[Xastir] Help needed--installing xastir 2.0

Mon Jul 23 22:10:54 EDT 2012

Hi Tom,

Thank you for responding.  Thanks also for your explanation regarding the different placement of files depending on the origin of the sources; i.e.,  /usr/  versus  /usr/local/.  Also, thanks to whoever for the detailed info in the wiki, and keeping it current. It was truly a big help for this newbie.  Somewhere I went astray; but, I doubt that is the fault of the wiki.  Since the preference is for online answers, I'll thank everyone in advance for your patience. 

For several months, I had been using Xastir 1.94 on Ubuntu 10.10.  This was obtained from the sourceforge website by clicking the big green button.  I later learned it was quite "vintage".  But, it functioned for my need as an Igate, so lived with it.

On Saturday July 21st, I decided take a quantum leap forward into the current decade.  I upgraded both my operating system and Xastir.  I began by upgrading the OS from Ubuntu 10.10 (64-bit) to 11.10, then to 12.04 LTS (64-bit).  The only hiccup was having to tell 12.04 to use the 2D video for my display.  Otherwise, all went smoothly.  I then used a different computer for reading the Wiki while upgrading  Xastir  to version 2.0 and  going for the CVS so it would keep abreast with the latest version.  

I thought I had followed the directions in the Wiki, line by line.  But, I realized in-process that I had made a mistake in entering the lines regarding  graphicsmagick and gpsman; the text had extended beyond the edge of my screen and I had failed to realize it.  Therefore, those lines had been incomplete.  I went back and re-entered those lines in their entirety.  I continued onward through the wiki instructions.  When I got to the part about entering "xastir &" to start the program I received an error message about a socket for Festival, plus the text which I mentioned in my original message; (XReadBitmapFile( ) failed: Bitmap not found??  /usr/share/xastir/symbols/2x2xbm).  

You are correct about me missing the portion that was not in a highlight box. But, after your message I found it.  I have not, however, found the file it referred to " ~/.xastir/config/xastir.cnf"  in any folder or subfolder.  Ubuntu's file search doesn't find it either. 

I find in my "Home" folder (or directory, whichever it is called) there is a file called ubuntu-xastir-cvsbuild.sh    .  In Home/src/ there is one folder called "xastir".  It has several subordinate folders and files, none of which end in "cnf".  

Wait a minute.....I also see a folder "usr" with subordinate folders including "local".  In fact, I can follow a pathway of /usr/local/share/xastir/symbols and see a file called 2x2.xbm   So, I think what I'm needing is here.. I just need to find a way to steer things to it.

Using gedit, I have opened ~/src/xastir/configure  . On line 533 (I counted my way down), under the category Initializations. there is a line that says  "ac_default_prefix=/usr/local"    . For additional reference, on line 540 it begins the "Identify of this package." followed by PACKAGE_NAME='xastir', PACKAGE_TARNAME= 'xastir',PACKAGE_VERSION='2.0.1', and so forth.  Line 548, ac_unique_file="src/xastir.h"    Is there where I need to be looking?

I'm trying to persist through this. Thank you again for your patience, as I slog along.
Kelly, KA5MGL

> ------------------------------
> > Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2012 15:51:49 -0600
> From: Tom Russo <russo at bogodyn.org>
> To: Kelly Boswell <kellyboswell at yahoo.com>,    Xastir - APRS client
>     software discussion <xastir at lists.xastir.org>
> Subject: Re: [Xastir] Help needed--installing xastir 2.0
> Message-ID: <20120721215149.GA17698 at bogodyn.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> On Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 03:49:30PM -0600, we recorded a bogon-computron 
> collision of the <russo at bogodyn.org> flavor, containing:
>>  On Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 02:18:40PM -0700, we recorded a bogon-computron 
> collision of the <kellyboswell at yahoo.com> flavor, containing:
>>  > Hi gang;
>>  > ?
>>  > I was upgrading to Xastir 2.0. following the instructions at the wiki 
> (xastir.org/wiki/HowTo:Ubuntu_12.04) .? But, I did something wrong.? 
>>  > ?
>>  > When type XASTIR in the terminal, I get the following:
>>  > XReadBitmapFile( ) failed: Bitmap not found?? 
> /usr/share/xastir/symbols/2x2xbm
>>  > ?
>>  > What did I do?
>>  > ?
>>  > Can someone guide me?through correcting my problem?? Offline will be 
> fine.
>>  > ?
>> 
>>  We prefer to do on-line answers here, so that everyone benefits from the 
>>  answers.
>> 
>>  Are you upgrading from a prior binary install?
>> 
>>  Here's why I ask:  Linux package managers like to put all installed 
> stuff into
>>  /usr (/usr/bin, /usr/lib, /usr/share, etc.).  But when you build from 
> source,
>>  the default behavior is to put things in /usr/local (/usr/local/bin, 
>>  /usr/local/lib, /usr/local/share).
>> 
>>  When you first install Xastir from a binary package and run it, all of your
>>  config files (in ~/.xastir/config) get set up to look for support files in
>>  /usr/share/xastir.  If you then do an upgrade to a later version from 
> source,
>>  the files that the old package had in /usr/share are now in 
> /usr/local/share.
>> 
>>  The best way to fix this issue is to edit your ~/.xastir/config/xastir.cnf
>>  file in your normal text editor of choice and change all references to 
>>  "/usr/share" to "/usr/local/share".  The error message 
> you are getting will
>>  go away.
> 
> This is, by the way, right at the top of the wiki page you referenced, under
> "If you alread installed the binary version", where it says:
> 
>    Then you need to edit your ~/.xastir/config/xastir.cnf file to change all 
>    occurances of "/usr/share" to "/usr/local/share"
> 
> It may be easy to miss, though, as it's not highlighted the way all of the 
> cut-and-paste-able commands are.
> 
> -- 
> Tom Russo    KM5VY   SAR502   DM64ux          http://www.swcp.com/~russo/
> Tijeras, NM  QRPL#1592 K2#398  SOC#236        http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?DDTNM
> "And, isn't sanity really just a one-trick pony anyway? I mean all you 
> get is
> one trick, rational thinking, but when you're good and crazy, oooh, oooh,
> oooh, the sky is the limit!"  --- The Tick
> 
> ------------------------------