Trouble installing Aspell

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Level 1

4 points

Trouble installing Aspell

Here are the instructions I'm trying to follow:

+Install Aspell+

+Guiguts uses the open-source program Aspell to perform spellchecking (an essential post-proofing step). Currently Guiguts requires version 0.5x of Aspell. Although this is not the latest version, it is still available; there is a link to it half-way down the linked page.+

+If you have Fink, it is much easier to install Aspell 5 and dictionaries using it. However, only major language dictionaries are currently available. If you don't have Fink, and don't want it, do the following:+

+Download the file aspell-0.50.5.tar.gz and double-click it so that OS X unpacks it to form a folder aspell-0.50.5. Drag this to your /dp folder.+

+In your terminal window perform the installation. Interestingly, this installation will not work in Tiger with the new, gcc 4.0 compiler; you must switch to the older gcc 3.3. Here are the commands to issue:+

+cd /dp/aspell-0.50.5+
+sudo gcc_select 3.3+
+sudo ./configure+
+sudo make+
+sudo make install+

Using gcc 3.3 produced
+checking for C++ compiler default output file name... configure: error: C++ compiler cannot create executables+
Using ing gcc 4.0 looks more successful, but when I do ./configure I get a long output which ends with
+/usr/bin/libtool: internal link edit command failed+
+make[1]: * [libaspell.la] Error 1+
+make: * [install-recursive] Error 1+

Does this have an obvious solution? Thanks! Kit

iMac Intel, iBook G3, blue & white G3, Mac OS X (10.4.4), (G3s running 10.3.9

Posted on Aug 16, 2007 2:08 PM

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Answer 1

etresoft

Level 9

57,080 points

Aug 16, 2007 5:15 PM in response to WA_Kit

You can't use gcc 3.3 on an Intel Mac. I think all you need to do is do "make clean" to clean out all the 3.3 objects and then re-configure and make again. I just downloaded and built aspell on my MacBook with no problems.

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Answer 2

WA_Kit Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 16, 2007 10:33 PM in response to etresoft

May I ask for more specifics? I'm on rather shaky ground using UNIX and am a little worried that I'll be my own worst enemy.

I've changed the default compiler to gcc 4.0. Do I command <make clean> or <sudo make clean> at this point?

Which version of Aspell did you install? You probably noticed mine said that I needed to use 0.50.5 with Guiguts. Did you use Fink?

Any more details that would protect me from myself? Thanks very much for your response. Perhaps by morning I'll feel a little braver! Kit

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Answer 3

etresoft

Level 9

57,080 points

Aug 17, 2007 6:30 AM in response to WA_Kit

Just do a "make clean". You only need "sudo" when you are doing "sudo make install" with default options. Keep in mind that you can pass parameters to the "configure" script to install it somewhere other than the default location (usually /usr/local). I like to install my open source tools in a different directory to control visibility a bit better than in /usr/local. Doing this might enable you to do "make install" without using "sudo".

I'm sorry, but I did not pay enough attention to your post. I did download and build the latest version of aspell - version 0.60.5. However, from reading the documentation on the Gutcheck web site, I am pretty sure that version 0.60.5 of aspell will work. I think only Windows users need the old version.

I did not use fink. I'm not fond of those types of things.

If you have any doubts, you can just delete the entire directory and redo it all with "./configure;make;sudo make install". You definitely need to re-run "./configure" if you've changed your compiler. But before you do that, run "make clean" to clean out the old 3.3 object code.

The Gutcheck program is something I have been looking for. I'm going to download and install it myself.

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Answer 4

WA_Kit Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 17, 2007 8:09 AM in response to etresoft

Thanks, etresoft. I'm still digesting the whole implication of what you said, but apparently I have installed Aspell-0.60.5. (Not the older version.) What's hanging now is the matching English dictionary:

+[Intel-Mac:/dp/aspell-0.60.5] margaret% cd /dp/aspell6-en-6.0-0+
+[Intel-Mac:/dp/aspell6-en-6.0-0] margaret% sudo ./configure+
+Finding Dictionary file location ... ./configure: line 1: aspell: command not found+

+Finding Data file location ... ./configure: line 1: aspell: command not found+

I'm hoping that's has an obvious and trivial fix, but perhaps I made too many changes, abandoning the versions of Aspell and the dictionary that were in my instructions. Any ideas? Thanks very much. Kit

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Answer 5

WA_Kit Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 17, 2007 8:33 AM in response to WA_Kit

I don't know where the lines-through came from. I couldn't edit-after-posting, either. Oh, well. Here's what I'd cut and pasted from Terminal:

[Intel-Mac:/dp/aspell-0.60.5] margaret% cd /dp/aspell6-en-6.0-0
[Intel-Mac:/dp/aspell6-en-6.0-0] margaret% sudo ./configure
Finding Dictionary file location ... ./configure: line 1: aspell: command not found

Finding Data file location ... ./configure: line 1: aspell: command not found

Kit

It looks as if this system interprets brackets as line-through begin and end. Ugly.

Message was edited by: WA_Kit

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Answer 6

etresoft

Level 9

57,080 points

Aug 17, 2007 9:56 AM in response to WA_Kit

Yes, the Apple discussion forums were recently "upgraded". If you put things between two lines like this (without the space):
{ code }
{ code }
It will print out properly. Here is an example:


[Intel-Mac:/dp/aspell-0.60.5] margaret% cd /dp/aspell6-en-6.0-0
[Intel-Mac:/dp/aspell6-en-6.0-0] margaret% sudo ./configure

No strikethoughs.

You don't need to use "sudo" for configure. You only need sudo when you are performing "make install" to a system location like /usr/local. Try it without sudo and see if it works.

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Answer 7

WA_Kit Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 18, 2007 12:57 PM in response to etresoft

Your patience is impressive.

I tried to start clean, with, as you said, the version 6 of Aspell and GCC 4.0. That all looked OK, as far as I can tell.

Then I went on to the dictionary, aspell6-en-6.0-0. The ./configure command generates errors with or without sudo.

They're here:
[Intel-Mac:/dp/aspell6-en-6.0-0] margaret% ./configure
Finding Dictionary file location ... ./configure: line 1: aspell: command not found

Finding Data file location ... ./configure: line 1: aspell: command not found

./configure: line 82: Makefile: Permission denied
./configure: line 83: Makefile: Permission denied
./configure: line 84: Makefile: Permission denied
./configure: line 85: Makefile: Permission denied
./configure: line 86: Makefile: Permission denied
./configure: line 87: Makefile: Permission denied
./configure: line 88: Makefile: Permission denied
./configure: line 89: Makefile: Permission denied
[Intel-Mac:/dp/aspell6-en-6.0-0] margaret% sudo ./configure
Finding Dictionary file location ... ./configure: line 1: aspell: command not found

Finding Data file location ... ./configure: line 1: aspell: command not found

[Intel-Mac:/dp/aspell6-en-6.0-0] margaret%

I just don't know enough to get myself out of this hole. Which version of aspell and of the dictionary did you install? Thanks very much, etresoft. Kit

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Answer 8

etresoft

Level 9

57,080 points

Aug 18, 2007 2:41 PM in response to WA_Kit

WA_Kit wrote:
Your patience is impressive.

I tried to start clean, with, as you said, the version 6 of Aspell and GCC 4.0. That all looked OK, as far as I can tell.

Then I went on to the dictionary, aspell6-en-6.0-0. The ./configure command generates errors with or without sudo.
I just don't know enough to get myself out of this hole. Which version of aspell and of the dictionary did you install? Thanks very much, etresoft. Kit

I installed the same versions as you did. No problems. I think you need to install aspell (via sudo make install) before installing or building any dictionaries. It seems to use aspell to compile the dictionary (during configure) so you would have to have already installed it.

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Answer 9

WA_Kit Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 18, 2007 10:16 PM in response to WA_Kit

Apell and the most recent English dictionary are installed and the whole Guiguts package for post-processing for Distributed Proofreaders/Project Gutenberg is working! I think the snag was that I had to use Terminal, not xterm for installing Aspell. I just happened to look at the file command for Aspell: "aspell: Bourne shell script text executable." If I understand things properly, xterm does Bourne-related actions (bash) while Terminal does the C-related ones (tsch). I hope that makes sense.

I'll never doubt the value of kind souls in the Mac Community. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Kit

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Answer 10

etresoft

Level 9

57,080 points

Aug 20, 2007 9:59 AM in response to WA_Kit

You can setup whatever shell you want in the Terminal. Mine has been bash for a long time.

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