Basic Debugging 1: Using Console
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2001 4:39 pmOften an application will appear to configure and make fine, only to fail when you go to install it. The file config.log is an invaluable tool for determining what went wrong. Opening your config.log from the source directory should run it through console and give you verbose platform information and configuration errors.
Many times things like a missing ; will completely ruin your compilation. If you find this type of error you can see which file it was in and edit it just to add the ;. Other times you may see missing header files. These are indicated with #include <headerfile.h>. If you see this type of error you will want to see if the program is trying to find an external header from another application or build directory (this is usually in the readme files). If it is then ./configure --help will show you the options you need to tell the application where to look for the files it is missing.
Many times things like a missing ; will completely ruin your compilation. If you find this type of error you can see which file it was in and edit it just to add the ;. Other times you may see missing header files. These are indicated with #include <headerfile.h>. If you see this type of error you will want to see if the program is trying to find an external header from another application or build directory (this is usually in the readme files). If it is then ./configure --help will show you the options you need to tell the application where to look for the files it is missing.