VMD-L Mailing List

From: Pietro Amodeo (pamodeo_at_icmib.na.cnr.it)
Date: Fri Feb 10 2006 - 05:01:22 CST

Hi

After experiencing any sort of strange issues in compiling and running
programs with heavy dependencies on many/complex libraries (the last
unresolved example is MolMol, which I compile without any apparent problem
both under FC3 and FC4 -with NVIDIA OpenGL libs in both cases- obtaining
FC3 executables that run correctly under both FC versions, while FC4 exes
sistematically crash on both FCs when used in any graphic mode. All libs
are dynamically linked and this behaviour is constantly observed using
different update levels of kernel, compilers, C-related, Motif-related,
X-related and OpenGL-related libraries under both FC versions) my
suggestion is to provide separate source RPMS for VMD and each related
components you patched. Ideally, patched versions could exist in both
"local" (i.e. to be installed in specific, non-searched paths), or
"global" (installed as a replacement of standard components) versions. VMD
installation should preferentially search for local versions of each
components before using standard ones. Then (if problems from non-patched
components can be easily identified) it would be up to the user using
either standard or your patched versions of SW components. In this way,
you could only check minimum/specific required package versions, the usage
of patched vs. standard packages being implicit in available component
locations.

Sincerely,
Piero

John Stone wrote:
> ........
>
> Regarding source RPMs. One of the problems I'd have in doing something
> that automated is that I've had to manually patch various bugs in FLTK,
> Tcl, Tk, Python, etc so that they build correctly on some of the target
> platforms. While my builds work, sometimes the standard distributions
> of these libraries do not, at least not without patches, and so just
> having
> a particular version requirement for FLTK/Tcl/Tk/Python may not be enough
> to
> have a stable VMD build. Is there a nice way to have a patch get applied
> to a required SRPM before it gets installed?
> 

-- 
Dr. Pietro Amodeo
Istituto di Chimica Biomolecolare del CNR
Comprensorio "A. Olivetti", Edificio 70
Via Campi Flegrei 34
I-80078 Pozzuoli (Napoli) - Italy
Phone      +39-0818675072
Fax        +39-0818041770
Email    pamodeo_at_icmib.na.cnr.it