BUILDING notes for code in The Linux Programming Interface
PLEASE TAKE NOTE!
=================
If you have difficulty building the programs, then the problem is most
likely one of the following:
a) A configuration issue on your system (e.g., you may not have all of
the necessary libraries installed).
b) You are using a system with an older Linux kernel or an older
version of glibc. If this is so, your system may not provide a
more recent system call or library function, or the glibc headers
may not provide a needed function declaration or constant
definition.
Other than the notes on "Installing library dependencies" below,
I can't really help with fixing these problems. However, do take
a look at the online code FAQ (http://man7.org/tlpi/code/faq.html)
for some frequently asked questions about the code. You may find
the answer to your problem there.
If, after ensuring that the problem is not a configuration issue on your
system (did you try compiling the program(s) on a different system?) and
checking the FAQ, you still have a problem *and* you have a solution, then
please do let me know, and I will publish the fix on the web site.
Unpacking the code tarball
==========================
Unpacking the tarball with the command
tar xfz tlpi-YYMMDD-xxxx.tar.gz
will create a directory tree 'tlpi-xxxx' containing all of the source code
("xxxx" will be either "dist" or "book" depending on which version of the
source code tarball you downloaded).
Building the programs on Linux
==============================
(For instructions on building the programs on other UNIX
implementations, see the notes lower down in this file.)
The methods described below involve the use of 'make'. If you need
more information on 'make', try the command 'man make' or 'info make'.
Installing library dependencies
-------------------------------
Various programs in the course code depend on libraries that may not
be installed by default on your system. If you have build problems,
then in the first instance you should make sure that the following
libraries are installed.
Debian, Ubuntu, and similar distributions:
libcap-dev
libacl1-dev
libselinux1-dev
RPM-based distributions (Fedora, OpenSUSE, CentOS, etc.):
libcap-devel
libacl-devel
libselinux-devel
If you are using Arch or Gentoo, then I'm sure you can work out what to
do, based on the above information.
Method A - Building all programs in all directories
---------------------------------------------------
Go into the 'tlpi' subdirectory, and type 'make':
cd tlpi-xxxx
make
This will build all programs in (nearly) all subdirectories (a few
subdirectories are excluded, as noted in the Makefile.)
Method B - Build programs in individual directories
---------------------------------------------------
1) First, build the library used by all programs:
cd lib
make # This will make libtlpi.a and place
# it in the parent directory
2) Build programs using the 'Makefile' in each subdirectory.
In each subdirectory, there is a file called 'Makefile' that can be
used with the 'make' command to build the programs in that directory.
To build a particular program you can simply say:
make progname
where 'progname' is one of the C (main) programs in the directory.
Thus, to build the executable for the program 'copy.c' you would use
the command:
make copy
Each makefile also contains the following special targets (which are
named according to the usual 'make' conventions):
all This target will build all programs in the subdirectory.
Simply enter the command:
make all
clean This target cleans up, by removing all executables and object
files created by the makefile:
make clean
Building the programs on other UNIX implementations
===================================================
I have gone to some effort to ensure that, where possible, the programs
work on other UNIX implementations also.
Obviously, some of the example programs employ Linux-specific features,
and won't compile on other UNIX implementations. As a first indication
of what works on Linux, and what may work elsewhere, look in the
makefiles in each directory. Most of the makefiles define two macros:
LINUX_EXE These are programs that probably won't work
on anything other than Linux.
GEN_EXE These programs may compile on other UNIX implementations.
I say "may", because of course not all implementations
provide exactly the same features. The presence of a
program in this list indicates that it compiles and runs
on at least some UNIX implementations other than Linux.
Instructions
------------
1. Edit Makefile.inc in the 'tlpi' root directory to modify the
definitions of the CFLAGS and LDLIBS macros (and possibly other
macros depending on your version of make(1)) as appropriate.
Probably you'll need to define CFLAGS as follows:
CFLAGS += -g -I${TLPI_INCL_DIR}
The setting of LDLIBS is a bit harder to determine. As well as
listing the library for this book, you should include '-l' linker
options for any other libraries that the programs may need.
For example, the following is suitable on Solaris 8:
LDLIBS = ${TLPI_LIB} -lsocket -lnsl -lrt -ldl -lm -lresolv
**** NOTE: Under the 'tlpi' root directory you'll find a few
sample replacement files for 'Makefile.inc', named
'Makefile.inc.*'. You may be able to simply copy the
appropriate file to 'Makefile.inc'.
2. Try the following to build all of the GEN_EXE programs:
cd tlpi-xxxx
make -k allgen
The '-k' option tells 'make' to build as much as possible, so that if
a particular program won't compile, 'make' goes on to attempt to
build the remaining programs.
Building the 'Go' example programs
==================================
All of the code published in TLPI is in C. However, since the book was
written I have added a small number of examples in 'Go', related to topics
that are not covered in TLPI (in particular, Linux namespaces). I chose
to use Go for these programs as part of my own experimentation with
learning the language, and also because it provides a richer set of data
types (maps, in particular) and easier handling of strings, file I/O, and
memory allocation; those features make the resulting programs simpler.
The Makefiles do not build the Go programs. Instead, you will have to do
this manually after installing a Go compiler (either the compiler provided
by the Go project or the gccgo front end).