tlug: Problems with Motif 2.0 and XFree86-3.3.1

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

>>>>> "Alan" == Alan B Stone <stoneab@example.com> writes:

    Alan> a new problem.  When I try to install the Motif 2.0 rpm, I

"Motif is the work of the devil." -- Steven L. Baur.
"[XEmacs 20.3 is stable] except for Motif, and I've already washed my
   hands of any Motif [stability] problems." -- Kyle Jones

:-)  Those are real quotes, though.  And they aren't kidding.

    Alan> get an error message which says rh-motif-devel-2.0.i386.rpm
    Alan> is not compatible with XFree86-3.3.1.  This is a problem,
    Alan> since I need this package so I can continue to work on
    Alan> school projects.  I tried moving originally from XFree86-3.3
    Alan> to 3.3.1, but it didn't help.  Any words of advice?  Thanks
    Alan> in advance.

Stop writing these messages!  How will anybody ever convince me that
RedHat is worth trying again if people don't stop having dependency
problems?  :-)  And losing data to system upgrades....

"Be serious, I'm in trouble," you say?  OK - try backing up.  It looks
like that Motif is bound to a particular version of X11/XFree86.  Say
to XFree86 3.2.most.recent.  What's on the CD you got Motif from?  If
there isn't an XFree86 on that CD, complain bitterly to RedHat support.
If that doesn't work or doesn't seem to be an option...

What provision does RedHat have for uninstalling packages?  Is it safe
to do that?  If so, try using the `force' option to RPM when
installing Motif.  On second thought, you've already lost files to a
system reload -- do a full backup (right down to the ROM BIOS) of your
system first....  If that doesn't work, cross your fingers and
uninstall.  If the uninstall works, you've lost nothing, and if you're 
backed up, at worst you lose some time restoring the system.

Switch to Debian ;-)  That won't solve your Motif problems, but at
least I won't hear about your RedHat package problems :-)

"Get serious."  Sorry, I'll try harder.  Try Lesstif, unless your
schools projects specify that you have to use a real licensed
OSF/Motif.  Lesstif is still exactly that (less than Mo'tif), but it
supports large projects like XEmacs adequately (so I hear); it may be
good enough for your projects.  And you get unencumbered source, so
(a) you can fix it (someday) and (b - much more important) you can
find out what's going on and so get somebody else who knows the
package internals to fix it.

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