Sylpheed dilemma

[joel00]

Sylpheed 2.4.8-2
Ubuntu - Hardy Heron

I have recently switched email pop3 client to Sylpheed. I need to import a large address book.

When using the feature "Import comma delimited File", Sylpheed seems to carry out the operation and then crashes, closing.

The new address file is not saved.

I see that this is a known bug in this version of Sylpheed, so I tried to install a later version.

The latest version in the repository is 2.4.8-2, but versions exist upto 2.7.1.

I tried to install this from the tar.gz file, but could find no effective instructions and no easy way to do this. Part of the problem seems to be that later Sylpheeds are written for versions of Ubuntu later than 8.04.

So which way do I jump? Try to fix the 2.4.8 version? Or try to find a way to install 2.7.1?

Any help would be appreciated. A step-by-step idiot's guide would be most welcome.

Joey

[hazel]

To build a package from a "tarball", you need to have the build-essential package installed. You can get it in the normal way via apt-get or synaptic if it isn't installed already.

The actual build is usually very simple. Start by unpacking the tarball using gunzip and then tar -xf. It will give you a directory which you can enter. Read the README file and the INSTALL file if there is one. You will find your build instructions there. Nine times out of ten, it's a matter of giving three commands:

./configure
make
sudo make install

[joel00]

To build a package from a "tarball", you need to have the build-essential package installed. You can get it in the normal way via apt-get or synaptic if it isn't installed already.

The actual build is usually very simple. Start by unpacking the tarball using gunzip and then tar -xf. It will give you a directory which you can enter. Read the README file and the INSTALL file if there is one. You will find your build instructions there. Nine times out of ten, it's a matter of giving three commands:

./configure
make
sudo make install

My thx for your reply, maybe it is not hopeless after all!

OK, I found the files and read them. I came across:
Please make sure that gtk-devel and glib-devel (or similar) packages are
installed before the compilation
But these files are simply not installed or listed in Synaptic.

I then tried the sudo ./configure command. The output was:
checking build system type... i686-pc-linux-gnulibc1
checking host system type... i686-pc-linux-gnulibc1
checking target system type... i686-pc-linux-gnulibc1
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for gawk... no
checking for mawk... mawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking whether to enable maintainer-specific portions of Makefiles... no
checking for gcc... gcc
checking for C compiler default output file name...
configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables

I tried a few other things, but I seem to be stuck. I could only fine the 2 files for SUSE. And I don't know what similar means.

Can you give me a bit more to go on?

[hazel]

My thx for your reply, maybe it is not hopeless after all!

OK, I found the files and read them. I came across:
Please make sure that gtk-devel and glib-devel (or similar) packages are
installed before the compilation
But these files are simply not installed or listed in Synaptic.
Can you give me a bit more to go on?

Synaptic might call them libglib-devel and libgtk-devel (or -dev). They will be there somewhere. Look again.

[joel00]

Synaptic might call them libglib-devel and libgtk-devel (or -dev). They will be there somewhere. Look again.

Again, thx Hazel!

Sylpheed 2.7.0.
I found the files.
I duly carried out the commands, which seemes to be OK
It was necessary to use sudo, incidentally, otherwise no permissions.

I cold booted the machine.

I clicked on the Sylpheed icon. And...

Nothing!!

I then un-installed the existing (?) sylpheed and did the same all over again.

And again nothing!

[hazel]

When this sort of thing happens, you need to investigate systematically. By doing so, you will not only solve your problem but learn a lot about Linux. A panicky uninstall probably isn't the best way to go.

1) Check that sylpheed was actually installed. Open a terminal and type which sylpheed.
It should answer by showing the path to sylpheed. If it says that sylpheed isn't there, your build failed and we need to find out why.

2) If sylpheed is there, try launching it from the terminal. Just type sylpheed. If it fails, you will get error messages. Paste them into a file and post them here.

3) Go to the articles section of this forum and you will find an article called "How to solve problems in Linux". Read it and put it into action.

[psic]

Just a thought - you could also try Claws Mail, which was forked from Sylpheed years ago, but remains quite similar.