Hi, I have just installed solaris 8 for intel as a test to see what it is like, it seems to be running ok and I have got it to connect to a network, what I want to do next is to try and install some software, If I download a precompiled software package how do I install it ?? also if I download some source code do I need to get a C compiler first so that I a can compile it or does Solaris 8 come with it's own compiler ?? (if I need to get a C compiler what is the best one to get ? and how do I get it to work ?)

Sorry lots of questions but it's a tough learning curve after years of Wind*ws.

Cheers

The primary package commands are pkgadd, pkgrm, and pkginfo. If you wish to compile software, your best bet is to install gcc.

I have downloaded gcc and installed the package, I seem to be stuck changing the PATH to point to were the gcc is installed to, I have tried different combinations of the following:

PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH export PATH

If I then do:
echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin is at the start of the path, if I close the console and open another and type echo $PATH /usr/local/bin has disappeared.

were am I going wrong ??

Thanks.

I think I have worked it out, I added PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin to the /etc/profile file.
Hurray slowly starting to get the hang of it

Stuck again

When compiling source code using 'make' it says unrecognised command ?
I first moved to the relavent folder and ran ./configure
that appeared to worked ok.
next I typed make which did not work
I am following the instructions that came with the source code and looking at other web sites this seems to be the correct way of doing it, were am I going wrong ??

I have got gcc installed (maybe this is not correctly installed)

It is just a simple text editer (nano) that I am trying to compile and install, I choose this as I thought it would be a good practice piece.

Any ideas ?

You probably need to use gmake instead of make.

I have tried gmake and make and neither work.
when doing:
./configure
I get a couple of suspicious lines at the top of the information that is generated:
checking for working aclocal...missing
checking for working autconf...missing
checking for working autoheader...missing
checking for working makeinfo...missing

Is this something to do with the problem with 'make' ??
As I have never compiled before I am not sure if these messages point to a problem.

Thanks

In most cases, these warnings do not cause any problems. Where does your make/gmake quit?

When I try to use 'make' or 'gmake' it says:

make: not found

I have added the /usr/local/bin to the path, is that the correct location of 'make' ?

Cheers

Hurray I have managed to compile and install

'make' was in /usr/ccs/bin

I just added that to the path and bingo it worked.

You really should have used gmake in /usr/local/bin. At time the cc and make in /usr/ccs/bin cause problems when compiling some apps.

gmake was not in /usr/local/bin. I will look to see were it is located, maybe the gcc install did not work correctly and so I cannot use gmake ?

Sorry. I forgot to mention to get the GNU make utilities along with GCC. I always get both of them out of habit.

I have got the make utilities and now 'make' and 'gmake' both work.

thanks for the help.