[ILUG] gmake ???

[Brian Foster]

  | From: "Danny Browne" <danny_browne at eircom.net>
  | Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 19:28:07 +0100
  | 
  | apparently i need gmake to build gkrellm (a sys monitor),
  | so i find the package, downlaod it, build it, install it.
  | All went well.  however, it seems to have installed
  ! [ ... ] make rather than gmake to /usr/local/bin.
  | when i type gmake at the command prompt i get
  |
  |    gmake: Command not found!!!

 without the exclaims (!).  in the future, _please_
 only give _exact_ messages .... unmarked editorial
 enhancements/omissions can be very confusing.

  | did i downlaod the wrong package [ ... ]??
  | i dont understand this...

 *sigh*  GNU strikes again.
 you did everything correctly.
 `gmake' is a synonym for GNU make(1).
 this synonym nominally exists on non-Linux systems
 (when GNU make is installed), but sometimes does not
 on Linux (where GNU make is the norm; e.g., it does
 exist on my SUSE 9.1 at home, but, AFAICR, not on
 the very ancient Debian used at work).

 since you apparently now have GNU `make' installed,
 just use `make'.  if that bothers you, make a link
 called `gmake' to `make'.  if you do not know how
 to make a link, then do not --- just use `make'.

 or in short:  it is a very common, if confusing,
 convention to say "gmake" when GNUs version of
 make is required.  (no makes are created equal;
 every version differs.)  generally, if something
 needs GNU make, and you try some other make, it
 (in my experience) obviously fails.  _why_ if
 fails may not be obvious, but the fact that it
 did fail is obvious.  (yer kiloage may vary!)

cheers!
	-blf-

p.s.  you probably want /usr/local/bin (or whereever
      it is that (g)make is installed) in yer PATH.

-- 
«How many surrealists does it take to    |  Brian Foster      Montpellier,
 change a lightbulb?  Three.  One calms  |  blf at utvinternet.ie      FRANCE
 the warthog, and two fill the bathtub   |    Stop E$$o (ExxonMobile)!
 with brightly-colored machine tools.»   |        http://www.stopesso.com