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Thread ID: 44349 2004-04-16 09:59:00 Xandros, the (ongoing) saga of trying to install Kshowmail Terry Porritt (14) Press F1
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229791 2004-04-16 09:59:00 Some time back Gorela mentioned Kshowmail as an email program that lets you look at emails on the ISP mail server and manage them without necessarily downloading, eg they can be deleted from the server. Windows Foxmail does this which makes it a useful program.

So trying to install kshowmail is where the fun started, my hair is already grey/white, but if it wasnt it would be :)

Kshowmail can be downloaded from Sourceforge (sourceforge.net)
The first hurdle is trying to decide which of the listed kshowmail packages to download. The packages have RH9 or SuSE90 or WB3 in the file name, and are rpm source files.
I guess these are no good for Xandros Debian system, I was hoping for a .deb package.

Oh well, so I downloaded the kshowmail-3.1.o.tar.gz source file and reading told me that this file had to be unzipped and unarchived, configured, make, and make install. What a nonsense and rigmarole just to install a simple program.

OK so after refreshing up on Unix command line syntax, and remembering Unix is case sensitive I read the instructions ( these always assume you know how to do things anyway) and unpacked the file into a directory /opt/kshowmail-3.1.0.

Ah ha, next all we have to do is ./configure. What a joke!

After a lot of huffing and puffing the configure command comes up with this error message....

Checking for X- - -configure:error:Can't find X includes

also there was something about Qt, but that comes later.

So back to Google and more reading, this is quite a common phenomenon with Linux apparently, Linux is throwing up this error message all over the place.

Anyway it seems Xandros needs to have installed some mysterious files contained in xlibs-dev package, whatever that is, but Xandros Networks is the place to go for these libs.

I also had to install various other libs to get rid of the dreaded Cant find X includes, including libjpeg. But I didnt make detailed notes on this, just blindly installed libs until the error message went away. :)

Phew, making some progress, but wait there is more, now ./configure is complaining about Qt, or the lack of Qt.

Qt??? what is Qt? I remember the old expression from war days about hearing it "on the QT", then there is or was the amateur radio "Q" code, eg QTH= my position is.....(confused)

So back to Google and the kshowmail install instructions, and this is also a Linux error that ocurrs not infrequently, and now it seem that Xandros should have Qt/X11Free Edition 3.3.0 installed.

It can be downloaded from Trolltech (www.trolltech.com), and it is also a .tar.gz source file that has to be unpacked, unzipped de-tarred configured, make, make install etc Oh no, where does it all end???

By now Im getting pretty adept at logging in as root to issue Unix commands getting the spaces in the right places etc [ eg in dos you have cd.. but in Unix cd .. ok spot the difference], and what do you know by carefully following the install instructions, going away literally for hours whilst configuring took place, issued make, then make install commands this mysterious Qt was successfully installed.

By this time I was too tired to do any more, so Kshowmail was left until next day.

So lets try ./configure again, fantastic, went right through without any glitch, and it finished up telling me I could now issue this magic "make" command. :)

But it wouldnt "make", all sorts of errors thrown up, hear is what it said to me:


Athlon:/opt/kshowmail-3.1.0# make
make all-recursive
make[1]: Entering directory `/opt/kshowmail-3.1.0'
Making all in kshowmail
make[2]: Entering directory `/opt/kshowmail-3.1.0/kshowmail'
if g++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I.. -I/usr/include/kde -I/usr/share/qt3/include -I/usr/X11R6/include -DQT_THREAD_SUPPORT -D_REENTRANT -Wnon-virtual-dtor -Wno-long-long -Wundef -Wall -pedantic -W -Wpointer-arith -Wmissing-prototypes -Wwrite-strings -ansi -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=500 -D_BSD_SOURCE -Wcast-align -Wconversion -O2 -fno-exceptions -fno-check-new -MT kshowmailfeedback.o -MD -MP -MF ".deps/kshowmailfeedback.Tpo" \
-c -o kshowmailfeedback.o `test -f 'kshowmailfeedback.cpp' || echo './'`kshowmailfeedback.cpp; \
then mv -f ".deps/kshowmailfeedback.Tpo" ".deps/kshowmailfeedback.Po"; \
else rm -f ".deps/kshowmailfeedback.Tpo"; exit 1; \
fi
In file included from kshowmailfeedback.cpp:18:
kshowmail.h:30:20: qarray.h: No such file or directory
make[2]: *** [kshowmailfeedback.o] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/opt/kshowmail-3.1.0/kshowmail'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/opt/kshowmail-3.1.0'
make: *** [all] Error 2
Athlon:/opt/kshowmail-3.1.0#

(Athlon is the name of my computer)

So all this just to install a simple email program. :(

Now all you gurus please tell me what is so marvellous about Linux.

It reminds me of my motor biking days when I used to spend more time tinkering and rebuilding and tuning and 'making' and 'installing' parts and 'configuring' my Vincent Black Shadow come Black Lightning than actually going out on the road and riding it. :) [thats not quite true] 		Terry Porritt (14)
229792 2004-04-17 02:17:00 > Kshowmail can be downloaded from
> Sourcefor
> e (sourceforge.net
> _id=45904&package_id=45724&release_id=212395)
> Oh well, so I downloaded the kshowmail-3.1.o.tar.gz
> source file and reading told me that this file had to
> be unzipped and unarchived, configured, make, and
> make install. What a nonsense and rigmarole just to
> install a simple program.

This is standard simple practice when no one has made a precompiled package suitable for your distribution. There are untold numbers of applications available for Linux, you want it, some one has probably written it. However there may only be source available if you want to have that program. This means you get to compile it yourself. With a RPM capable distro there generally are a lot more precompiled applications available - it just depends upon what OS you choose. Linux is not Windows, and the software developers cannot cater for all distro's flavours and package types, so source can be used by anyone. It can however, be a bit harder at times to compile if you don't have all the correct pre-requisite files.

For a Linux newbie, having to deal with these problems can be disheartening, however much you learn from the process. :)

Unless someone can come up with a solution to your compilation make errors (I don't have a debian based system so I cannot replicate what you are doing) I suggest you try a different program which does the same job. Take a look at Mailfilter (mailfilter.sourceforge.net/). It has a debian pre-compiled package available - here (http:). You should be able to use Xandros Networks to look for this package and install it for you.

> So all this just to install a simple email program. :(

This was an bad example program to learn from, for most it is a simple case of ./configure, make, make install. Last night I installed KRadio from source so that I could have a nice GUI for my new TV/FM tuner card. I installed the required libsndfile first (it clearly stated that this was required) and ran ./configure, make and make install - that was it! I now have a nice little radio tuner app.

> Now all you gurus please tell me what is so
> marvellous about Linux.

You have choices and huge flexibility/freedom. Keep your chin up and keep moving forward. Linux does have a lot to offer but only if you are prepared to take it up on that offer. Experienced Window users do find it hard initially being reverted back to a newbie-status and feeling helpless, but this will pass as your confidence and experience grows. :) 		Jen C (20)
229793 2004-04-17 02:35:00 Thanks for the encouragement Jen, it's like being advised that castor oil, or brimstone and treacle is good for one, and if you persevere, eventually you'll get to like it :) :) Only kidding.

I'll have a look at that email program you mention. But once started on something I never give up, I'll get that kshowmail working even if I have to re-write it myself!!!!!!!! 		Terry Porritt (14)
229794 2004-04-17 02:44:00 > I'll have a look at that email program you mention.
> But once started on something I never give up, I'll
> get that kshowmail working even if I have to
> re-write it myself!!!!!!!!

That's the fighting spirit Terry - good to see you back to your cheery determined self :D 		Jen C (20)
229795 2004-04-17 03:14:00 A problem might be that Xandros has been made too user-fiendly.

A lot of software compilations need the header files for the kernel available. Those should be in a "kernel development" package"-- you can install just the headers, without the whole kernel source. I suspect a mail programme would need access to the system definitions.

Again, the Qt problem is because it's a GUI application. ;-) 		Graham L (2)
229796 2004-04-17 04:16:00 Oh for just the command line Graham :), I reckon GUIs are bad news.

I do have to say that when I worked on a Sun workstation at a CRI in 1994/5, I was very impressed with the Unix system and its GUI.
There was no comparison to Windows 3.1 that I had at home then. 		Terry Porritt (14)
229797 2004-04-17 04:28:00 There might also be a KDE development pack needed ...

Eventually you get all the bits together. I'm at about my third compile of the 2.6.3 kernel. It's got a "quiet"mode, so there's only about one warning instead of the scarey screeds you see with the older kernel sources. (I always believed that compiler warnings are errors --- these C programmers don't seem to care.:-()

The Sun probably used X-Window too, but they've got lots of new GUI languages like QT now.
I use CLI except when I have to use the GUI. When you punched a card, you were telling the computer what to do. When you click on an icon you're asking it. ;-) 		Graham L (2)
229798 2004-04-17 04:32:00 I would have a look around for a debian package from another source before trying to compile the app yourself . There are a lot of debian users out there .
Failing that, a redhat RPM might install (xandros networks can import them) .


The error from make is related to QT (the gui toolkit used by kde for the buttons, scroll bars etc) . Try installing the libqt-dev package to get the required headers .


The fact that compiling an app is difficult is not unique to linux systems, nor is it the real problem here .
The problem is you were forced to try compiling from source because the bistros haven't gotten their act together about improving compatibility . 		bmason (508)
229799 2004-04-17 06:12:00 Just to mention that xandros doesnt have gcc.

go to a sheel, type apt-get update

then do apt-get install gcc


it may take a while. 		ilikelinux (1418)
229800 2004-04-17 07:13:00 Done :)
Thanks all, and thanks Bret for the tip than Xandros Networks can import RedHat rpm, I found that info in the Networks help following up your tip.

So with a few clicks of the mouse the RH rpm file was downloaded and installed, and Kshowmail works ok.

BUT after all that it isnt what I want :)

It doesnt send email only shows you what is on the server, so it's only half a program. However you can see the full message on the server, whereas with Foxmail only the message headers could be read.

I will follow up on Jen Cs suggested program. 		Terry Porritt (14)
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