GhostScript 8.51

[Rick Stevens]

Mark McCulligh wrote:
> Hi Group,
> 
> I am trying to install GhostScript 8.51 on my RHEL 3 box.  I currently 
> have version 7.x on the box installed using the rpm.  I cannot find a 
> rpm that will work for GhostScript 8.51. (If someone knows of one let me 
> know, PLEASE!)  I am going to try and install it by configuring from 
> source.  I was wondering what is the best way to go about it. Do I just 
> compile the source and it will update my rpm version of GhostScript.  
> Should I remove the rpm version first? It has lots of depends for I 
> don't know if I can uninstall it without breaking something.

If you are posting a message with a different subject, please post a NEW
message.  Do NOT reply to an existing message and simply change the
subject.  That's called "thread hijacking" and it's highly frowned upon,
Mark.  Since I've never seen a post from you before, we'll let it slide
this time.  ;-)

However, to answer your question, first be aware of the fact that RH
won't support any issues you have with the new Ghostscript.  RH only
supports items that come from their up2date servers.

Now, how to build it:  You should read any README or INSTALL files that
come with the source tarball for dependencies and such and make sure you
have those items installed first.

Next, the general process for building and installing programs from
source is this sequence:

	$ cd /package/source/dir
	$ ./configure
	$ make
	$ su
	# make install

There are usually a number of options you can give to the configure
scripts, such as the directory you want it to install into, enabling
different options, etc.  "./configure --help" will usually list these
options.

You should also watch the output of configure fairly carefully.  Look
for any errors regarding missing packages, libraries and such.  Fix
those before you go to the "make" step.  You want "configure" to run as
cleanly as possible.

Most packages will default to installing into /usr/local.  This makes
it fairly easy to delete if you want to.  Some programs also have a
"make uninstall" option (you'd have to look at the Makefile generated
by the configure program to see).

Should you decide to install it in the normal Red Hat spot by using the
"--basedir=" options (thereby overwriting the version from the RPM),
make sure you have the original RPM file saved somewhere.  That way, you
can reinstall the RPM over the top of the new file by doing:

	# rpm -Uvh --force name-of-rpm-file.rpm

----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-                   Never try to outstubborn a cat.                  -
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