Thunderbird - how do you install (or upgrade)?
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From: Charlie Gibbs on 4 Aug 2010 16:54 I've been doing e-mail with Thunderbird 2.0, which was part of the Slackware 12.2 installation (kernel 2.6.27) that I'm running. I decided to go to a new version, so I downloaded a 3.1 upgrade. I'm used to building packages from source code tarballs, but this was a precompiled version - and after unpacking it, I can find no installation instructions or scripts to put everything where it belongs. I would have expected to at least find the equivalent of the "make install" step that comes with source tarballs. README.txt consists of three lines of text that just point me to a web site, which in turn contains no installation instructions. Even Google comes up with nothing more than sites that say "install the new version" and then tell you what to do after the installation is complete. It reminds me of that drawing of the scientist's blackboard that's covered with equations and procedures except for a space in the middle where it says "...a miracle happens here...". This isn't the first time I've had this problem with precompiled binaries. There must be some sort of standard procedure that is so taken for granted by the "in crowd" that it doesn't even bear mentioning. Anywhere. What am I missing? -- /~\ cgibbs(a)kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs) \ / I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way. X Top-posted messages will probably be ignored. See RFC1855. / \ HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored. Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!
From: Aragorn on 4 Aug 2010 16:57 On Wednesday 04 August 2010 22:54 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody identifying as Charlie Gibbs wrote... > I've been doing e-mail with Thunderbird 2.0, which was part of > the Slackware 12.2 installation (kernel 2.6.27) that I'm running. > I decided to go to a new version, so I downloaded a 3.1 upgrade. > I'm used to building packages from source code tarballs, but this > was a precompiled version - and after unpacking it, I can find no > installation instructions or scripts to put everything where it > belongs. I would have expected to at least find the equivalent > of the "make install" step that comes with source tarballs. > > README.txt consists of three lines of text that just point me to a > web site, which in turn contains no installation instructions. Even > Google comes up with nothing more than sites that say "install the > new version" and then tell you what to do after the installation > is complete. It reminds me of that drawing of the scientist's > blackboard that's covered with equations and procedures except for > a space in the middle where it says "...a miracle happens here...". > > This isn't the first time I've had this problem with precompiled > binaries. There must be some sort of standard procedure that is > so taken for granted by the "in crowd" that it doesn't even bear > mentioning. Anywhere. What am I missing? Just an educated guess: it could be that the binary you got out of the package must be run first - as a kind of self-extracting executable - and that it would thus "initialize itself" for use by unprivileged users. Many binary packages from non-distribution-specific developers - e.g. OpenOffice, Mozilla, et al - work like that. You download them, run them as root, and they will set themselves up. Quite often, such "packages" have a filename that ends in ".bin". If that is the case for the Thunderbird package you've just downloaded, then that's the way to go. -- *Aragorn* (registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
From: Charlie Gibbs on 4 Aug 2010 20:20 In article <i3ck8j$72a$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, aragorn(a)chatfactory.invalid (Aragorn) writes: > On Wednesday 04 August 2010 22:54 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody > identifying as Charlie Gibbs wrote... > >> I've been doing e-mail with Thunderbird 2.0, which was part of >> the Slackware 12.2 installation (kernel 2.6.27) that I'm running. >> I decided to go to a new version, so I downloaded a 3.1 upgrade. >> I'm used to building packages from source code tarballs, but this >> was a precompiled version - and after unpacking it, I can find no >> installation instructions or scripts to put everything where it >> belongs. I would have expected to at least find the equivalent >> of the "make install" step that comes with source tarballs. <snip ranting> > Just an educated guess: it could be that the binary you got out of the > package must be run first - as a kind of self-extracting executable - > and that it would thus "initialize itself" for use by unprivileged > users. There is a binary called thunderbird-bin which complained about missing libraries when I tried to run it directly, but a script simply called "thunderbird" brought up the program and found all my existing settings and mailboxes. But it didn't try replacing the old version. > Many binary packages from non-distribution-specific developers - e.g. > OpenOffice, Mozilla, et al - work like that. You download them, run > them as root, and they will set themselves up. Quite often, > such "packages" have a filename that ends in ".bin". If that is the > case for the Thunderbird package you've just downloaded, then that's > the way to go. That makes sense. Let's try it as root... Hmm, that seems to be doing something. The new version asked for configuration information, but there were some glitches and the process ultimately failed. It's not that important - the old version still works just fine so I've just deleted the new temporary directory. But I'll remember to su to root next time I try to install a binary distribution. Thanks! -- /~\ cgibbs(a)kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs) \ / I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way. X Top-posted messages will probably be ignored. See RFC1855. / \ HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored. Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!
From: TomT on 5 Aug 2010 15:29 "Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs(a)kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote: >I've been doing e-mail with Thunderbird 2.0, which was part of >the Slackware 12.2 installation (kernel 2.6.27) that I'm running. >I decided to go to a new version, so I downloaded a 3.1 upgrade. >I'm used to building packages from source code tarballs, but this >was a precompiled version - and after unpacking it, I can find no >installation instructions or scripts to put everything where it >belongs. I would have expected to at least find the equivalent >of the "make install" step that comes with source tarballs. I hear ya. >README.txt consists of three lines of text that just point me to a >web site, which in turn contains no installation instructions. Even >Google comes up with nothing more than sites that say "install the >new version" and then tell you what to do after the installation >is complete. Yeah, been there too. >It reminds me of that drawing of the scientist's >blackboard that's covered with equations and procedures except for >a space in the middle where it says "...a miracle happens here...". Scientists now know that either dark matter or dark energy goes into that space (it doesn't matter which). The answer, by the way, is 42. >This isn't the first time I've had this problem with precompiled >binaries. There must be some sort of standard procedure that is >so taken for granted by the "in crowd" that it doesn't even bear >mentioning. Anywhere. What am I missing? I assume you're starting with some sort of downloaded tarball. The overall picture goes like this: If you install in your home directory only you can access the software. If you install in /usr/local/ (or wherever Slackware suggests) then anyone can access the software. In any case, the software parameters are kept in the home directory of the individual user. Basically, you want to untar the tarball from /usr/local (as root as Aragorn said). Then just execute /usr/local/thunderbird/thunderbird. (The TB directory is created during the unpacking of the tarball.) For future updates, blow away the /usr/local/thunderbird directory and, again, untar from /usr/local as root. The same settings in your home directory will be used again. HTH, TomT
From: Charlie Gibbs on 6 Aug 2010 14:02
In article <7s2m56961667fb3umjsr3c034uk9drcooq(a)4ax.com>, TomT(a)UnrealBox.invalid (TomT) writes: >"Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs(a)kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote: > >> It reminds me of that drawing of the scientist's >> blackboard that's covered with equations and procedures except for >> a space in the middle where it says "...a miracle happens here...". > > Scientists now know that either dark matter or dark energy goes into > that space (it doesn't matter which). The answer, by the way, is 42. <smacks forehead> I forgot to set the radix! $ dc 13 o 9 6 * p 42 Ah, much better. > Basically, you want to untar the tarball from /usr/local (as root as > Aragorn said). Then just execute /usr/local/thunderbird/thunderbird. > (The TB directory is created during the unpacking of the tarball.) > > For future updates, blow away the /usr/local/thunderbird directory > and, again, untar from /usr/local as root. The same settings in your > home directory will be used again. > > HTH, Nothing in /usr/local, time for some deeper digging... $ which thunderbird /usr/bin/thunderbird $ ls -l /usr/bin/thunderbird lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 41 2009-06-06 10:11 /usr/bin/thunderbird -> /usr/lib/thunderbird-2.0.0.18/thunderbird $ ls -l /usr/lib | grep thunderbird lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2009-06-06 10:11 thunderbird -> thunderbird- 2.0.0.18 drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 4096 2008-11-20 16:05 thunderbird-2.0.0.18/ Aha! OK, su to root, untar into /usr/lib, rename the directory to thunderbird-3.1.1, and change the links... AAUGH! Typos! What was that other thing with 42? Oh yeah, don't panic. OK, got it now. Thanks. "make install" is still easier, though... -- /~\ cgibbs(a)kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs) \ / I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way. X Top-posted messages will probably be ignored. See RFC1855. / \ HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored. Join the ASCII ribbon campaign! |