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ume-jean

Member

Registered: 2020-03-20

Posts: 4

custom xfce4-panel 4.12.2 installation issues

Howdy gang,

This is my fist time trying to build/modify a component of xfce.  I was able to configure and make (./configure prefix=/usr && make) xfe4-panel and run it successfully with some small changes from my dev folder. Whoohoo!
I then followed the docs to install (sudo make install ) my new executable and dependencies, but when I log in and run xfce4-panel my changes aren't there.
looking more closely at /usr/bin/xfce4-panel's  timestamp tells me that it was updated but apparently it is using the wrong libs..?
I'm obviously missing something very basic here. Can someone point me in the correct direction?

Cheers,

Jean

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: custom xfce4-panel 4.12.2 installation issues

Hello and welcome.

Which distro? If you are doing this on a debian based system, note that the library files are placed in specific directories under /lib based on the architecture you are running. For example, running "dpkg -L xfce4-panel" on a xubuntu system, shows that the library files are placed in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu. Therefore, your ./configure command should include:

./configure --prefix=/usr --libexecdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu

Debian/Xubuntu distros have specific instructions fro building patched packages. For ubuntu, see: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpdatingADeb.

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ume-jean

Member

Registered: 2020-03-20

Posts: 4

Re: custom xfce4-panel 4.12.2 installation issues

Hi ToZ,

Thanks for your response and the link.  I am working with Ubuntu 18.04LTS.
After reading the provided (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpdatingADeb ) mini-tutorial I decided to clean up the mess I made in my environment start from scratch the deb way, Here is what I did:

0. edit /etc/apt/sources.list to include deb-src entries
1. get build dependencies (sudo apt-get build-dep xfce4-panel)
2. download source (apt-get source xfce4-panel)
3. perform Sanity check: i.e. build/install source as is using (debuild -us -uc -i -I)
4. make my changes (hack hack hack)
5. create a patch of changes (dpkg --commit . 000-mychanges.patch)
6. build again as above (debuild -us -uc -i -I)
and then......kaboom
ERROR>>
dh_install: Cannot find (any matches for) "usr/share/gtk-doc/html/libxfce4panel-1.0" (tried in ., debian/tmp)
dh_install: xfce4-panel-dev missing files: usr/share/gtk-doc/html/libxfce4panel-1.0
dh_install: missing files, aborting
debian/rules:9: recipe for target 'override_dh_install' failed
make[1]: *** [override_dh_install] Error 25

It seems like there is some expectation of documentation for xfce4-panel-dev?
I've tried some naive hacky things to get around this with no success:
- create the missing file debian/tmp/usr/share/gtk-doc/html/libxfce4panel-1.0
- change dh_install override removing "--fail-missing" option in debian/rules

No go ... arrgh so close.. very frustrating..

What say you? Do I need to contact the package maintainer?

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: custom xfce4-panel 4.12.2 installation issues

If step 3 works, then what exactly does your patch do? Could it be the cause?

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ume-jean

Member

Registered: 2020-03-20

Posts: 4

Re: custom xfce4-panel 4.12.2 installation issues

Perhaps? Obviously something is weird here and seems to be triggering the need to install xfce4-panel-dev related documentation.
Currently my patch merely comments out the logout menu item in panel-window.c
As mentioned in my initial post compiling employing the xfce sanctioned build from source route works and I am able to run the binary directly from my build location without issues.
The problem is all in the installation..
Perhaps I will try the xfce route again and try the suggested addition to the configuration.. would prefer to use the pkg route as it would be easier to apply this patch to other installs..

ume-jean

Member

Registered: 2020-03-20

Posts: 4

Re: custom xfce4-panel 4.12.2 installation issues

OK looks like it was some missing files in the package..
I removed a line from debian/xfce4-panel-dev.install

    usr/share/gtk-doc/html/libxfce4panel-1.0

and that allowed dh_install to finish..yeah!

Thanks fro your help!

Last edited by ume-jean (2020-03-21 01:57:47)