how to force libxcb version below 1.4 when re-installing X (was: [gentoo-user] my xorg-server 1.6 seems a bit unstable - what am I doing wrong?)

how to force libxcb version below 1.4 when re-installing X (was: [gentoo-user] my xorg-server 1.6 seems a bit unstable - what am I doing wrong?)

[Denis]

I cleared everything X related from my box, and it is still alive and well :-)

Now, as I was explaining in my previous thread, I would like to
re-install X and all related apps, but forcing the older libxcb
version.  After I upgraded to libxcb 1.4 a few days ago, my X was
unstable and kept crashing while scrolling in Mathematica, so I wanted
to clear everything X out, start from scratch, and revert to my
original X configuration.

Here is the new problem.

In my package.mask, I specify:

>=x11-libs/libxcb-1.4
>=x11-base/xorg-server-1.6
>=x11-base/xorg-x11-7.4

My USE is now:  "alsa ao bash-completion bzip2 cdda cddb cdparanoia
cdr cpudetection ieee1394 lame ldap libwww
                           mad mmx mmxext mp3 openal oss ppds rtc smp
spell sse sse2 tta usb wavpack winbind xml -dri -isdnlog -pppd"

So, I put in the X USE flag and attempt

emerge -NDavu xorg-x11

and get

!!! All ebuilds that could satisfy ">=x11-libs/libxcb-1.2" have been masked.
!!! One of the following masked packages is required to complete your request:
 - x11-libs/libxcb-1.4-r1 (masked by: package.mask)

(dependency required by "x11-libs/libX11-1.2.2" [ebuild])
(dependency required by "x11-libs/libXext-1.0.5" [ebuild])
(dependency required by "x11-libs/libXv-1.0.4" [ebuild])
(dependency required by "x11-base/xorg-x11-7.2" [ebuild])
(dependency required by "xorg-x11" [argument])

What gives?  Am I doing something stupid (well, aside from trying to
downgrade...), or is there a way for me to fix this by some keywording
trickery or something to that effect?  Help, please :-)

Re: how to force libxcb version below 1.4 when re-installing X (was: [gentoo-user] my xorg-server 1.6 seems a bit unstable - what am I doing wrong?)

[Denis]

Sorry, I don't tinker around with gentoo much, mostly just user :-)

I got around this block so far:  also masked >=x11-libs/libXext-1.0.5,
>=x11-libs/libX11-1.2, in addition to libxcb 1.4.  Reading ebuilds
really helps!  ha.

Re: how to force libxcb version below 1.4 when re-installing X (was: [gentoo-user] my xorg-server 1.6 seems a bit unstable - what am I doing wrong?)

[Denis]

> I got around this block so far:  also masked >=x11-libs/libXext-1.0.5,
>>=x11-libs/libX11-1.2, in addition to libxcb 1.4.

Now I run into a bit of a problem:

libX11-1.1.5 fails when compiled :-(

I attached a build.log for this package...  Can anyone tell me if this
is fixable?  Maybe some other package needs to be downgraded?

The only reason why I am using 1.1.5 version is because libX11-1.2.*
requires libxcb-1.2 and greater and I only have 1.1.90 as the highest
before 1.4 (can I tweak the ebuild for libX11-1.2 and put xcb 1.1.90
instead of 1.2 limitation?)...

I would try libX11-1.1.4, but xorg-server-1.5.3 requires 1.1.5 and
above...  maybe I could tweak this ebuild to accept 1.1.4 and see if
that compiles?

Any constructive thoughts appreciated!  :-)

Re: how to force libxcb version below 1.4 when re-installing X (was: [gentoo-user] my xorg-server 1.6 seems a bit unstable - what am I doing wrong?)

[Denis]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 999 bytes --]

Of course, I forget to attach the file to embarrass myself to the
end...  Great.  :-P

Here it is!

On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 10:34 PM, Denis <denis.che@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I got around this block so far:  also masked >=x11-libs/libXext-1.0.5,
>>>=x11-libs/libX11-1.2, in addition to libxcb 1.4.
>
> Now I run into a bit of a problem:
>
> libX11-1.1.5 fails when compiled :-(
>
> I attached a build.log for this package...  Can anyone tell me if this
> is fixable?  Maybe some other package needs to be downgraded?
>
> The only reason why I am using 1.1.5 version is because libX11-1.2.*
> requires libxcb-1.2 and greater and I only have 1.1.90 as the highest
> before 1.4 (can I tweak the ebuild for libX11-1.2 and put xcb 1.1.90
> instead of 1.2 limitation?)...
>
> I would try libX11-1.1.4, but xorg-server-1.5.3 requires 1.1.5 and
> above...  maybe I could tweak this ebuild to accept 1.1.4 and see if
> that compiles?
>
> Any constructive thoughts appreciated!  :-)
>

[-- Attachment #2: build.log --]
[-- Type: application/octet-stream, Size: 97636 bytes --]

Re: how to force libxcb version below 1.4 when re-installing X (was: [gentoo-user] my xorg-server 1.6 seems a bit unstable - what am I doing wrong?)

[Michael Higgins]

On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:36:18 -0400
Denis <denis.che@gmail.com> wrote:

> Of course, I forget to attach the file to embarrass myself to the
> end...  Great.  :-P

Oh, it's not over yet!

> 
> Here it is!

"make[1]: *** [ks_tables.h] Error 136"

> > Any constructive thoughts appreciated!  :-)

Heh. Let me google that *exact error string* for you, by way of
illustration...

OK, so someone using Gentoo sez:

"Ultimately, you need to check the version of xproto that you have
installed. By masking 7.0.15 and re-emerging 7.0.14, I was able to
resume the emerge without any remaining libX11 errors."

From: http://blog.olebox.com/tag/linux/

Cheers (and good luck),

-- Michael Higgins

Re: how to force libxcb version below 1.4 when re-installing X (was: [gentoo-user] my xorg-server 1.6 seems a bit unstable - what am I doing wrong?)

[Denis]

Michael Higgins <linux@evolone.org> wrote:
> Heh. Let me google that *exact error string* for you, by way of
> illustration...

Thanks, Michael - I generally turn to google first.  It's been a tough
day, and I appreciate you pointing this out to me.
I ran into another snag, this time with x11-libs/libXext-1.0.4 - it
would not compile with x11-proto/xextproto-7.0.5.  But downgrading to
x11-proto/xextproto-7.0.4 fixed that!  When I saw that one fail, I
thought to myself "this is gonna be a long night"...  ha.  But
happily, everything compiled in the end, and xorg-x11 is now
installed.  I will see the state of things tomorrow when I get into
the office.


Keith Dart <keith@dartworks.biz> wrote:
> The close-source binaries like Mathematica are usually the problem.
> They almost always lag behind the current open-source offering and only
> support older, stable versions of libraries. So if you really want to
> run that I would recommend that you stick with stable arch and
> re-compile and/or re-install your base system. You have /home on a
> separate partition, right?

Keith - thanks for the thoughts.  As I reiterated before, I am not
arguing that Mathematica isn't the source of the problem.  Other than
Mathematica crashing X, I had no other problems with X since the
upgrade to libxcb-1.4 and xorg-server-1.6.  So my action to downgrade
and revert to the previous configuration shouldn't be taken to mean
that the upgrade was crappy - it just doesn't seem to agree with the
proprietary software I am currently running.  I would much rather
upgrade Mathematica, but that is not an option for me at this time.
Thankfully, I was able to remove X and reinstall it based on the
previous versions of the libraries....  I don't yet know whether this
resolved my Mathematica issue - I will test tomorrow.  But I will
investigate the install script for Mathematica and see what it does.

Denis

Re: how to force libxcb version below 1.4 when re-installing X (was: [gentoo-user] my xorg-server 1.6 seems a bit unstable - what am I doing wrong?)

[Helmut Jarausch]

On 14 Oct, Denis wrote:
.....
> proprietary software I am currently running.  I would much rather
> upgrade Mathematica, but that is not an option for me at this time.
> Thankfully, I was able to remove X and reinstall it based on the
> previous versions of the libraries....  I don't yet know whether this
> resolved my Mathematica issue - I will test tomorrow.  But I will
> investigate the install script for Mathematica and see what it does.

Ask the vendor of Mathematica for support. If they're not willing/able
to help you, consider switching to Maple. It runs just fine on a 
bleeding edge Gentoo system.

Helmut.

-- 
Helmut Jarausch

Lehrstuhl fuer Numerische Mathematik
RWTH - Aachen University
D 52056 Aachen, Germany

Re: how to force libxcb version below 1.4 when re-installing X (was: [gentoo-user] my xorg-server 1.6 seems a bit unstable - what am I doing wrong?)

[Keith Dart]

=== On Tue, 10/13, Denis wrote: ===
> Any constructive thoughts appreciated!  :-)

===

It sounds to me like you are worming your way into a deeper hole. 

Just FYI, I went through the libxcb upgrade procedure, am running the
libxcb 1.4 and latest X server, etc. and everything is working just
fine. On three different machines. 

The close-source binaries like Mathematica are usually the problem.
They almost always lag behind the current open-source offering and only
support older, stable versions of libraries. So if you really want to
run that I would recommend that you stick with stable arch and
re-compile and/or re-install your base system. You have /home on a
separate partition, right? 

Another possibility is that these packages usually ship with a set of
libraries that the pre-load using a launcher shell script. Does it
install any copies of system libraries?

An alternative, albeit a heavyweight one, is to look at Mathematica's
supported OS/distro list and run a virtual machine with one of those in
it. You can use gentoo as your host OS.  



-- Keith Dart

-- 
-- --------------------
Keith Dart
<keith@dartworks.biz>
=======================