Re: [Gnuplot-info] Not able to install gnuplot succesfully

[Ethan M. <eam...@gm...>]

On Thursday, 25 March 2021 06:45:45 PDT Eliezer Richmond wrote:
> Ethan,
> 
> I followed your instructions.  Since I downloaded and unzipped the file with gunzip and extracted the file with tar xvf into the directory $HOME/gnuplot/gnuplot-5.4.1, 
> I started with "./configure --prefix=$HOME/gnuplot/gnuplot-5.4.1".

That configures it in such a way that the final "install" command
will put it in $HOME/gnuplot/gnuplot-5.4.1/bin.

That would make sense if you were building it on someone else's
machine where you did not have permission to change anything outside
of your own login directory.
It doesn't make much sense on your own machine - if it's in your
own directory you can run it even without the "install" step.


> I then issued the "make" command and then the "make check" command.  Next, I issued "sudo make install".  I tested gnuplot and obtained the same result as before, i.e. gnuplot-5.0.3 opened.  In desperation, I issued "make install" but obtained the same gnuplot version.

> Then I thought that maybe it was a PATH problem so I issued "export PATH=$HOME/gnuplot/gnuplot-5..6.1/bin:$PATH".  

Do you mean "export PATH=$HOME/gnuplot/gnuplot-5.4.1/bin:$PATH"?
That should work, at least for the terminal session you are in at that moment.

To make it permanent you would have to add that directory to /etc/ld.so.conf.d
But that would be crazy.  If you have root permission to modify the
system load path then you would be better off using that permission 
to install the program in the normal place - /usr/bin  (or /usr/local/bin)

> I checked and the addition was included in the PATH.  I tested gnuplot again and got gnuplo-5.0.3.  Next, I examined the contents of the directory "/usr/bin", and found three entries - gnuplot, gnuplot5, and gnuplot5-nox.  I looked at these files with the editor to find that they each had a long list of alphanumeric characters.  I tried to remove them with a response that "permission denied".

That is the purpose of using the "sudo" command wrapper.
It lets you add/remove/modify files that require system privilege.

> Could you direct me as to what I am doing wrong?

./configure
# Inspect output to make sure it is building all the pieces you want
# e.g. if the summary at the end says something like
#      airo-based terminals: no (requires cairo>=1.2, pango>=1.22, glib>=2.28
# it is telling you that you need to install those support packages before
# configuring gnuplot to use them

make >& make.log
# Inspect log file for warnings or errors

make check
# The new gnuplot that you just built should run through a bunch of demos

sudo make install
# At this point the new gnuplot should be in /usr/local/bin
# The new qt and x11 terminals should be in /usr/local/libexec/
# And lots of documentation and support files should be in /usr/local/share/gnuplot/5.4

If your system doesn't normally use the /usr/local directories
(I don't know about Ubuntu), then you can either 

(a)
add /usr/local to  /etc/ld.so.conf.d
(b)
make /usr/local be a symlink to /usr       before doing "make install" !!
(c)
modify the configure at step #1 to be
./configure --prefix=/usr

There might still be some error messages from "make install"
if your system uses a different convention than the gnuplot 
configure script expects for certain things.
For example it might well be that Ubuntu keeps TeX support files
in a different place than gnuplot's default.

   cheers,

	Ethan


> Thank you in advance for your help
> 
> Eliezer 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ethan Merritt <eam...@gm...> 
> Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2021 10:33 PM
> To: gnu...@li...
> Cc: Eliezer Richmond <eli...@gm...>
> Subject: Re: [Gnuplot-info] Not able to install gnuplot succesfully
> 
> On Wednesday, 24 March 2021 18:37:37 PDT Eliezer Richmond wrote:
> > I am trying to install gnuplot-5.4.1 in Linux OS using Ubuntu 64 bit 
> > 16.04.3
> > 
> > I have tried to install gnuplot-5.4.1 without success.  I have read 
> > the faq "How do I compile gnuplot on my system" and the INSTALL file 
> > in the
> > gnuplot-5.4.1 folder.  
> >  
> > I downloaded gnuplot-5.4.1.tar.gz and unzipped the file into 
> > $HOME/gnuplot/gunuplot-5.4.1.
> 
> You are mixing up two very different things.
> #1 is building and installing gnuplot from source files.
> #2 is downloading and installing whatever gnuplot package your distribution provides.
> 
> Pick one or the other.
> 
>  
> >  
> > 
> > I then entered the commands
> > 
> >                ./configure
> >                make
> 
> Good so far.  Assuming that you were happy with the output it shows about what optional components are being built, you should now have a runnable gnuplot sitting in the directory where you built it.
> 
> >                sudo apt install gnuplot
> 
> But now you go completely wrong.
> "apt install" ignores the thing you just built.
> It goes out and looks for a package named "gnuplot" on some Ubuntu web site somewhere.  Then installs it.
> Not the one you built.
> 
> >                make check
> 
> That is checking the copy you built at step 1.
> 
> >                make install
> 
> That is trying to insall the copy you just checked, but it will probably fail because you don't have the right permissions.  Probably you need
> 
>                 sudo make install
> 
>  
> > The 'sudo' command ran returning 
> >                Reading package lists... Done 
> > Building dependency tree        
> > Reading state information... Done
> > gnuplot is already the newest version (4.6.6-3ubuntu0.1).
> 
> Now you are back in camp #2. It is reporting on installation of the Ubuntu package rather than the newer gnuplot you just built.
> Don't do this.   Do _not_ run "apt".
> 
> 	hope that helps,
> 
> 		Ethan 
> 
> [snip]
> > I hope you can resolve my problem.
> > 
> > Eliezer Richmond
> 
> 
> 
> 
>