Unable to use free pascal

[Jacky Woo]

I'm using IBM Thinkpad R40e and installed SUSE10.2.
But I have a little problem of using free pascal(IDE).

I downloaded the package fpc-2.0.4.i386-linux.tar and installed it.
However,every time when I type ./fpc *.pas, the computer only tells me the lines of this .pas and other data like time. I can neither compile nor read source code of those .pas and .pp.

What's worse, if I try ./fpc [options] *.pas, there would be fatal error and even unable to output any data.

It seems that I've installed successfully cuz #fpc did work when I input, but according to user.pdf in that package, if error occurs, U failed to install...

So now I'm confused...If anyone can help, I shall be very grateful.

[gogalthorp]

This could be a permissions problem or a path problem. Try the commands as root. note you should not run this way normally but just as a test. You also might check to see if the command has execute permission. you probably need to do a chmod +777 on it

[Jacky Woo]

......Well......
I guess....
I don't get it...
I think maybe it's the path problem cuz I installed as root account and not permission denied during that.
and...how to do it then...

[gogalthorp]

Find where fpc installed check the permissions.

To see the current path

echo $PATH

to add to the current path add the lines

export PATH=$PATH:thenewpath where thenewpath is the directory to add

These commands can either be typed at the terminal each time you login, or you can add it to your .bashrc for bash shell tcsh so that each time you login, the PATH is already set.

[Jacky Woo]

Find where fpc installed check the permissions.

To see the current path

echo $PATH

to add to the current path add the lines

export PATH=$PATH:thenewpath where thenewpath is the directory to add

These commands can either be typed at the terminal each time you login, or you can add it to your .bashrc for bash shell tcsh so that each time you login, the PATH is already set.

I've got some thing U must see.
Sorry that I didn't use Ur suggestion yet cuz I would like to make sure I really did install it:
So I did it like this :#sudo sh install.sh
and no 'permission denied' appeared.
So I typed in : #fpc abc.pas
and it gave me this:

Free Pascal Compiler version 2.0.4 for i386
Target OS: Linux for i386
Compiling abc.pas
Linking abc.pas
8 lines compiled, 0.3 secs.

Then...nothing else...
Can U figure it out whether I installed it right and it was working alright but I used wrong commands or the permission/PATH is wrong?

And how to cope with it?

[gogalthorp]

So it looks like it is installed and is compiling the source abc.pas file this should give you an "abc" executable file that you can now run. Note you may have to change permissions on the resultant file to give it permission to execute. A compiler takes source code and creates object code that is then linked to create an executable. It does nothing else. There maybe a switch to compile-link-then run. But I don't know this compiler, RTFM.

[Jacky Woo]

So it looks like it is installed and is compiling the source abc.pas file this should give you an "abc" executable file that you can now run. Note you may have to change permissions on the resultant file to give it permission to execute. A compiler takes source code and creates object code that is then linked to create an executable. It does nothing else. There maybe a switch to compile-link-then run. But I don't know this compiler, RTFM.

Thank U so much.
I'm just a real newbie and questions can be very stupid...

Q1:how to change permissions?
Q2:what do u mean by 'there maybe a switch to compile-link-then run'?

Grateful for what U did.
Just wanna solve this problem...

[gogalthorp]

RTFM (read the 'fine' manual) note the F is can also be a common Anglo-Saxon term

A switch is a command or short abbreviation often proceeded by a dash (-)

What switches are available depends on the program so RTFM

At a console type

man chmod

this will give you all the switches an parameters for the chmod command

chmod changes the permissions. You must be the owner of the file to change permissions or root

You can allow read/write/execute for the owner the owners group and all others.

chmod 777 abc change the permissions the abc file to read/write/execute for all people groups and the owner.

here is some reading to do

LinuxCommand.org: Learn the Linux command line. Write shell scripts.

[Jacky Woo]

RTFM (read the 'fine' manual) note the F is can also be a common Anglo-Saxon term

A switch is a command or short abbreviation often proceeded by a dash (-)

What switches are available depends on the program so RTFM

At a console type

man chmod

this will give you all the switches an parameters for the chmod command

chmod changes the permissions. You must be the owner of the file to change permissions or root

You can allow read/write/execute for the owner the owners group and all others.

chmod 777 abc change the permissions the abc file to read/write/execute for all people groups and the owner.

here is some reading to do

LinuxCommand.org: Learn the Linux command line. Write shell scripts.

Thank U !!!
I did what U said and it seems that this was installed successfully.
Yet I was unable to use it but it must because I don't know how to run it under Linux...
Anyway I have found that I can use Kdeveloper which has pascal language in it to compile my programmes...
Thank U so much and thanks to other people who answered my question or sent mail to help me...Thank U all!!!