Questions

Q1:

I am having a problem! When I download the gcc-2.95.2-sol7-sparc-local.gz,
it appears to download OK,  but when attempting to use unzip, it says 

invalid compressed data -- crc error!

pkgadd:ERROR:attempt to process datastream failed
    -bad format in datastream table-of-contents
pkgadd:ERROR:could not process datastream from

What is wrong?

Q2: I try to execute a program like xftp and get a message like: ld.so.1: xftp: fatal: libXm.so.3: Can't open file: errno=2 Killed. What is going wrong?

Q3: I am having trouble trying to get g++ and libg++ working.

Q4: I have installed gcc, but when I try to compile something I get: gcc: installation problem, cannot exec 'as' : No such file or directory.

Q5: When I try to compile a program using gcc I get a message like: /usr/ccs/bin/ld: cannot open values-Xa.o: No such file or directory.

Q6: When I try to compile a test program, I get the message: In file included from t.c:1: /opt/GCC2721/lib/gcc-lib/sparc-sun-solaris2.5/2.7.2.1/include/stdio.h:17: sys/feature_tests.h: No such file or directory. There is no sys/feature_tests.h on my system.

Q7: The packages on your site mainly install in /usr/local/bin/. I don't like this. I want them in /opt/local/bin or /usr/gnu/bin. What can be done?

Q8: I want to install wu-ftpd on my system. What are the steps?

Q9: I want to install TeX on my system. What are the steps?

Q10: I have read your discussion of creating packages in your pkgadd instructions, but I really want to create packages that can be placed in any directory I choose. How do I do this? See pkgadd instructions.

Q11: Is the software on this site Y2K compliant?

Q12: Where can I find programs for Solaris 2.4 or earlier?

Q13: Is this software available on a CD or DVD? Can I get software custom compiled or in .tar.gz rather than pkgadd format?

Q14: I am getting an error message like: cpio: Cannot write "reloc/lib/gcc-lib/sparc-sun-solaris2.6/2.8.1/cc1plus", errno 28, No space left on device. What does this mean?

Q15: I can't find a list of software for my version of Solaris anywhere in the site. I click on my OS type, there's a brief flicker, and nothing else happens.

Q16: I was trying to download from sunfreeware.com and found that my virus software was going crazy every time I got about half way through the download. I wish I could tell what virus was triggering it, but Mcafee's VShield doesn't log or display what virus it found.

Q0:

A0:

pkgadd -d gzip-1.3.5.10-sol8-sparc-local

as root. This puts gzip and gunzip and other files in /usr/local/bin. If you then make sure /usr/local/bin is in your PATH, you can use gzip and gunzip to create or uncompress .gz files. If you have any problem, check the File Sizes link at the lower left of sunfreeware.com to make sure the file size is correct. Note, that if you download via a non-UNIX machine (like - ugh - Windows), you might get a corrupted file. I can only suggest you don't move files through any non-UNIX machine on the way to your Solaris machine. Some newer versions of Solaris already have a gzip/gunzip installed. You might not have to install this package.

Q1:

I am having a problem! When I download the gcc-3.4.6-sparc-local.gz,
it appears to download OK,  but when attempting to use gunzip, it says 

invalid compressed data -- crc error!

or

pkgadd:ERROR:attempt to process datastream failed
    -bad format in datastream table-of-contents
pkgadd:ERROR:could not process datastream from

What is wrong?

A1:

If you have .gz file but gzip says it is not in gzip format, it is likely that your browser downloaded the file and gunzipped it but did not take off the .gz. You can correct this problem by editing your browser's helper application for .gz files. For example, you might just need to do something like

mv gcc-3.4.6-sparc-local.gz gcc-3.4.6-sparc-local
pkgadd -d gcc-3.4.6-sparc-local (as root)

replacing the gcc file example with whatever file you are trying to work on.

As in the second example, is also possible that the file was downloaded and the .gz was removed, but the file was not gunzipped. In this case, you need to do

mv gcc-3.4.6-sparc-local gcc-3.4.6-sparc-local.gz gunzip gcc-3.4.6-sparc-local.gz pkgadd -d gcc-3.4.6-sparc-local (as root).

It is also possible that a .gz file was downloaded, but is not the correct size. Check the .gz file size with the file lists in the File Sizes link at the left on the sunfreeware.com page.

Q2:

ld.so.1: xftp: fatal: libXm.so.3: Can't open file: errno=2 Killed

What is going wrong?

A2:

setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH /usr/local/lib:/usr/openwin/lib:/usr/dt/lib

in your .login, .cshrc, or similar file depending on the shell you are using. Then either logout and login again or do a

source .login or
source .cshrc or
similar

in your home directory. In other programs, other libraries might not be found and you will need to find them and put their directories in the LD_LIBRARY_PATH. It is possible that your system might not contain the library you need if you did not install it when your operating system was installed.

If you run the command like

[28] bin> ldd ddd
        libXm.so.4 =>    /usr/lib/libXm.so.4
        libXp.so.1 =>    /usr/openwin/lib/libXp.so.1
        libXaw.so.5 =>   /usr/lib/libXaw.so.5
        libXmu.so.4 =>   /usr/lib/libXmu.so.4
        libXext.so.0 =>  /usr/lib/libXext.so.0
        libXt.so.4 =>    /usr/lib/libXt.so.4
        libSM.so.6 =>    /usr/lib/libSM.so.6
        libICE.so.6 =>   /usr/lib/libICE.so.6
        libX11.so.4 =>   /usr/lib/libX11.so.4
        libsocket.so.1 =>        /usr/lib/libsocket.so.1
        libnsl.so.1 =>   /usr/lib/libnsl.so.1
        libcurses.so.1 =>        /usr/lib/libcurses.so.1
        liby.so.1 =>     /usr/lib/liby.so.1
        libstdc++.so.2.10.0 =>   /usr/local/lib/libstdc++.so.2.10.0
        libm.so.1 =>     /usr/lib/libm.so.1
        libc.so.1 =>     /usr/lib/libc.so.1
        libdl.so.1 =>    /usr/lib/libdl.so.1
        libmp.so.2 =>    /usr/lib/libmp.so.2
        /usr/platform/SUNW,Ultra-5_10/lib/libc_psr.so.1

Nathan Valentine at the University of Kentucky has pointed out a new feature in Solaris 8:

If you want to add a dir to the library search path under Solaris 8 you can use the crle command. This only works for Solaris 8. For earlier versions, you have to use LD_LIBRARY_PATH. According to a Sun SE with whom I talked, there is no equiv. to the Linux ld.so.conf for Solaris <= 7.

Q3:

A3:

Q4:

gcc: installation problem, cannot exec 'as' :No such file or directory.

A4:

/usr/ccs/bin/

You will need to add this to your UNIX PATH. If you cannot find this in the above directory, you may not have installed all of the Sun packages. See the next question also.

Q5:

A5:

6.2) What about the linker, the assembler and make?

Solaris ships with everything you need, with the exception of the compiler itself. Solaris ships with the include files, make, an assembler, linker and libraries. All this stuff lives in /usr/ccs/bin (add it to your PATH before /usr/ucb if that's in your PATH as well) /usr/ccs/lib and /usr/include. If you still can't find it, make sure you have the following packages installed on your system:

for tools (sccs, lex, yacc, make, nm, truss, ld, as):
     SUNWbtool, SUNWsprot, SUNWtoo
for libraries & headers:
     SUNWhea, SUNWarc, SUNWlibm, SUNWlibms,
     SUNWdfbh, SUNWcg6h, SUNWxwinc, SUNWolinc,
     SUNWxglh
for 64 bit development:
     SUNWarcx, SUNWbtoox, SUNWdplx, SUNWscpux, SUNWsprox,
     SUNWtoox
for ucb compat:
     SUNWsra, SUNWsrh

Q6:

In file included from t.c:1: /opt/GCC2721/lib/gcc-lib/sparc-sun-solaris2.5/2.7.2.1/include/stdio.h:17: sys/feature_tests.h: No such file or directory.

There is no sys/feature_tests.h on my system.

A6:

This package is on the Solaris 2.x CD.

Q7:

The packages on your site all installed in /usr/local/bin/. I don't like this. I want them in /opt/local/bin or /usr/gnu/bin.

A7:

What can be done by the end users to deal with the installation of a large number of the packages we provide? There are a number of different kinds of programs we must deal with:

1. Programs whose executables can be placed anywhere in the UNIX PATH and they will run fine. Hence, they can be moved to /opt/local/bin - for example.

2. Programs whose executables MUST be placed in a particular directory so that they will work with other programs or the operating system.

3. Programs that have fixed pre-defined directories or files compiled into them. Such directories or files might be help files, libraries, includes, etc. These libraries cannot be moved without providing links so that the system can still find them.

Many of the programs are of type 1. This usually can be determined by looking at the directories. If there is no lib, help, or similar directory along with the bin directory, the program is probably of type 1. It is simple to test this by moving the program executable to /opt/local/bin and running it.

Programs of type 2 are usually linked in some way to the operating system. Programs like sendmail that replace programs shipped with Solaris and certain security programs must be put in /etc or some other place or at least linked to these directories. Great care must be taken in installing these programs.

gcc is the prime example of type 3. gcc itself might be moved to /opt/local/bin but its libraries cannot me moved. The location of these files is "hardwired" into gcc.

So what are the solutions? There are a number of options:

1. If the program does not require knowing where other files are, then the bin files can be move to any other directory in the UNIX PATH.

2. In some of the compiles for early versions of Solaris, many programs would be places in /opt subdirectories. Users had some comments on dealing with this situation.

   This is true for the man files as well. A user, Owen Birnie, has created a program that can be used to do the links. His shell program (modified by Marek Krawus and me) - used at your own risk - is listed here . Clearly this can be modified to do the links to directories other that in /usr/local.

   No files are moved from the /opt directories.

3. The /opt/program/bin directories can be put directly into the UNIX PATH. Eventually, the PATH may get too long, so this is not the best thing to do. But for a few programs, it is probably the safest thing.

If you come up with any other methods that work for your site, let me know.

I am getting responses to this.

Christopher Rabson sent this email:

Thanks Steve, I confess that I did not look at the FAQ very closely.
I had already considered the symbolic links idea, but rejected it
on the basis of the extra NFS load it would generate (among other
things).

However, I have come up with a bit of a "hack" solution which
may be of interest to users of the Solaris freeware site.  It
involves modifying the 'pkginfo' and 'pkgmap' files, after
which the "-R /usr/local" option can be used with 'pkgadd'.
Some files in the 'doc' directory do get over-written, but it's
a solution that I am happy with.  (I've cooked-up a script to
go with it.)

If you would like to check it out, the URL is:

Christopher.

Peter Holmes has modified Christopher's script to help move the base directory from /usr/local say to some other directory. This will only work for some packages. His script is found here.

Jared Proudfoot pointed to the following solution:

On your Sun Freeware FAQ Page (http://sunfreeware.com/faq.html) you ask if there are any better solutions for question 7.

We use a GNU package called stow. What it does, basically, is create symlinks in /usr/local for packages that are in separate directories (/opt/FSFgcc for example).

Check it out at: http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/software/stow/stow.html.

Steve Krans added the suggestion:

Here's another /opt installation & path management solution: Using tcsh, you can use a wildcard feature like so:

set path=(/opt/*/bin)

to avoid having to edit your login rc files for every new package. There still might be shell variable problems, but for an average number of packages this works well.

Jim Roy comments on the above solutions:

I use Steve Krans solution for the path in TCSH, ie set path =(opt/*/bin), but that seems not to work for the manpath. Here's a bit of tcsh script that does the trick, though.
--------
set opman = `/usr/bin/ls -dm /opt/*/man | sed 's/, /:/g' `

setenv MANPATH /your/other/man:${opman}:

unset $opman ------------

Randall Smith offers more information on package installation:

This addresses an alternative mechanism to relocate a package. pkgadd(1M) uses an administration file which contains properties for the packaging commands. By default, the properties are read from /var/sadm/install/admin/default.

One can override this with the -a command line option. One of the properties in this file basedir=default. The 'default' value means that the basedir will be specified in the package. To override the value in the package, one can specify a hardwired path, e.g., basedir=/usr/local/Networker, or basedir=ask, in which case, pkgadd will prompt for the basedir path.

So the relocation procedure is to make a local copy of /var/sadm/install/admin/default, edit the basedir value, and then run "pkgadd -a -d ." (if your package is located in the current working directory).

As you have noted in the FAQ, if the application is not designed to be relocated, then it will likely malfunction after relocation.

Nathan Chidester offers a similar view:

I looked at the solution for relocating packages provided by Christopher Rabson, where he modifies the pkginfo file and changes the BASEDIR variable and the package checksum.

Another, less involved solution would be to install the package and specify a different BASEDIR with a pkgadd admin file. You need to create a temporary file, such as /tmp/adminfile, and add a line "basedir=/opt", or wherever you want the new base directory to be.

Then run "pkgadd -a /tmp/adminfile -d . pkgfoo"

You can also use the default location and name for the adminfile, but this will apply to all pkagdds, so I'd consider it a little dangerous and unnecessary. It only saves having to use the "-a" flag.

Done this way, the pkgrm works normally, no matter where it was installed. This is an obvious advantage over moving the binaries to alternate locations after the package files have been installed elsewhere.

Jay Scott at gl@arlut.utexas.edu submitted another view of packages in

We have a package called opt_depot, a derivative of the depot package. (hmmm.... guess that's really two more ways.) opt_depot sets up /opt/bin, /opt/man, /opt/lib, and so on, and collects things there with soft links. Our version is 2.0.

http://www.arlut.utexas.edu/csd/opt_depot/opt_depot.html

Philip_Brown at phil@bolthole.com writes (November 8, 2001):

About relocating where the packages go -
There were some good answers about admin files. But here's two others, that don't require fiddling with admin files:

1. For a one-time relocation, you can use
pkgadd -a none filename.pkg

2. To transform a particular package permenantly, use
http://www.bolthole.com/solaris/pkgreloc.ksh.

Q8:

A8:

1. create directory: /opt/WUftpd
2. pkgadd -d wu-ftpd-2.4
3. vi /opt/WUftpd/etc/ftpaccess
   create the following lines:
     class   all  real,guest  *
     guestgroup ftpguests
   to allow only ftp-access for real-user and guest-user, not for
   anonymous; the guest-user
   have to be a member of the group ftpguests
4. create the group "ftpguests" in /etc/group
5. create the user-account, the line in passwd-file has to look like:
     guestuser:x:1069:15:Guest FTP-user:/home/guestuser/./anydir:/bin/ksh
     - where 15 is the id of the group ftpguests
     - the directory /home/guestuser is the root directory of this user
6. vi /etc/inetd.conf
   change line:
     ftp    stream  tcp     nowait  root    /usr/sbin/in.ftpd      
     in.ftpd
   to:
     ftp    stream  tcp     nowait  root    /opt/WUftpd/etc/ftpd    ftpd
     -d
7. restart inetd
8. create the following directories and files:
   (you can copy them from /export/ftp)

   /home/guestuser/:
   total 8
   dr-xr-xr-x   2 root     other        512 Jun  4 09:01 bin
   dr-xr-xr-x   2 root     other        512 Jun  4 09:01 dev
   dr-xr-xr-x   2 root     other        512 Jun  4 09:01 etc
   dr-xr-xr-x   4 root     other        512 Jun  4 09:40 usr

   /home/guestuser/bin:
   total 36
   -r-xr-xr-x   1 root     other      17500 Jun  4 09:44 ls

   /home/guestuser/dev:
   total 0
   cr--r--r--   1 root     other     11, 42 Jun  4 09:01 tcp
   cr--r--r--   1 root     other    105,  1 Jun  4 09:01 ticotsord
   cr--r--r--   1 root     other     11, 41 Jun  4 09:01 udp
   cr--r--r--   1 root     other     13, 12 Jun  4 09:01 zero
   
   /home/guestuser/etc:
   total 4
   -r--r--r--   1 root     other         37 Jun  4 09:01 group
   -r--r--r--   1 root     other         87 Jun  4 09:01 passwd
 
   /home/guestuser/usr:
   total 4
   dr-xr-xr-x   2 root     other        512 Jun  4 09:40 bin
   dr-xr-xr-x   2 root     other        512 Jun  4 09:40 lib

   /home/guestuser/usr/bin:
   total 36
   ---x--x--x   1 root     other      17500 Jun  4 09:40 ls

   /home/guestuser/usr/lib:
   total 3192
   -r-xr-xr-x   1 root     other      24576 Jun  4 09:40 ld.so
   -r-xr-xr-x   1 root     other     106768 Jun  4 09:40 ld.so.1
   -r-xr-xr-x   1 root     other     664048 Jun  4 09:40 libc.so.1
   -r-xr-xr-x   1 root     other       2568 Jun  4 09:40 libdl.so.1
   -r-xr-xr-x   1 root     other      15304 Jun  4 09:40 libintl.so.1
   -r-xr-xr-x   1 root     other     565500 Jun  4 09:40 libnsl.so.1
   -r-xr-xr-x   1 root     other      68780 Jun  4 09:40 libsocket.so.1
   -r-xr-xr-x   1 root     other      39340 Jun  4 09:40 libw.so.1
   -r-xr-xr-x   1 root     other      10796 Jun  4 09:40 nss_dns.so.1
   -r-xr-xr-x   1 root     other      21028 Jun  4 09:40 nss_files.so.1
   -r-xr-xr-x   1 root     other      24408 Jun  4 09:40 nss_nis.so.1
   -r-xr-xr-x   1 root     other      28848 Jun  4 09:40 nss_nisplus.so.1
   -r-xr-xr-x   1 root     other       9316 Jun  4 09:40 straddr.so.2

Q9:

A9:

If you are using the teTex package for SPARC/Solaris 8, the 
 click here for details.  Otherwise:

Do the following steps:

1) get texmf.tar.gz from the ftp or web site.

2) put it in /var/spool/pkg

3) gunzip it to get texmf.tar

4) run tar xvf texmf.tar

5) do pkgadd -d .    (as root)

6) select the TeX entry and it should install in /usr/local/teTeX.  The script asks
   questions.  When it asks if you want to install it in /opt, say yes.
   When it asks if you want to install and administration users, say no.
   It asks again for a base directory - type /opt.  At the end, type q
   to get out of pkgadd.   You will notice a number of warning messages
   that should not be of concern.

7) put the /usr/local/teTeX/texmf/bin directory in our UNIX PATH.

8) put 

   setenv TEXMF /usr/local/TeTeX/texmf

   in your .login or .cshrc file.

9) see  Downloading/Installation link for further comments from
   Pierre MacKay - my friendly TeX brain.

Q10:

A10:

1. The directory where you eventually install the software does not already exist. Since pkgadd is run at root, you might overwrite something you want to keep.

2. Some software compiles requiring that files like libraries or help files be in a particular place. If you want to install in some arbitrary directory, you must compile so that files can be found in a subdirectory of whatever directory you finally install the file in.

Here are the steps I have tried to eliminate the need for putting things in a specific direction when creating a package. I have tested this and it works:

1. When creating the pkginfo file, leave out the BASEDIR line.
2. after creating the prototype file with

   find . -print |pkgproto > prototype

   put just

   i pkginfo

   in the top line of the prototype file, get rid of the lines with pkginfo and prototype (usually at the bottom), and change the file ownerships to what you want.

3. run pkgmk and pkgtrans as stated.

Q11:

A11:

Sun's Year 2000 Information Site

The GNU people have a discussion of Year 2000 concepts with their software at

Year 2000 List - GNU Project

A wonderful document by Tom Christiansen about Perl and the Year 2000 problems -- Year 2000 Compliance: Lawyers, Liars, and Perl .

You can also go to places like

Yahoo! Computers and Internet:Year 2000 Problem

Yahoo Full Coverage - Year 2000 Problem

and search the sites there.

Post your question to a newsgroup -- see Other Useful Sites or do a search for newsgroup posts at Dejanews.

For questions about specific programs, look at the documentation and see if they mention the Y2K problem. If not, contact the authors of the software.

One checking method that you might start would include the steps:

• Make sure your level of Solaris is Y2K OK.
• Get the most recent version of the software package you want to use.
• Pick a machine where you can change the date and set the date to some date before January 1, 2000 - say December 31, 1999 -- and run your software and test it as much as you like - especially any date input or output items. Then wait until the date goes past January 1, 2000 and do the same tests. If you notice any differences, then the software is probably not Y2K compliant. Contact the author or ask about it in a newsgroup.
• Set your date back to the current one.

Remember you are dealing with software that is free. It is excellent software by almost any standards. But, most of the people who write or support this software are extremely busy and may not be able to rewrite software or may not be able to do it quickly. Consider offering them help in making it compliant or offer to pay them or others to make it work for you.

If you do get an answer yes or no about a package on this site with regard to Y2K issues, email me so that I can include that information with the package. If you are a developer of one of the packages at this site and know the Y2K status, let me know so I can tell others.

This is freeware and most freeware including the compiled versions at this site is never guaranteed to work in all situations. But then again, commercial software is not exactly bug free or Y2K compliant. We will all know in the year 2000 what really works.

Some specific information can found at:

The Pine software Y2K information.

Info-ZIP page has Y2K comments.

Q12:

A12:

Q13:

A13:

Q14:

A14:

If you are setting up a new machine, remember to make your /var partition larger than the default.

Another option to deal with a small /var file system that might be better for some (thanks to Jerry Yu for reminding me I wanted to mention this technique) is to use the -s option to pkgadd. Suppose we have a package program-1.00-local.gz that we have placed in /tmp. Can do the following as root:

#> cd /tmp (or where you put the program file)
#> gunzip program-1.00-local.gz
#> mkdir /tmp/spool (this can be any directory in a place with a lot of disk space)
#> pkgadd -s /tmp/spool -d program-1.00-local
#> cd /tmp/spool
#> pkgadd -d .

Then answer the questions to finish the install.

Q15:

A15:

There may be several reasons for this. The first is that you are using a font that is so large, the window with the software lists which is supposed to appear at the lower right, gets pushed off the bottom of the page. Try using a smaller font. Alternatively, as one user pointed out:

I'm using IE4 on a clone-PC. Changing the font size didn't work. However, what I found worked was this procedure:

(1) Right-click on the OS title;
(2) Choose 'Open in a new window'.

That will provide a list of the programs without the actual website.

Q16:

A16:

If for some reason you have virus software for Solaris, then you probably need to tell your virus detector vendor that they need to look at their software and find out why it is giving false positives.

A user who had this problem points out:

I figured out that when I tried to open some packages they had been damaged and that the virus scanner plus using Internet Explorer was the culprit. I pulled the packages down using the command line ftp and then scanned them and there was no problem. I think that the Solaris code freaks out the virus scanner when it was being downloaded through Internet Explorer. This combination completely destroys the package rendering it useless.

© Copyright 2011 Steven M. Christensen and Associates, Inc.

This page was last updated on January 1, 2011.