[SOLVED] Lazarus IDE Start Up Issue and Re-Build Issue

[Aruna]

I'm thinking, maybe when I have a bit of time, I’ll write a little how-to guide — something like “how to break the Lazarus IDE and how to fix it again”! 😄

By far the easiest solution to 'fix' the IDE in case having installed a component that breaks things is by reverting back to the backup version of the executable (which should be generated automatically). A clean startup can be done by either removing/clearing the configuration directory (pcp) or set it to another directory (which is empty)

Agreed @Tron the thing is this... if 'I' went and renamed the package file and many other things one does not normally to do in the quest for knowledge is it not entirely possible another person may do exactly the same and get stuck? I just do not want them to spend months searching for a fix like 'I' did is all I am thinking of taking RC4 for a test drive so what should I do and what should I not to make each lazIDE co-exist peacefully?

[TRon]

Agreed @Tron the thing is this... if 'I' went and renamed the package file and many other things one does not normally to do in the quest for knowledge is it not entirely possible another person may do exactly the same and get stuck?

True, but if you follow those unwritten rules you should be able to fix any such issue in a jiffy.

I just do not want them to spend months searching for a fix like 'I' did is all

Fair enough.

I am thinking of taking RC4 for a test drive so what should I do and what should I not to make each lazIDE co-exist peacefully?

For Lazarus things are quite simple, do:
1. Install in user space
2. Make sure each Lazarus installation uses its own configuration directory

Don't:
1. Install system wide or at the usual location that a package-manager or installer proposes by default.
2. Use a single configuration directory for all your Lazarus installations

The difficult part, if you consider it as such, is correctly installing and configuring the FPC compiler (or multiple versions that peacefully life next to each other) and which can be done using different solutions (one not necessarily smarter and/or better than the other though I do have my own personal preference).

FPCUpdeluxe for instance, solves the latter by providing each Lazarus installation with its own independent FPC compiler (which I personally consider a waste of space and defeats the intention of the compiler developers).

If you stick by those rules you should not encounter any issues whatsoever. At least I have not encountered any of the issues that are regularly mentioned on the forums simply by sticking to those simple (unwritten) rules. And fwiw, I have every FPC compiler that works on/for Linux installed (3.2.0 and up) (*), have a couple of dozen cross-compilers (it stacks up very quickly with different compiler versions) and a handful of Lazarus IDE's). Note that this does not include platform specific issues such as libc (linux) and xcode-tools (macos) for example.

(*) the same works for Windows and/or MacOS.

[Aruna]

Agreed @Tron the thing is this... if 'I' went and renamed the package file and many other things one does not normally to do in the quest for knowledge is it not entirely possible another person may do exactly the same and get stuck?

True, but if you follow those unwritten rules you should be able to fix any such issue in a jiffy.

But getting to that point takes a serious time investment, as you well know. Just built Lazarus 4.0 RC3 from source, and instead of diving in and breaking things like I usually do, I followed your advice and launched it with:

Code: Text  [Select][+][-]

1. ./lazarus --pcp=/home/aruna/Laz4RC3/lazarus

Boom-shaka-laka — it fired up perfectly, no hiccups, no complaints! I am tempted to start trying out every single lazarus IDE there ever was

1. So what I did is download the source from sourceforge
2. Unzipped/extracted to a folder under my home directory
3. Did not build a new fpc. Decided to go with what is already there.
4. Ran make bigide
5  launched using ./lazarus --pcp=/home/aruna/Laz4RC3/lazarus[/

I am still trying very hard to reason why I never used --pcp= until now? In a way it is a good thing to have gone through that kind of grief, you learn and you learn the internals. I still am going to document what I did when I was first trying to write my own custom component as I did some things that to me seemed perfectly reasonable at that time but effectively broke lazarus so may help others someday and will help keep me sane when ever I go back and read it I think I used the same name for my package and the unit and that was fun trying to figure out what went south

[Martin_fr]

https://wiki.freepascal.org/Multiple_Lazarus#Using_lazarus.cfg_file

[Aruna]

https://wiki.freepascal.org/Multiple_Lazarus#Using_lazarus.cfg_file

Thank you @Martin_fr. I just went through the history of that article and was very surprised to see that is your work? You started that..  and way back in August of 2013. Wow!
21:48, 28 August 2013‎ Martin talk contribs‎ 8,821 bytes +239‎ →‎Windows - Using the installer

[Aruna]

My apologies that screenshot was attached by mistake and I do not know how to remove it? Maybe a forum admin can?

[TRon]

https://wiki.freepascal.org/Multiple_Lazarus#Using_lazarus.cfg_file

With the small warning that I don't know with which exact version the lazarus.cfg file support was introduced so that for older versions that don't support it you have to fall-back to making either a script or a shortcut that passes the pcp option.

On the other hand there are probably not that many users that use or require such an old version. It is advisable to use the latest version, if only for all the bugs that where fixed.

[TRon]

My apologies that screenshot was attached by mistake and I do not know how to remove it? Maybe a forum admin can?

Login, modify your post then look at the bottom at attachments section. Each individual attachment in a post can be removed by pressing a button (the same way you can add additional attachments). When done, save the post. The attachment should then be gone.

[Martin_fr]

My apologies that screenshot was attached by mistake and I do not know how to remove it? Maybe a forum admin can?

Done, when you edit your message, and click attachments, then the image is listed with a checkbox. Uncheck, and save.

[Martin_fr]

With the small warning that I don't know with which exact version the lazarus.cfg file support was introduced so that for older versions that don't support it you have to fall-back to making either a script or a shortcut that passes the pcp option.

Probably (i.e. if I made no mistake looking it up) its was added for Lazarus 1.2.

[paweld]

I do have a question though:
When you're adding a custom control for the first time, Lazarus lets you specify icons in 24x24, 26x36, and 48x48 sizes — and I tested this, it works great. But let’s say later on, after the component is already installed, I want to change the icon… how on earth do you do that? I’ve tried everything and so far no luck. 😅

I've never encountered the ability to choose the size, can you show it?