KDE headers

[zagreus]

Hello. I need some help with KDE ... or so I think. When installing a bunch of programs I get the following error:

"checking for KDE... configure: error:
in the prefix, you've chosen, are no KDE headers installed. This will fail.
So, check this please and use another prefix!"

I've done a "kde-config --prefix" and got "/usr". Then I retried "./configure --prefix=/usr" but got the same error. The linux distro is Mandriva 2006 with KDE 3.5.1 upgraded via urpmi. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[fingal]

All too often what this means is that you have an unresolved dependency, and that dependency is usually the development version of a particular package.

The only way to figure it out is the read the manual(s) for the package(s) you are installing and if you see any development applications listed, try to install them.

A possible shortcut
It could be that what's needed are the header files for your kernel. These should be on your installation disk: Mandriva never installs them by default. The header files end up in directories labelled /includes as far as I remember.

Basically, install your kernel source files and try again. That might even work.

[zagreus]

Went to "/usr/include" and surprise: no KDE directory here and therefore no headers also. So here comes a silly question: how do I get to have some of those *.h files in a KDE directory in /usr/include ?

[fingal]

Went to "/usr/include" and surprise: no KDE directory here and therefore no headers also. So here comes a silly question: how do I get to have some of those *.h files in a KDE directory in /usr/include ?

I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve. Are you upgrading your version of KDE?

Something to bear in mind is that /usr/include won't be the only /include directory. Your directory tree is more complex than that. It really comes down to this:

* look at the packages you need to install to achieve your desired result;
* figure out which packages depend on each which;
* install them in the correct order, bearing in mind that you probably need
either:

a.) kernel source files OR
b.) the development version of a particular dependency.

In an ideal world you'll use urpmi and it will do this for you - or use Mandriva's 'Install Software' menu option. I know how confusing that sounds, but it might not be too bad in practice.

PS: If you can possibly avoid installing a large complex package from source, I would do so. Maybe you can find an rpm somewhere?

[AlexK]

zagreus All you need to do is include any kde-devel packages which can be found on your Mandriva installation media. Since you updated to 3.5 via urpmi, just urpmi the new devel files.

These devel packages are just the source code for whatever kde version you are running, some programs require these code so that they can compile themselves against it. It is very much similar to the way the nvidia installer compiles the nvidia module against the presently running kernel. Similarly, whatever program zagreus is trying to compile requires these headers.