[Xastir] Bitmap not found?

[Tom Russo]

On Thu, Mar 01, 2012 at 08:10:26AM -0800, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <aa9vi at yahoo.com> flavor, containing:
> I tried to compile xastir from CVS and here's the output:
> 
> client(1) Thu Mar? 1 10:08:09 2012 : accepted from localhost
> XReadBitmapFile() failed: Bitmap not found? /usr/share/xastir/symbols/2x2.xbm
> client(1) Thu Mar? 1 10:08:10 2012 : disconnected
> 
> 
> what does Bitmap not found mean?? How do I fix it?

The problem is that you probably have previously installed a binary version 
of Xastir from your system's repository --- and Linux packages are set up
to install files in /usr (e.g. binaries to /usr/bin, libraries to /usr/lib/,
and supporting files to /usr/share).  But CVS xastir, like almost all source
packages, installs to /usr/local (/usr/local/bin, /usr/local/lib, 
/usr/local/share).  When you de-installed your binary package and installed
the source version, it removed the /usr/ stuff and installed the files in
/usr/local/.

Your configuration files for Xastir still point to the old locations, and
Xastir is confused because files it's expecting aren't there.

You have two approaches to fix this:

  1) If you have not used Xastir a lot and don't have a whole lot of 
     custom configurations (map selections, interface properties, etc.) then
     you can just move your .xastir/config/xastir.cnf file and let Xastir
     regenerate a default set-up.  Many people here recommend that approach
     because it's just a matter of one command:  

        mv .xastir/config/xastir.cnf .xastir/config/xastir.cnf_old

     But this will blow away all your customizations, so it might not be the
     best choice.

  2) Change all references to /usr/ in your configuration files to /usr/local.
     Most of these will be in .xastir/config/xastir.cnf so it's just a matter
     of editing that one file and changing them all.  

This is one of the more common questions on this list, and for whatever reason
isn't in the FAQ file.

It is always an issue when you switch from a pre-compiled linux package to
a source build.

-- 
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