I found the packages for Debian / Ubuntu / Mint :
ftp://ftp.hu.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/dist/2.4.4/i386-linux/deb/

How to install it?
Am I really supposed to download those ~40 packages separately and then install them in some specific order?
Other people have brougt this up, too, and I understand why. I just want to have a working compiler for Lazarus SVN versions but it is difficult.

I had to change my machine configuration, USB web-stick doesn't work on my Linux, I have a new Windows 7, Mint Linux on VirtualBox etc. It makes me angry that I can't install FPC and Lazarus easily. I know how the casual visitors feel when they can't install easily. For 90% of them it is a turn-off and they go to test something else. That is why I wrote earlier that an easy installation would be a "killer-feature" for both FPC and Lazarus. There would be 10 times more people trying it (100% instead of 10%).

How to improve it?
For windows, I have explained some errors in the installation instructions. The source link leads to a wrong place.
Also, the sources are not included in the default package even they are needed practically always. I wrote earlier about it. Also, if someone wants a compiler fo 64-bit Windows, he certainly selects the wrong cross-compiler because it is mentioned only in the very end. I did the same mistake again just few days ago.

On Linux, even a major distro like Ubuntu has so old versions of FPC and Lazarus. Why? I guess the releases should be advertized more to some maintainers. How does it work in practice? Who advertizes to who?

Next I will try Suse and Sabayon under VirtualBox, I hope they work. At least they have easy-to-install, recent FPC packages. I really don't know why Ubuntu is so popular...

Juha

Yes. I guess we can also add a tar file that contains all of them.

and then install them in some specific order?

No. This was answered in the previous thread: http://lists.freepascal.org/lists/fpc-pascal/2011-May/029139.html

Jonas

Has anybody looked into creating an Ubuntu PPA?

Ludo

Juha,

I just want to have a working compiler for Lazarus SVN versions but it is difficult.

Yes, I recognize this from the past...
This is how I set it up on Suse 10.0
(I cannot use the rpm's my Suse is just too old, it refuses installing fpc rpm's since long time ago)

Go to the general download page from fpc:
http://freepascal.org/download.var

From binaries select your processor (mine is Intel/i386)

and click on your OS (Linux)

In my case (Intel/i386) this will lead me to
http://freepascal.org/down/i386/linux.var

Select a Mirror:

From "Download in 1 big file" select:

fpc-2.4.4.i386-linux.tar

This file contains an installscript, which will install the compiler.

At this point you have a working compiler on your system. So you can build Lazarus from SVN.

In addition, for Lazarus Codetools you need the fpc sources, which you can obtain easily:

http://freepascal.org/down/source/sources.var
Select a Mirror, then one of these (if you do not need the sources for the compiler)

Zip file:
fpc-2.4.4.source.zip (26 MB)
Gzipped Tar file:
fpc-2.4.4.source.tar.gz (22 MB)

The drawback for this method is that your package manager has no idea nymore about which version of Fpc (binary and sources) is installed, and you'll have to delet old versions yourself.

It works for me though (I've been doing this since Laz 0.9.26/fpc 2.2.2)

Hope this helps in any way.

Bart

A quick improvement for
<ftp://ftp.hu.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/dist/2.4.4/i386-linux/deb/> ftp://ftp.hu.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/dist/2.4.4/i386-linux/deb/ is to "upgrade" it to a repository.
Include the attached file in the above directory and you can access it as normal repository by adding "deb
<ftp://ftp.hu.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/dist/2.4.4/i386-linux/deb/> ftp://ftp.hu.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/dist/2.4.4/i386-linux/deb/ ./" to /etc/apt/sources.list (or using the "Software Sources" application in ubuntu). The file is created with dpkg-scanpackages and compressed. I've tried this on my local ftp server after having copied all deb's and both a fresh install and the upgrade from 2.4.0 (original ubuntu one) to 2.4.4 worked fine by installing/upgrading the meta package fpc. Since I don't know the PGP key used to create the deb's I do get NOT AUTHENTICATED warnings when installing fpc. The key is different from the one used for the old lazarus repository
http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Lazarus_release_version_for_Ubuntu.

Ludo

Resend: Outlook keeps converting to html messages...

A quick improvement for
ftp://ftp.hu.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/dist/2.4.4/i386-linux/deb/ is to "upgrade" it to a repository.
Include the attached file in the above directory and you can access it as normal repository by adding "deb
ftp://ftp.hu.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/dist/2.4.4/i386-linux/deb/ ./" to /etc/apt/sources.list (or using the "Software Sources" application in ubuntu). The file is created with dpkg-scanpackages and compressed. I've tried this on my local ftp server after having copied all deb's and both a fresh install and the upgrade from 2.4.0 (original ubuntu one) to 2.4.4 worked fine by installing/upgrading the meta package fpc. Since I don't know the PGP key used to create the deb's I do get NOT AUTHENTICATED warnings when installing fpc. The key is different from the one used for the old lazarus repository
http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Lazarus_release_version_for_Ubuntu.

Ludo

> "Am I really supposed to download those ~40 packages separately"

Usually, in situations like this, one just installs a meta package with a package manager. The meta package is just a list of required dependencies, and downloads other packages as needed.

I installed this one.
http://packages.debian.org/sid/fpc-2.4.4

Easy& painless.

Also, the Debian package is dated May-23, the date of the release.

Adding debian unstable repositories in Ubuntu is asking for trouble. Next time you upgrade your packages you can be in deep s**t.

Ludo

Ludo Brands wrote

Adding debian unstable repositories in Ubuntu is asking for trouble. Next time you upgrade your packages you can be in deep s**t.

Just make sure you pin the unstable repo lower than everything else, then use:

apt-get -t unstable install fpc-2.4.4 (to pull in the necessary dependencies) or apt-get install fpc-2.4.4/unstable (if you don't want anything on your system to be upgraded).

Henry

We were talking to make fpc easier to install for the average ubuntu user. This is as clear as mud for the average user I would say.

Ludo Brands wrote

We were talking to make fpc easier to install for the average ubuntu user. This is as clear as mud for the average user I would say.

Well, one would hope the average developer would be a bit farther along the learning curve than the average user. That said, I've struggled with pinning packages in Ubuntu as well. The thing is, I'd never expect packages of the _development_ branch to ever "play nice" with the _stable_ packages of the system.

Jeff.

Then they need to accept that they will not be able to run the latest release, just like every other "average" user. This is the reality in a stable distro. Hopefully the "average" users will mature into developers eventually and not shy away from editing a text file if they wish to use the latest greatest version of their favourite programming language. For example, debian stable ships gcc 4.4.5, which is quite far from being the latest release.

Also, please note that we are (hopefully) talking about people with more savvy than your "average" user.

Henry

Indeed. I think this point is often overlooked.

Henry

If folks prefer to stick with
ftp://ftp.hu.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/dist/2.4.4/i386-linux/deb/ then fpc_2.4.4-0_all.deb is probably the [single meta]package to install.

A readme file in the folder clearly explaining that would be helpful.

Thanks, there are many ways to install.
I used the Bart's system which is easy although it bypasses the package manager.

I believe the Linux installation could be improved with "build-servers" like Suse has and other distros, too.
There is no fundamental problem with it.

Linux is still a superior platform for open-source software. Unfortunately for commercial software it is not.
There is not one Linux but many variations, and supporting binary installs for all is quite impossible.
Source code can be made portable more easily but commercial software must deploy binaries.

I have a new job (http://www.cadworkssoftware.com/) and realized how big problem it is. Even the big mechanical CAD programs support Windows only, although it used to be the domain of Unix.

Seems like Linux will remain an open-source domain. Ok then, no problem...

Juha

Don't forget that a lot of the fpc users are coming from a delphi (= windows) background. Assuming that experienced developper equals experienced linux user would be a big mistake.
And yes, experienced developpers, even windows ones, won't have a problem typing a few lines in a console or a config file, if only there was a central place where to get that information, up to date... Reading the discussions in this mailing list, many people are looking for that type information.

Ludo

Juha Manninen wrote

Linux is still a superior platform for open-source software. Unfortunately for commercial software it is not.

That's not true. Look at http://www.cadsoft.de

There is not one Linux but many variations, and supporting binary installs for all is quite impossible.

If you repeat the things of some people who wants to choke discussions about userfriendly and easy handling, compatibility and so on that becomes not true.
I wrote an commercial application that runs with embedded Linux and every other Linux and also with Windows.
Yes it is some work to reach this independent state. And if you don't want to take the road you say it is impossible.

fpc_2.4.4-0_all.deb is just a meta package and needs a repository to pull in the other packages. Hence my earlier suggestion + quick fix to "upgrade" ftp://ftp.hu.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/dist/2.4.4/i386-linux/deb/ to a depository. But nobody seems to be interested...

Ludo

In our previous episode, Ludo Brands said:

fpc_2.4.4-0_all.deb is just a meta package and needs a repository to pull in the other packages. Hence my earlier suggestion + quick fix to "upgrade" ftp://ftp.hu.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/dist/2.4.4/i386-linux/deb/ to a depository. But nobody seems to be interested...

If you look carefully, you'll see the 64-bit 2.4.4 .deb releases are not even generated. That sums up pretty much what can be done with the current resources and interest levels.

Nothing stops interested Debian/Ubuntu people starting their own build services. It is unfair to try to push this onto the central developers that already have enough work to do.

If it is successful and maintained for a while, we can talk about making it official later.

It is unfair to try to push this onto the central developers that already have enough work to do.

I understand and appreciate all the effort that has been put into this project and you won't see me pushing additional work to the central developpers. That is also why I'm trying to be constructive and have proposed an easy and tested solution that would improve the installation experience with minimal effort from your side. It's just a matter of copying the Packages.gz file to the ftp server, something which I can't do. I'll test again the installation from the real ftp server once the file is installed and update the Wiki if need be.
I'm not saying my solution is perfect but it has a good return on investment.

Ludo.

2011/6/16 Rainer Stratmann

Interesting. I still believe you have spent lots of time with deployment issues.

Good luck with your CAD.

Regards,
Juha

That is not my company.
And as far as I know this software is written in C.

Good luck with your CAD. Regards, Juha

If you look carefully, you'll see the 64-bit 2.4.4 .deb releases are not even generated. {in ftp.hu.freepascal.org}

Good point. In addition to the Debian packages I mentioned earlier there is a complete single file tar-ball here for x86_64

http://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/fpc/

link is Download From Mirror
<http://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/fpc/download/> under 'Package Actions' on the right.

Just open with Archive Manager (File Roller or whatever) and extract the /usr and /etc trees. su/sudo will be needed to write to /etc & /usr. Much the same as installing from a zip file in Windows.

In our previous episode, Peter said:

The reference release of Free Pascal on Linux/FreeBSD is a .tar, e.g. for Linux/x86_64:

ftp://ftp.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/dist/2.4.4/x86_64-linux/

This is meant for odd ball distros and -versions and for people with special demands (since you can extract the tar and study and modify the install.

The RPM and deb's are generated if there is enough interest (interest defined as people willing to generate and support it)

The RPM and deb's are generated if there is enough interest

Looking at
http://www.freepascal.org/down/x86_64/linux-ftp.freepascal.org.var the rpm is already there.
Ubuntu/MInt users should have the 'alien' tool in their repositories which can easily create a usable .deb file from a .rpm

alien mypackage.rpm at the command line produces mypackage.deb