Need libstdc++.so.5

[rsal]

For an application I need libstdc++.so.5 but I cannot find it in gslapt or sourcery. In gslapt, the search for libstdc shows cxxlibs version 6.0.17, which I suspect will provide libstdc++.so.6. How can I get libstdc++.so.5? Thanks for your help.

[gapan]

It would be a lot better if you were more specific. Why do you think you need it and what are you trying to run? I'm guessing you got a binary from somewhere (which may not be the best thing to do). I'm also guessing you can overcome this with a symlink.

[rsal]

I'm guessing you got a binary from somewhere

You are right; I am trying to run this application for which only a binary is availabe:
http://research.meei.harvard.edu/Otopat ... Linux.html

I'm also guessing you can overcome this with a symlink.

So should I install cxxlibs and create a symlink with the command: 'ln -s libstdc++.so.6 libstdc++.so.5' ?

[gapan]

Yes, but you don't need to install cxxlibs to do that.

[rsal]

I do not have access to SalixOS system at the moment. Do you mean libstdc++.so (some version) already exists on SalixOS system?

[gapan]

Yes.

[rsal]

It did not work. The error message is:

Code: Select all

./3Dviewer_VE: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5: version `GLIBCPP_3.2' not found (required by ./3Dviewer_VE)

I cannot find glibcpp in gslapt or in sourcery.

[gapan]

I guess you could try doing a web search for so.5 and if you find it put it in /usr/lib. Other than that, you can't do anything at all. That's what you get with proprietary software.

[rsal]

Thanks. It worked. But one cannot just wish away proprietary software from the world. Why is libstdc++ version 5 removed from repository? Is it essential that older version of software have to be removed once newer version is available? Lack of easy availability of software is the second major problem with slackware, an otherwise fast and smooth distribution (in my small experience) (the first problem of dependency hell being taken care of by SalixOS). Frankly, it took me less than a minute to get this program running in Debian, while it took more than 2 days for SalixOS. One slackware based linux distribution claims to be able to download and convert packages from other repositories, including Debian, to solve this problem:
http://www.porteus.org/component/conten ... dules.html
Can such a thing possible with SalixOS, which I am finding a very smooth, fast and convenient distribution.

[mimosa]

Something like that would be unlikely to be reliable or consistent - there are tools available to try one's luck with, such as rpm2tgz. Salix (in keeping with Slackware) favours stability. That may have something to do with why many users find it smooth, fast and convenient.

Clearly, a distribution like Debian has much larger repositories. But there too, you have to choose between stability and the availability of recent software - and if it doesn't work, in my limited experience, it can be a lot harder to fix than in Slackware.

Regarding the specific question of older versions of libraries, while their presence should be harmless, the overhead of maintaining them would be considerable. It just wouldn't work to keep old versions of everything just in case. For packages in Salix respositories, there are some examples where an older library (or part thereof) is provided to make it work. For anything that doesn't come from the repositories, some tweaking may be needed, and that's true for any distribution, however large. In one sense, a distribution *is* its repositories. Anything outside that is a foreign body, though it might well assimilate.