My question:

I want to run the latest stable version of Lazarus on Mac OS X (10.5.8 to be precise). (I have Xcode installed.)

First, I installed the latest stable FPC release: version 2.4.0.

Then, I discover that the Lazarus downloads do not offer the sources package for this FPC version.

Should I downgrade the compiler to 2.2.4 to use Lazarus? If not, how can I install the FPC 2.4.0 sources in the appropriate place?

If I do need the older compiler, can I install it "next" to FPC 2.4.0? How can I "switch" compiler? When compiling plain fpc programs on the command line I would like to use FPC 2.4.0, while Lazarus can use the older version.

In Lazarus > Forum > Installations > Mac OS X / General, I could not find answers. Also the wiki is somewhat of a maze.

My motivation:

I haven't used Lazarus (and FPC) for a while now, because last year we made the (forced) switch to Java :-(. But now I need to look into some older code.

I also discovered the new Lazarus support web site (nice initiative).

Information about latest stable version and how to install are (still) somewhat lacking. If the latest stable Lazaraus requires an older version of FPC, then it would be important to point that out up front (and it would be nice to know about using multiple FPC versions). If Lazarus can work with the latest stable FPC, then it would be helpful to indicate how to set that up.

Thanks for your help/advice,

Tom

Tom Verhoeff wrote

Should I downgrade the compiler to 2.2.4 to use Lazarus?

Yes, I think you should downgrade to fpc 2.2.4 to use lazarus 0.9.28.2

If you want to use the latest compiler then you need to use lazarus from subversion or a snapshot.

You must use the daily snapshot or the svn version. I suggest the svn version.
http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Getting_Lazarus#Getting_Lazarus_SVN_development_version

Should I downgrade the compiler to 2.2.4 to use Lazarus?

Only if you want to use Lazarus 0.9.28 or older.

If not, how can I install the FPC 2.4.0 sources in the appropriate place?

You can put them where ever you want (e.g. ~/pascal/2.4.0). See here

http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Getting_Lazarus#Getting_FPC_SVN_development_version

or here
http://michael-ep3.physik.uni-halle.de/Lazarus/

[...]

Mattias

At the moment I've got 0.9.28.2, 0.9.28.3 and 0.9.29 which are all running fine with the 2.4.0 FPC compiler. I can update all of these from svn and recompile from the command line, or rebuild in situ.

I've also got 0.9.26 for which I need to use 2.2.4.

I find that the -pcp option to separate Lazarus configurations depending on the underlying FPC version is useful, I've got separate binary and source trees in /usr/local/lib/fpc.

It's really difficult to find an intuitive way for newcomers to help them install Lazarus. I've planned to think something out for this next weekend for the lazarus-support website. (As you can see now it's splitted up into two portions, one with instructions, one to actually download it. But from the comments I've got I concluded that this is too difficult)

Joost.

i wouldn't say that "it is too difficult" but more like "it is much more trouble to hunt here and there for things that need to be done when one doesn't know where to start at all"...

yes, it comes down to making it as simple as possible and we have xerox, apple and m$ to thank for that with their "one icon to do a job" goals of dumbing down everything so that the lowest common denominator can perform the task at hand...

here's a clue (not that any one here really needs it but)... find yourself a computer illiterate person and have them perform the steps necessary for the task... they will find all the problems that need to be taken care of ;)

I would like to help with this effort.

I don't think the process needs to be dumbed down to any idiot can do it. Nor does it have to be a one-click process. But it does need to be well organized and include some clues about the way Lazarus and FPC work that may be scattered around in different places now.

I'm a good tester. I've also given up twice in the past on setting up my Laz/FPC work environment because I just could not figure out what was needed or what was going on. So, please direct me what to try out.

Richard Saunders wrote

I don't think the process needs to be dumbed down to any idiot can do it. Nor does it have to be a one-click process.

This depends a lot on the platform.

It already is extremely easy one-click process in Windows. And i've already had computer illiterate people install it and they had no trouble.

I'm a good tester. I've also given up twice in the past on setting up my Laz/FPC work environment because I just could not figure out what was needed or what was going on. So, please direct me what to try out.

On which platform?

What depends on the platform? Whether a dumbed down process is necessary? I don't believe , a good installer can do the essential part of the job efficiently. Glad to hear that's been completed for Windows.

I'd like go beyond the mere installation and work toward a more comprehensively gentle beginner's experience. My concept of "installing" includes enough information to help someone get started using the stuff. Including something like "OK, now AAA has been installed in BBB and expects your files to be located in CCC. You can change this by going to DDD and setting EEE."

Other basic questions should be answered as part of the process. Before the installation is started the user should know how hard it will be to uninstall and how reliable and complete that process is. Before the installation goes very far the user should be told where the files will be going, what rights are needed to perform the install, what happens if the same or a prior version of the same software has already been fully installed on the same machine, what happens if the same or prior versions have been partially installed on the same machine, etc.

> I'm a good tester. I've also given up twice in the past on setting up my > Laz/FPC work environment because I just could not figure out what was needed > or what was going on. So, please direct me what to try out. On which platform?

Huh? Which platform am I willing to test on, or which did I give up on before?

I can test Windows XP or 7. I would also like to try the latest Linux Ubuntu or CentOS. Perhaps after that I would have the courage to try OS/X but the others I would do using VMs.

I have tried both Windows and Linux in the past.

Richard Saunders wrote

What depends on the platform?

The installation process.

Huh? Which platform am I willing to test on, or which did I give up on before?

The one you had trouble with.