Subject: xaralx package

From: Michael Fothergill <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 08:08:48 +0100

Dear Folks,

There used to be a xaralx package for debian but it has been discontinued.

I tried installing the tar file from the xara extreme web site but got an
error about libpangoxft-1.0 not being present etc.

I tried installing libpango dev but synaptic said some packages were
missing and it failed.

But maybe it wouldn't have helped any way......

I want to produce some 3D text images for a document.

Comments appreciated.

Regards

Michael Fothergill

---

From: Mark Fletcher <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 09:59:06 +0000

On Thu, 15 Sep 2016 at 16:09, Michael Fothergill <
[email-masked]> wrote:

> My suggestion would be install apt-file, either using aptitude or apt-get
or synaptic if you prefer.

Then as root:
apt-file update

Once that is done, you can do apt-file search libpangoxft and see what
package, if any, in Debian contains it. Then install that package. Or
create a dummy package that depends on it and install that, so the library
will get removed again if you don't need it later and not clutter your
system up.

If the package you need turns out to be the one you already tried, we will
need to know the exact errors you are getting to help further.

Mark

---

From: Michael Fothergill <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 11:34:52 +0100

> will get removed again if you don't need it later and not clutter your

​Many thanks for the help here!​

​I did this and it was the ​

​
​
ibpangoxft-1.0
​-dev package that needed to be installed - but this time when I installed
it using aptitude it worked.

​But when I tried to run xaralx I got the following error:​

​
michaelmikef@rhubarb:~/Documents/CPI/xaralx/xaralx/bin$ ./xaralx
./xaralx: error while loading shared libraries: l
​​
ibpangoxft-1.0.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or
directory

​Regards

MF​

​

---

From: Michael Fothergill <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 14:24:37 +0100

On 15 September 2016 at 11:34, Michael Fothergill <
[email-masked]> wrote:

>>> My suggestion would be install apt-file, either using aptitude or
>> apt-get or synaptic if you prefer.
>>
>> Then as root:
>> apt-file update
>>

​Dear All,

I tried installing xaralx on another machine I have running Debian Jessie
cf stretch above.

the tar file seemed to extract properly and I can see the executable:

mikef@rhinoceros:~/Documents/xaralx$ ls
bin  mime-storage  share  xaralx.desktop  xaralxHelp.tar.gz  xaralx.png
 xaralx.xml
mikef@rhinoceros:~/Documents/xaralx$ cd bin
mikef@rhinoceros:~/Documents/xaralx/bin$ ls
xaralx  xarasvgfilter  xarasvgfilterui
mikef@rhinoceros:~/Documents/xaralx/bin$ ls -l
total 33652
-rwxr-xr-x 1 mikef mikef 24330484 Aug 10  2006 xaralx
-rwxr-xr-x 1 mikef mikef  6453151 Aug 10  2006 xarasvgfilter
-rwxr-xr-x 1 mikef mikef  3669331 Aug 10  2006 xarasvgfilterui
mikef@rhinoceros:~/Documents/xaralx/bin$

looks encouraging.......

But

​
​when I try to run the executable the error I get is:

failed to execute ​child process

/home/mikef/Documents/xaralx/bin/xaralx (No such file or directory)

But the directory and file do exist...

​What I am I doing wrong here?

Regards

MF​

>
> ​
>
>
>>
>> If the package you need turns out to be the one you already tried, we
>> will need to know the exact errors you are getting to help further.
>>
>> Mark
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

---

From: Dominique Dumont <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 16:51:28 +0200

On Thursday, 15 September 2016 14:24:37 CEST Michael Fothergill wrote:
> What I am I doing wrong here?

Could you run:

$ file xaralx

and

$ ldd xaralx

All the best
-- 
 https://github.com/dod38fr/   -o- http://search.cpan.org/~ddumont/
http://ddumont.wordpress.com/  -o-   irc: dod at irc.debian.org

---

From: Michael Fothergill <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 16:11:36 +0100

> > What I am I doing wrong here?

​Result:

mikef@rhinoceros:~/Documents/xaralx/bin$ pwd
/home/mikef/Documents/xaralx/bin
mikef@rhinoceros:~/Documents/xaralx/bin$ file xaralx
xaralx: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV),
dynamically linked, interpreter /lib/ld-linux.so.2, for GNU/Linux 2.2.5,
not stripped
mikef@rhinoceros:~/Documents/xaralx/bin$

​

> $ ldd xaralx

​Result:​

mikef@rhinoceros:~/Documents/xaralx/bin$ ldd xaralx
not a dynamic executable
mikef@rhinoceros:~/Documents/xaralx/bin$

​Regards

MF​

---

From: Greg Wooledge <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 10:54:32 -0400

> $ ldd xaralx

ldd actually needs a path to the executable.  It doesn't search $PATH.

$ ldd "$(which xaralx)"

would be one way to do it.

---

From: Michael Fothergill <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 16:13:27 +0100

> would be one way to do it.

​I did it....​

​Result:​

mikef@rhinoceros:~/Documents/xaralx/bin$ ldd "$(which xaralx)"
ldd: ./: not regular file

---

From: Greg Wooledge <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 11:24:52 -0400

> ldd: ./: not regular file

Sorry.  I didn't realize you were cd'ing into the directory where
the file was, and that this directory was not in your $PATH at all.

Based on your other response, it looks like you might be trying to run
an i386 (32-bit) program on an amd64 (64-bit) installation.  If that's
the case, you need to set up multiarch support:

https://wiki.debian.org/Multiarch/HOWTO

---

From: "Thomas Schmitt" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 17:48:42 +0200

Hi,

Michael Fothergill wrote:
> $ file xaralx
> xaralx: ELF 32-bit ... dynamically linked ... for GNU/Linux 2.2.5,

That's really old.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel#Timeline

> not a dynamic executable

Probably just too old dynamics to be recognizable nowadays.

The command sytax for ldd is ok. A freshly compiled binary of mine
nicely reports its dynamic libraries when inquired that way.

(hopping back in thread)
> /home/mikef/Documents/xaralx/bin/xaralx (No such file or directory)

This did not happen to me since about 1999. Iirc the error message shall
tell that the binary cannot find one or more of its dynamic libraries.
Back then it was an indication that the binary needed to be freshly
compiled from source.

> https://wiki.debian.org/Multiarch/HOWTO

I would be glad if my expectation would be disappointed that the
32 bit libraries are much too young for the medieval binary.

Have a nice day :)

Thomas

---

From: Michael Fothergill <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 17:03:23 +0100

> Probably just too old dynamics to be recognizable nowadays.

​Many thanks to everyone who has helped here...​

​The download page says that the binary should run on a 64 bit machine in
what it calls compatability mode.

If I would want to run it natively in 64 bit mode I would have to compile
it.

But maybe it is so old that it would not be a good idea..........
​

​http://www.xaraxtreme.org/download.html​

> nicely reports its dynamic libraries when inquired that way.

​Did you compile it natively in 64 bit?​

> ​This makes sense.....​

> 32 bit libraries are much too young for the medieval binary.
​So would Charles Babbage I guess....

Regards and thanks

Michael Fothergill

---

From: "Thomas Schmitt" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 18:48:26 +0200

Hi,

> The download page says that the binary should run on a 64 bit machine in
> http://www.xaraxtreme.org/download.html

So the binaries are ready for ten year old Ubuntu.
This increases the chances for 32 bit multi-arch.
I guess the step "Create a script to launch 32 bit applications" will
need some adaption.

> But maybe it is so old that it would not be a good idea

I'd give it a try if the source can still be found somewhere.
  http://www.xaraxtreme.org/developers/subversion-access-instructions.html
prescribes a test which fails:

  $ telnet svn.xara.com 3690
  Trying 194.143.183.7...
  telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: No route to host

So one would first need to find a repository or tarball with the source.
Then begins the struggle with the dependencies.

Have a nice day :)

Thomas

---

From: Greg Wooledge <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 12:11:18 -0400

On Thu, Sep 15, 2016 at 05:03:23PM +0100, Michael Fothergill wrote:
> ???http://www.xaraxtreme.org/download.html???

  "The binaries we distribute require libstdc++ version 5, which is not
  installed as standard on some modern distributions (for example Ubuntu
  5.10)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_version_history#Ubuntu_5.10_.28Breezy_Badger.29

  "Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger), released on 12 October 2005"

"Modern", they say.  Heh.

If you can *get* it to compile at all, that seems like the best path.
APIs may have changed, especially with C++.

---

From: Frank <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 19:16:38 +0200

> APIs may have changed, especially with C++.

Look at the update date on that page... Ten years ago, 2005 *was* 
'modern' (LOL).

Wow... Xara, or rather Computer Concepts. I remember them from when they 
were still primarily writing for RISC OS... Oh dear...

http://www.xara.com/us/history/

But wouldn't looking at the last version in Debian's snapshot archive 
make more sense?

http://snapshot.debian.org/package/xaralx/0.7r1785-7/

That's 'only' from March 2014. Haven't tried working with it, though. So 
no idea if you can use it on current Debian (it does install and open on 
this Testing box).

Regards,
Frank

---

From: Michael Fothergill <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 18:32:00 +0100

'modern' (LOL).
make more sense?

So does that mean that I could do

dpkg - i on the three deb files you found there and xaraxl might actually
run after all......
???

Regds

MF

---

From: Frank <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 20:07:48 +0200

Op 15-09-16 om 19:32 schreef Michael Fothergill:
>> That's 'only' from March 2014. Haven't tried working with it, though.
>> So no idea if you can use it on current Debian (it does install and open
>> on this Testing box).
>
> dpkg - i on the three deb files you found there and xaraxl might
> actually run after all......
> ???

In theory. Actually, I used GDebi to install. That takes care of any 
dependencies your system might not have yet.

And of course, the fact it runs/opens initially doesn't mean it won't 
crash at a later stage. I believe there were some issues with the newer 
version of one of its dependencies.

Regards,
Frank

---

From: Michael Fothergill <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2016 15:16:40 +0100

On 15 September 2016 at 19:23, Michael Fothergill <
[email-masked]> wrote:

> On 15 Sep 2016 19:08, "Frank" <[email-masked]> wrote:
> >

> So if I copied the deb files into a directory   I could then run gdebi and
> it would sniff out e.g. the executable and library files and do its best to
> add on the correct dependencies etc......
>
> ?
>
> I will have a go.
>
> Regds
>
> MF
> .
>
> >

I tried using gdebi to install xaralx deb file.  The error I get seems to
suggest I need a newer version of the libjpeg package than I currently
have......

See here:​

root@rhinoceros:/home/mikef/Documents/xaralx# gdebi
xaralx_0.7r1785-7_amd64.deb
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Building data structures... Done
Building data structures... Done
This package is uninstallable
Dependency is not satisfiable: libjpeg8 (>= 8c)

​I am a bit puzzled here....  If this version of xaralx was abandoned in
2014 surely gdebi would be asking me to install older versions of dependent
packages rather then bang up to date ones?​

​I am running Debian Jessie (amd64 version on a Kaveri box).

Comments appreciated.

Regards

MF

​

---

From: Frank <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2016 16:54:58 +0200

Op 18-09-16 om 16:16 schreef Michael Fothergill:
> I tried using gdebi to install xaralx deb file.  The error I get seems
> to suggest I need a newer version of the libjpeg package than I
> currently have......
>
> See here:​
>
> 2014 surely gdebi would be asking me to install older versions of
> dependent packages rather then bang up to date ones?​

The libjpeg8 package has been in and out of Testing several times since 
early 2015. It was removed just before Jessie went stable, so it ended 
up missing: https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/libjpeg8

My current Testing setup started years ago, so the last/latest version 
of that package (8d1-2) is still installed. It doesn't cause any 
problems here. I'm not sure exactly why it was removed from Testing (no 
time to investigate at present - sorry), but it could have something to 
do with libjpeg/libjpeg-turbo conflicts.

You could pick it up from the snapshot archive as well and try to 
install it manually 
(http://snapshot.debian.org/package/libjpeg8/8d1-2/#libjpeg8_8d1-2). 
Don't proceed if doing that causes lots of other packages to be removed, 
though.

Regards,
Frank

---

From: Michael Fothergill <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 17:45:19 +0100

> APIs may have changed, especially with C++.

​BTW, while I was looking at this, I discovered that the GIMP program can
do pretty good 3D text effects.

I found a video on youtube giving a tutorial on this which seemed pretty
good...

There are a number of 3D modelling packages like Art of Illusion and
Blender that can also model 3D text as well.

Since I want stills, or a snapshot of a 3D image for my document then the
GIMP seems a reasonable choice.

I suppose a screen dump or 2D projection of a 3D model made in AOI or
Blender would work OK in a standard Libreoffice document with a bit of cut
and paste editing etc.

Perhaps you would use different tools.

Sample 3D text images from xaraxl I found looked impressive but I think the
package is too old so it's not really practical.....

Many thanks to everyone.

Regards

Michael Fothergill

​