I am trying to build an older version of X Server on Fedora 15 to allow me to run a legacy application. Fedora 8, which functions correctly for our application, will not install on a new computer for some reason, presumably because the new hardware uses UEFI, and Fedora 15 does not correctly run the application.
When I try to build X11R6.8 from source, I get the following error "ld: cannot find -lfl". Doing some digging, I found that this error is because the linker cannot find the flex library, however flex is installed. I am running a minimal install of Fedora 15 i686 with the dev libraries and tools installed, nothing else.
Kernel Version is 2.6.38.6-26.rc1.fc15.i686.PAE
Does anyone have any ideas on how to clear this error? All the answers I found just said to install flex.
On 09/26/2011 09:49 PM, Doug Kuvaas wrote:
I am trying to build an older version of X Server on Fedora 15 to allow me to run a legacy application. Fedora 8, which functions correctly for our application, will not install on a new computer for some reason, presumably because the new hardware uses UEFI, and Fedora 15 does not correctly run the application.
When I try to build X11R6.8 from source, I get the following error "ld: cannot find -lfl". Doing some digging, I found that this error is because the linker cannot find the flex library, however flex is installed. I am running a minimal install of Fedora 15 i686 with the dev libraries and tools installed, nothing else.
Kernel Version is 2.6.38.6-26.rc1.fc15.i686.PAE
Does anyone have any ideas on how to clear this error? All the answers I found just said to install flex.
You may have to install the package flex-static to get a static version of the flex library.
However, I don't think you will have much luck in building all of X11R6.8 and getting it to work under F15, at least not the XServer. The graphics driver, DRM and kernel API interfaces have significantly changed over the years. Also it is likely that the graphics board you are using isn't even supported ...
On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 4:02 PM, Terry Barnaby terry1@beam.ltd.uk wrote:
On 09/26/2011 09:49 PM, Doug Kuvaas wrote:
I am trying to build an older version of X Server on Fedora 15 to allow me to run a legacy application. Fedora 8, which functions correctly for our application, will not install on a new computer for some reason, presumably because the new hardware uses UEFI, and Fedora 15 does not correctly run the application.
When I try to build X11R6.8 from source, I get the following error "ld: cannot find -lfl". Doing some digging, I found that this error is because the linker cannot find the flex library, however flex is installed. I am running a minimal install of Fedora 15 i686 with the dev libraries and tools installed, nothing else.
Kernel Version is 2.6.38.6-26.rc1.fc15.i686.PAE
Does anyone have any ideas on how to clear this error? All the answers I found just said to install flex.
You may have to install the package flex-static to get a static version of the flex library.
However, I don't think you will have much luck in building all of X11R6.8 and getting it to work under F15, at least not the XServer. The graphics driver, DRM and kernel API interfaces have significantly changed over the years. Also it is likely that the graphics board you are using isn't even supported ...
Thanks, this did fix the error that I was getting. I don't have a whole lot of faith in this as a possible solution, but it seems like it may be about the only thing I can do. Since the application I am looking to run is 2D graphics only, just using the VESA driver is good enough.
On 09/26/2011 10:15 PM, Doug Kuvaas wrote:
On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 4:02 PM, Terry Barnabyterry1@beam.ltd.uk wrote:
On 09/26/2011 09:49 PM, Doug Kuvaas wrote:
I am trying to build an older version of X Server on Fedora 15 to allow me to run a legacy application. Fedora 8, which functions correctly for our application, will not install on a new computer for some reason, presumably because the new hardware uses UEFI, and Fedora 15 does not correctly run the application.
When I try to build X11R6.8 from source, I get the following error "ld: cannot find -lfl". Doing some digging, I found that this error is because the linker cannot find the flex library, however flex is installed. I am running a minimal install of Fedora 15 i686 with the dev libraries and tools installed, nothing else.
Kernel Version is 2.6.38.6-26.rc1.fc15.i686.PAE
Does anyone have any ideas on how to clear this error? All the answers I found just said to install flex.
You may have to install the package flex-static to get a static version of the flex library.
However, I don't think you will have much luck in building all of X11R6.8 and getting it to work under F15, at least not the XServer. The graphics driver, DRM and kernel API interfaces have significantly changed over the years. Also it is likely that the graphics board you are using isn't even supported ...
Thanks, this did fix the error that I was getting. I don't have a whole lot of faith in this as a possible solution, but it seems like it may be about the only thing I can do. Since the application I am looking to run is 2D graphics only, just using the VESA driver is good enough.
Is there any mileage in fixing the problem why your application doesn't run correctly under F15 ? Do you know if it is an XWindows Library issue or an XServer issue (Will it run under F15 with its GUI displayed on an F8 system or visa versa for example). Is it a Desktop issue, try using it under different desktop systems... Terry
X11 is supposed to be upwards binary compatible. If it won't run old applications, you should file a bug with Fedora. If you can figure out what the difference is between the old X and the new X that enables your app to run on the old X, mention that in your bug report.
On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 11:56 PM, Don Quixote de la Mancha quixote@dulcineatech.com wrote:
X11 is supposed to be upwards binary compatible. If it won't run old applications, you should file a bug with Fedora. If you can figure out what the difference is between the old X and the new X that enables your app to run on the old X, mention that in your bug report.
-- Don Quixote de la Mancha quixote@dulcineatech.com
Custom Software Development for the iPhone and Mac OS X http://www.dulcineatech.com/custom-software-development/ -- users mailing list users@lists.fedoraproject.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
The problem that I am running into is not actually a bug in X, it appears to be an incorrect assumption made in our X client. Namely, the Xserver is not required to provide the backing store, and may refuse it if resources are unavailable. I have also been posting to the Xorg mailing list and have received an answer stating this. Xorg seems to be moving away from supporting some of the old technologies that were around a long time again and are now mostly dead. The legacy application I am trying to run was written back when 4 MBit Token Ring networks were considered "High-speed", and serial terminals were not uncommon. This isn't a problem going forward, as we are moving away from using this display technology in favor of using a web application, however we have numerous customers still utilizing the old system. Since our software application is more or less custom built for each customer, fixing our software may be a larger task than finding a way to make new hardware work. Someone in this thread did mention a resources file. This might be something to look at, especially since it doesn't involve changing source code.
On 09/27/2011 04:42 PM, Doug Kuvaas wrote:
On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 11:56 PM, Don Quixote de la Mancha quixote@dulcineatech.com wrote:
X11 is supposed to be upwards binary compatible. If it won't run old applications, you should file a bug with Fedora. If you can figure out what the difference is between the old X and the new X that enables your app to run on the old X, mention that in your bug report.
-- Don Quixote de la Mancha quixote@dulcineatech.com
Custom Software Development for the iPhone and Mac OS X http://www.dulcineatech.com/custom-software-development/-- users mailing list users@lists.fedoraproject.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
The problem that I am running into is not actually a bug in X, it appears to be an incorrect assumption made in our X client. Namely, the Xserver is not required to provide the backing store, and may refuse it if resources are unavailable. I have also been posting to the Xorg mailing list and have received an answer stating this. Xorg seems to be moving away from supporting some of the old technologies that were around a long time again and are now mostly dead. The legacy application I am trying to run was written back when 4 MBit Token Ring networks were considered "High-speed", and serial terminals were not uncommon. This isn't a problem going forward, as we are moving away from using this display technology in favor of using a web application, however we have numerous customers still utilizing the old system. Since our software application is more or less custom built for each customer, fixing our software may be a larger task than finding a way to make new hardware work. Someone in this thread did mention a resources file. This might be something to look at, especially since it doesn't involve changing source code.
Depending on the exact issue with needing backing store, you might be able to get around this by using one of the newer X-Server features compositing. If your graphics driver supports this it will normally need to be enabled from the desktop settings. Alternatively, and if that is not suitable, modifying the code with a set of pixmap buffers where windows contents are saved/restore on raise/lower events or what is needed shouldn't be to hard.
Also it may be possible to rebuild the F15 X-Server with backing stores enabled. It used to be a configurable item during the build ...
Cheers
Terry
On 09/26/2011 01:49 PM, Doug Kuvaas wrote:
I am trying to build an older version of X Server on Fedora 15 to allow me to run a legacy application. Fedora 8, which functions correctly for our application, will not install on a new computer for some reason, presumably because the new hardware uses UEFI, and Fedora 15 does not correctly run the application.
When I try to build X11R6.8 from source, I get the following error "ld: cannot find -lfl". Doing some digging, I found that this error is because the linker cannot find the flex library, however flex is installed. I am running a minimal install of Fedora 15 i686 with the dev libraries and tools installed, nothing else.
Kernel Version is 2.6.38.6-26.rc1.fc15.i686.PAE
Does anyone have any ideas on how to clear this error? All the answers I found just said to install flex.
Make sure you install flex-static. You're looking for /usr/lib/libfl.a which is provided by flex-static, not flex. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer, C2 Hosting ricks@nerd.com - - AIM/Skype: therps2 ICQ: 22643734 Yahoo: origrps2 - - - - The light at the end of the tunnel is really an oncoming train. - ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Doug Kuvaas doug.kuvaas@gmail.com wrote:
I am trying to build an older version of X Server on Fedora 15 to allow me to run a legacy application. Fedora 8, which functions correctly for our application, will not install on a new computer for some reason, presumably because the new hardware uses UEFI, and Fedora 15 does not correctly run the application.
If the application runs with remote display on F15 the easiest solution would be to keep some old iron just for that app.
If it doesn't run with remote display one common problem for older commercial apps was startup scripts that loaded tonnes of resources into the x server instead of using a resource file. This could always be fixed without source code access in the apps i was involved with. You may also need to set up a font server correctly as some apps came with their own font servers and fonts in proprietary formats.
If you cannot get it running with remote display that is a bug that should get fixed.
Spend your energy going forward, not holding onto the past. The past is gone and the future is coming no matter what. I think grafting old x onto a new fedora is a too backwards solution...
With kind regards birger
On Tue, 2011-09-27 at 08:41 +0200, Weather wrote:
Doug Kuvaas doug.kuvaas@gmail.com wrote:
I am trying to build an older version of X Server on Fedora 15 to allow me to run a legacy application. Fedora 8, which functions correctly for our application, will not install on a new computer for some reason, presumably because the new hardware uses UEFI, and Fedora 15 does not correctly run the application.
If the application runs with remote display on F15 the easiest solution would be to keep some old iron just for that app.
would it not be fairly easy to install Fedora 8 in a virtual machine in KVM. That bypasses ther UEFI problems....
-
Birger Monsen -
Don Quixote de la Manvha -
Doug Kuvaas -
Louis Lagendijk -
Rick Stevens -
Terry Barnaby