[ale] just installed LibreOffice in Linux, should have been easier

JD jdp at algoloma.com
Sun Mar 13 18:20:52 EDT 2011


On 03/13/2011 11:33 AM, Paul Cartwright wrote:
> On 3/13/2011 9:35 AM, JD wrote:
>> Here's a challenge to all those who are still pointing and clicking.
>> For every administrative task this week, try to do it from the shell
>> instead. Ask for help if you need it, but please read the man page
>> **first** - some of the man pages do really suck. Learning how to read
>> a man page takes time and practice, then it becomes very clear.
>> `apropos` is your friend too.
> my issue with installing software from the command-line is mostly trying
> to install X, when it is meant for Squeeze&  I only have Lenny.. the
> requirements make it impossible to install. Or you get X&  the
> ./configure says you need Y installed first. trying to install Y it says
> you need A1 installed.... 2 hours later, installing STUFF, I forget what
> it was I originally wanted to install!

Mixing packages across distributions is almost always a bad idea.

You should strive to use software supported in your distro and release 
to avoid RPM-hell (or APT-hell). I suspect you have highly specialized 
software that aren't available in a repository supported by the package 
manager (apt-get / aptitude / yum / yast  or whatever RPM-base distros 
are using these days). There is a price for being outside the package 
manager and you have found it. Dependency hell.

If you are installing from source, because you don't have any choice, 
perhaps you could volunteer to build the packages for your distro of 
choice? This will keep the built packages consistent with the underlying OS.

OTOH, I don't have a clue about your situation and my assumptions could 
be completely wrong.


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