Feature request: README.linux

radiance-dev
1

Hi Greg, Bernd

it seems that rad3R9supp.tgz has some of the directories under px/tiff missing.
These are the dirs in rad3R3supp.tgz:
contrib
html
libtiff
man
port
test
tools

but 3R9supp.tgz only has the following dirs under px/tiff:
libtiff
port

the compilation of HEAD bombs out with this error:
cd tiff ; ./configure -C -quiet -with-CC=gcc \
    "--libdir=`pwd`/../../lib" "--includedir=`pwd`/../../common" \
    --enable-static --disable-shared --disable-cxx \
    --enable-logluv --disable-jpeg \
    --disable-zlib --disable-pixarlog \
    "-with-ENVOPTS=-O2" ; \
  cd port ; make all ; \
  cd ../libtiff ; make install
appending configuration tag "CXX" to libtool
appending configuration tag "F77" to libtool
updating cache config.cache
config.status: error: cannot find input file: contrib/Makefile.in
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/axel/software/radiance/ray/src/px/tiff/port'
make[1]: *** No rule to make target `all'.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/axel/software/radiance/ray/src/px/tiff/port'
make[1]: Entering directory
`/home/axel/software/radiance/ray/src/px/tiff/libtiff'
make[1]: *** No rule to make target `install'.
make[1]: Leaving directory
`/home/axel/software/radiance/ray/src/px/tiff/libtiff'
make: *** [../lib/libtiff.a] Error 2

I could compile the latest HEAD by copying across the missing dirs
from rad3R8supp.tgz. While doing so I was wondering if a little
README.linux in the ray directory would have solved this problem. It's
very straight-forward to install the development libs for libtiff
(libtiff-dev/libtiff-devel) on a LINUX system thanks to the excellent
package managers under Fedora/Debian/Ubuntu etc.

Bernd has been doing a fantastic job packaging Radiance for
Debian/Ubuntu. Any chance of having a little README.linux in the
official tar ball that would explain how to use the distro's native
libtiff-devel to compile Radiance? It's been 'documented' on the
mailing list, but that's not quite the same as a README. Greg, I know
you made the decision to ship the tiff libs with Radiance a long time
ago because there were too many problems in relying on the native
ones. Is this still the case, or has libtiff somewhat settled down a
bit?

As a sidenote, two of my students this year are proud owners of
MacBooks. Although the LEARNIX live CD-ROM works hunky-dory with the
Intel Mac hardware, one of the students expressed an interest in
installing Radiance on his MacBook. Since I know nothing about the
package management in MacOSX, or about compiling anything I could not
give him any advice. I understand he did spend some time trying to
work it all out, and managed to install the requirement (I don't even
know what to call it... Some Apple compiler/runtime thingy). Anyhow he
did not succeed in his endeavour. So I'm afraid other than "it didn't
work for him", I can't really describe the issues and problems. Many
of you guys are using Radiance on MacOS. Could one of you beam
yourself back in time to when your shiny new MacBook arrived on your
doorstep, and somehow document exactly what you did to get this
Radiance thing working? Kinda a Dummy's guide to installing Radiance
on a MacBook. This would be great to have on the web site, or even the
tar ball.

Many thanks

Axel

2

Francesco has already written down what's necessary to
compile on OS X:

http://www.bozzograo.net/radiancewiki/doku.php

I haven't compiled Radiance myself in ages because
Greg always provides the binaries (probably first of
all):

http://radsite.lbl.gov/radiance/dist/rad3R9_macosx.tar.gz

There are minor issues on OS X but they have been
covered a lot and if your student couldn't get it
to work he/she shouldn't use the source distribution
in the first place or search the in list archives
for the same problem.

Regards
Thomas

···

On 15 Dec 2008, at 04:01, Axel Jacobs wrote:

Could one of you beam yourself back in time to when your
shiny new MacBook arrived on your doorstep, and somehow
document exactly what you did to get this Radiance thing
working? Kinda a Dummy's guide to installing Radiance
on a MacBook. This would be great to have on the web site,
or even the tar ball.

3

Hi Axel,

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I have no idea how these directories were left off, but I've reinstated them in all the relevant distributions.

As for the Linux README regarding libtiff, I'm all for it, but not confident enough to write it myself, having never done it. I also don't understand packages under Linux or Ubuntu, so I'd really prefer that someone else submit a README to put into the distribution. I'd be happy to proofread it and include it. I don't think there are any serious problems remaining between the packaged libtiff and the one I distribute, but again I don't have any Linux experience to draw on.

Cheers,
-Greg

···

From: "Axel Jacobs" <[email protected]>
Date: December 14, 2008 8:01:32 PM PST

Hi Greg, Bernd

it seems that rad3R9supp.tgz has some of the directories under px/tiff missing.
These are the dirs in rad3R3supp.tgz:
contrib
html
libtiff
man
port
test
tools

but 3R9supp.tgz only has the following dirs under px/tiff:
libtiff
port
...

4

Hi,

As for the Linux README regarding libtiff, I'm all for it, but not
confident enough to write it myself, having never done it. I also don't
understand packages under Linux or Ubuntu, so I'd really prefer that
someone else submit a README to put into the distribution. I'd be happy
to proofread it and include it. I don't think there are any serious
problems remaining between the packaged libtiff and the one I
distribute, but again I don't have any Linux experience to draw on.

I could write that, but first I'll have to update my patches to the latest
HEAD and see what needs to be done at the moment. Last thing I remember is
that I talked with Greg about some tiff related patches from me, and I think
they're applied in his tree. Didn't catch up with that as I'm spending more
spare time on Lenny related stuff at the moment.

Cheers,

Bernd

···

--
Bernd Zeimetz Debian GNU/Linux Developer
GPG Fingerprint: 06C8 C9A2 EAAD E37E 5B2C BE93 067A AD04 C93B FF79

5

Hi guys,

(Greg:)

As for the Linux README regarding libtiff, I'm all for it, but not
confident enough to write it myself, having never done it. I also
don't understand packages under Linux or Ubuntu, so I'd really prefer
that someone else submit a README to put into the distribution. I'd
be happy to proofread it and include it. I don't think there are any
serious problems remaining between the packaged libtiff and the one I
distribute, but again I don't have any Linux experience to draw on.

(Bernd:)

I could write that, but first I'll have to update my patches to the latest
HEAD and see what needs to be done at the moment. Last thing I remember is
that I talked with Greg about some tiff related patches from me, and I think
they're applied in his tree. Didn't catch up with that as I'm spending more
spare time on Lenny related stuff at the moment.

Brilliant! You guys rock!

Bernd, I know I half dumped you into this by even begging the
question. Thanks a lot for picking this up! I promise to put on my
Sherlock Holmes hat and give some good-quality dummy's level feedback.

(Thomas:)

Francesco has already written down what's necessary to
compile on OS X:
http://www.bozzograo.net/radiancewiki/doku.php
I haven't compiled Radiance myself in ages because
Greg always provides the binaries (probably first of all):
http://radsite.lbl.gov/radiance/dist/rad3R9_macosx.tar.gz
There are minor issues on OS X but they have been
covered a lot and if your student couldn't get it
to work he/she shouldn't use the source distribution
in the first place or search the in list archives
for the same problem.

Thanks for pointing this out. I was aware of Francesco's site, but did
not know the install instructions (sorry, Francesco).
Greg, do you think this would justify a link to Francesco's page on
the two download pages (radsite and radiance-online)? All the coding
gurus seem to run MacOS now. However, many Mac people are still of the
more artistic type. So even something like
'/your/preferred/path/to/the/binaries' might be too much. So where DO
I stick them? Come on... we all started off small.

Oh, and yes, I'm deliberately being a bit stubborn here.

Many thanks for you efforts and feedback

Cheerioh

Axel

6

Hi Axel,

Thanks for pointing this out. I was aware of Francesco's site, but did
not know the install instructions (sorry, Francesco).
Greg, do you think this would justify a link to Francesco's page on
the two download pages (radsite and radiance-online)? All the coding
gurus seem to run MacOS now. However, many Mac people are still of the
more artistic type. So even something like
'/your/preferred/path/to/the/binaries' might be too much. So where DO
I stick them? Come on... we all started off small.

I agree we should have better linkage to Francesco's Wiki -- do you think it should go in the "Resources" list on radiance-online.org? Where would you look for it? I don't think it belongs on the download page, personally.

-Greg

7

Hi Greg,

I agree we should have better linkage to Francesco's Wiki -- do you
think it should go in the "Resources" list on radiance-online.org?
Where would you look for it? I don't think it belongs on the
download page, personally.

As a Fedora, Debian and Ubuntu user, I am somewhat spoiled when it
comes to installing packages. More often then not, they are available
for download with one simple command. To be honest, I don't even know
if MacOS has a similar mechanism. Windows does not.

When I do have to get my fingers dirty with tar balls and compilation,
all instructions, including dependencies, make commands, compile
options, switches etc. are usually documented in one or more files
within the tar ball. This usually means:
- README: This software does so and so, is written and maintained by
this guy, published under such-n-such license. Please read LICENSE for
details about the license. For installation instructions please refer
to INSTALL.
- INSTALL: To build this, you need package1, package2 and package3.
This is how you build the thing: run ./configure, make, make install.
Or run ./makeall install etc. This is also where compile switches
would be listed, unless they are available through, e.g. ./configure
--help
- Then there might a PACKAGERS, for what Bernd is doing with the
Debian packages, possibly a MANIFEST, and potentially a few other text
files of special interest to certain groups of users, such as CVS
instructions for hackers. BUGS, ISSUES, TODO, But this already pushing
it. README and INSTALL are the two biggies.

It is very rare indeed to find a README which says: "For installation
instruction, please go to http://mywebsite.com/mysoft/install.html".
If the installation or configuration is very different between
platforms, there might be a README.linux, README.macos, README.win32
etc.

So I'm not sure that 'Resouces' is a good place for the install
instructions to live in. Should they not be within the tar ball, or at
least on the same download page?

Regards

Axel

8

Sure, but Francesco's site isn't a set of installation instructions. It's meant to be broader than that, and people can add and delete stuff at will. There is no central location for installation issues as far as I know, other than the mailing list.

I don't install many packages these days, and I'm not familiar with the current conventions. If anyone wants to clean up these instructions so it fits with others notions of the expected on Linux, I'll check in whatever they submit, but I don't promise to maintain it. I'm pretty lousy at maintaining the instructions I have (in case you hadn't noticed).

The build system on Radiance doesn't use the standard configure scripts and so on, and there's little sense in adding them at this point. Packages under MacOS X are generally installed as binaries. I've never bothered to make an OS X package for Radiance, though I certainly could. Such a package would imply a nice application with a GUI, and that's not going to happen. Radiance is not for the average user, and giving novices a nice, easy ramp that leads them to a cliff seems a bit cruel....

-Greg

···

From: "Axel Jacobs" <[email protected]>
Date: December 15, 2008 4:16:09 PM PST

Hi Greg,

I agree we should have better linkage to Francesco's Wiki -- do you
think it should go in the "Resources" list on radiance-online.org?
Where would you look for it? I don't think it belongs on the
download page, personally.

As a Fedora, Debian and Ubuntu user, I am somewhat spoiled when it
comes to installing packages. More often then not, they are available
for download with one simple command. To be honest, I don't even know
if MacOS has a similar mechanism. Windows does not.

When I do have to get my fingers dirty with tar balls and compilation,
all instructions, including dependencies, make commands, compile
options, switches etc. are usually documented in one or more files
within the tar ball. This usually means:
- README: This software does so and so, is written and maintained by
this guy, published under such-n-such license. Please read LICENSE for
details about the license. For installation instructions please refer
to INSTALL.
- INSTALL: To build this, you need package1, package2 and package3.
This is how you build the thing: run ./configure, make, make install.
Or run ./makeall install etc. This is also where compile switches
would be listed, unless they are available through, e.g. ./configure
--help
- Then there might a PACKAGERS, for what Bernd is doing with the
Debian packages, possibly a MANIFEST, and potentially a few other text
files of special interest to certain groups of users, such as CVS
instructions for hackers. BUGS, ISSUES, TODO, But this already pushing
it. README and INSTALL are the two biggies.

It is very rare indeed to find a README which says: "For installation
instruction, please go to http://mywebsite.com/mysoft/install.html".
If the installation or configuration is very different between
platforms, there might be a README.linux, README.macos, README.win32
etc.

So I'm not sure that 'Resouces' is a good place for the install
instructions to live in. Should they not be within the tar ball, or at
least on the same download page?

Regards

Axel

9

Greg,

Sure, but Francesco's site isn't a set of installation instructions.
It's meant to be broader than that, and people can add and delete
stuff at will.

I was only thinking about the install instructions now, but you're
right: Francesco's site holds a lot more info than just that. So
'Resources' might be the right place for a link, after all.

There is no central location for installation issues
as far as I know, other than the mailing list.

I rest my case.

Regards

Axel

10

OK, I moved Francesco's Wiki from the "Links" page to the Resources entry in the navigation sidebar.

The README file is supposed to cover installation options. If you want specific things added to it, or insist that it be broken into separate README and INSTALL files, I can do that as well.

-Greg