[linux-audio-user] MusE/Jack Installation

[Jack O'Quin]

BartonBosch at aol.com writes:

> I am trying to install MusE, which means installing Jack as well.
> 
> The first issue that I have run into is that MusE requires glibc 2.3.1
> or better to compile.  My RH 8.0 has glibc 2.2.93-5.  Will updating to
> 2.3.1 cause my previously installed binaries (i.e., the entire system)
> to stop working?  Or is 2.3.1 backwardlycompatible with 2.2.93-5?  Or
> can you have both libraries on one system simultaneously?  In other
> words, what are the ramifications of updating glibc?

No telling.  It might be harmless, or it might nuke your whole
system.  Most likely, somewhere in between.  :-)

I generally consider a major glibc upgrade adequate reason to go ahead
and upgrade my entire distribution.  But, I'm conservative about stuff
like that.  Others will probably tell you anecdotes about upgrading
glibc with no problems.  It's *supposed* to be backward compatible.

> Then there are the same considerations for updating qt 3.0.5-17 to
> 3.1.0 or better, except that it is my impression that qt is much less
> central than glibc.  Would anything (everything?) need to be
> recompiled with this new version of qt?

No idea.  Almost certainly less risky, though.

> Another issue relevant to both of the above is the question of RPM vs
> source installation.  There are i386 +/or i686 RPMs for both qt and
> glibc on the Red Hat site. Any suggestions as to whether I should
> install from source or from those RPMs?  Which of the RPMs would be
> better to install on a Celeron 300A?

I use Debian, myself.  If you're considering an RPM-based distribution
for Linux audio, check out PlanetCCRMA.  Many people have reported
excellent results using their packages.

> Finally, in preparing to install MusE I installed fluidsynth and
> libsndfile.  Fluidsynth seemed to go without a hitch (tho I haven't
> used it yet) but libsndfile's configuration summary suggested that I
> add /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig to the PKG_CONFIG_PATH variable because
> other programs compiled against libsndfile might need it.

What version of libsndfile?  (I've got 1.0.4)
What version of pkg-config?  (I've got 0.15.0.)

> Sure enough, when <./configure>ing jack, it couldn't find sndfile.pc,
> and while <make>ing jack, it exited with an error.  I tried:
> 
>        env $PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig
> 
> and it listed all the env variables with the appropriate entry
> appended.  Thinking that everything was set, I tried to
> re<./configure> and <make> jack, but it exited with the same error.
> Double checking with <env> showed that the new entry had disappeared.
> I double checked this, and every time I set the variable with env, it
> lists it once, then it disappears on further <env>s.

My PKG_CONFIG_PATH is set like this in .profile:

  export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/lib/pkgconfig

Note that JACK should build even if it can't find libsndfile.  There
are a couple of example-clients that depend on it, but not the core
subsystem.  It is supposed to build everything else and leaving those
clients out.  You should get a message to that effect from
./configure.

> Anyone know what is going on here?

No.  

It would help to know what error messages you got trying to configure
and then make JACK.

> P.S. I tried a different way to send mail. This is supposed to send
> text without all the redundant html coding.  Is it any better?

Very good, thanks.
-- 
  Jack O'Quin
  Austin, Texas, USA