[erlang-questions] Installing R13B02-1: Questions on curses and gcc

[Mikael Pettersson]

Roger Price writes:
 > Hi, Sorry if these are FAQs. I am trying to install R13B02-1 on 
 > opensuse 11.0.
 > 
 > The following curses libraries are installed
 > # locate ncurses
 > /lib/libncurses.so.5
 > /lib/libncurses.so.5.6
 > /lib/libncursesw.so.5
 > /lib/libncursesw.so.5.6
 > /lib64/libncurses.so.5
 > /lib64/libncurses.so.5.6
 > /lib64/libncursesw.so.5
 > /lib64/libncursesw.so.5.6

These are ncurses runtime libraries.

 > but when I try to configure with the command
 > 
 >     script -c "./configure" configure.log
 > 
 > the log ends with 
 > checking for kstat_open in -lkstat... no
 > checking for tgetent in -lncurses... no
 > checking for tgetent in -lcurses... no
 > checking for tgetent in -ltermcap... no
 > checking for tgetent in -ltermlib... no
 > configure: error: No curses library functions found
 > 
 > Question 1: Which curses library do I need for R13B02-1?

You need the ncurses development packages, which contain
include files and sometimes additional library files. They
would typically be called something like ncurses-dev or -devel.

 > I tried configuring without termcap:
 > 
 >     script -c "./configure --without-termcap" configure.log
 > 
 > but now the log ends:
 > 
 > checking size of long long... 8
 > checking if we should add -fno-tree-copyrename to CFLAGS for 
 > computed gotos to work properly... yes
 > checking for broken gcc-4.3.0 compiler... yes
 > configure: error: This gcc miscompiles the Erlang runtime system;
 >                    please use a different version
 > 
 > The README says "gcc-4.3.0 has a serious optimizer bug. It produces 
 > an Erlang emulator that will crash immediately. The bug is supposed 
 > to be fixed in gcc-4.3.1."
 > 
 > My gcc is at version 4.3.1:
 > 
 > # gcc --version
 > gcc (SUSE Linux) 4.3.1 20080507 (prerelease) [gcc-4_3-branch revision 135036]

Note that it says "prerelease". The bug in question (PR tree-optimization/36339)
was fixed on the gcc-4_3-branch 2008-05-28 in revision 136101.

You need a gcc update.

 > Question2: Which gcc do I need to compile R13B02-1?

Most gcc versions work, so use whatever your Linux vendor tests and ships.
If they ship broken crap like gcc-4.3.0 and don't offer updates, use gcc-4.3.4
or gcc-4.4.2.