the help files actually get installed, which should be an easier fix I would think.
I suspect though that this is one of those things where those who know what to do are busy doing other things and it would take just as long to document what needs to be done as it would to actually do it. So neither happens. Perhaps when I get a few hours to work out what to do ... :-)

What I hope for Lazarus help is that it will become as good as that for freepascal, particularly rtl.pdf from ftp://ftp.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/docs-pdf/ which includes examples.

For those with install problems though, there is a fair amount of documentation concerning installation scattered around the Wiki that is quite helpful, when you find it. For instance http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Getting_Lazarus, http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Installing_Lazarus and http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/How_to_setup_a_FPC_and_Lazarus_Ubuntu_repository

Ocye

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Re: A REAL installer for Lazarus
« Reply #21 on: May 03, 2010, 07:21:04 am »
First, I disagree with people that want clickable application only for Linux. But maybe those could be interested in a project that was presented in the German Lazarus forum: http://www.lazarusforum.de/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3696.
Lazarus 1.7 (SVN) FPC 3.0.0

 

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