[SOLVED] Looking for a little guidance - Discord install/use

Skrotrotta · 2018-04-12 01:55:13

TLDR: Is libc++ required from AUR to run Discord downloaded from the Discord website? This is the best I can gather from my research, I'm just looking to verify if this is the case.

non-TLDR version:
I have a small question I was hoping someone might be able to help me with. First off, I'm new to Linux altogether but figured I'd jump right in with Arch, as one of my biggest gripes with Windows has always been that it installed crap I didn't want/need. So I have only been at this for a bit over a week and doing everything I can to study the Wiki and find answers without bugging others. I'm not sure if my brain is fried now and missing something obvious or if this is (hopefully) a legit question.

I would like to run Discord. I do not want to use it from the AUR. I have nothing against it but I figure if I want to learn I need to manage stuff myself from official sources, not to mention it probably helps me figure out where things go wrong when they do go wrong. So I downloaded the tar.gz, unpacked it and have a Discord folder. After studying makepkg and pkgbuild stuff forever thinking that must be how to make this work, I realized it probably wasn't it. It seems "Discord" the file is an executable already and I should just be able to run it, but when I try, nothing happens. I can't find anything registered in log files that would be related either, but maybe I'm looking at the wrong ones (/var/log/)? Overall though it just seems like nothing is even going on.

I can only vaguely gather that I need libc++ from AUR to run this according to browsing online, and I am just seeing if that is the case so I can toss this project aside and move on to something else. If not, I would appreciate anyone pointing me in the right direction in terms of the Wiki. I really do worry I am missing something obvious. I am trying to learn though so a nudge in right direction is all I am really looking for.

Not sure what matters in this particular context, but this is a fresh install of Arch from today using both base and base-devel packages. XFCE for environment. Little else installed beyond the few things to get audio up and going, Firefox, and Thunar. Still working my way through the wiki to learn what additional goodies I need if any.

Last edited by Skrotrotta (2018-04-12 02:59:47)

jasonwryan · 2018-04-12 02:12:23

You can read the depends line of the PKGBUILD for dependencies. The rest of the PKGBUILD simply describes where to install the binary and related files.

Read the wiki page on PKGBUILDs: it will clarify things immensely and save you a lot of trouble.

Xyne · 2018-04-12 02:28:35

Hi Skrotrotta and welcome to the forum.

Skrotrotta wrote:

TLDR: Is libc++ required from AUR to run Discord downloaded from the Discord website? This is the best I can gather from my research, I'm just looking to verify if this is the case.

It seems so, yes. libc++ is listed as a dependency of the discord package on the AUR.

Skrotrotta wrote:

I figure if I want to learn I need to manage stuff myself from official sources, not to mention it probably helps me figure out where things go wrong when they do go wrong.

It is strongly recommended to use PKGBUILDs for everything that you build and install on your system. PKGBUILDs are just specialized bash scripts that contain standardized metadata for the package. They don't hide any details about the build and install process. In fact, the commands in the "build" and "package" functions are exactly the commands that you would use to build the package directly from source, except the install location is different. Basically, you install to a target directory that gets archived by makepkg to create the package. The archive contains the same files that you would have installed normally, but it also includes package metadata that allows pacman to manage dependencies and track files on your system. If you start directly installing everything, you will end up with a growing number of untracked files that will lead to redundancies and conflicts.

PKGBUILDs will also teach you to manage build and run dependencies so you end up learning more, not less

Start by looking at the existing PKGBUILD for discord. There you see what it needs to run ("depends"), and which packages provide additional functionality ("optdepends"). You also see the proper way to install it on the system. Run makepkg and then look at the files that it creates in the package directory if you are curious abou

Skrotrotta · 2018-04-12 02:59:27

Thanks so much for the replies!

jasonwryan wrote:

You can read the depends line of the PKGBUILD for dependencies. The rest of the PKGBUILD simply describes where to insall the binary and related files.
Read the wiki page on PKGBUILDs: it will clarify things immensely and save you a lot of trouble.

I'll get back to doing that then! I did start there and was trying my best to understand it. Browsing around for additional information though I had stumbled across this link and thought maybe I was overthinking things. It seemed like I should just be able to click "Discord" and have it run. That will teach me to veer away from the wiki then won't it. My bad there. I'll start back at the beginning of those pages and study harder.

Xyne wrote:

Hi Skrotrotta and welcome to the forum.
It seems so, yes. libc++ is listed as a dependency of the discord package on the AUR.
It is strongly recommended to use PKGBUILDs for everything that you build and install on your system. PKGBUILDs are just specialized bash scripts that contain standardized metadata for the package. They don't hide any details about the build and install process. In fact, the commands in the "build" and "package" functions are exactly the commands that you would use to build the package directly from source, except the install location is different. Basically, you install to a target directory that gets archived by makepkg to create the package. The archive contains the same files that you would have installed normally, but it also includes package metadata that allows pacman to manage dependencies and track files on your system. If you start directly installing everything, you will end up with a growing number of untracked files that will lead to redundancies and conflicts.
PKGBUILDs will also teach you to manage build and run dependencies so you end up learning more, not less
Start by looking at the existing PKGBUILD for discord. There you see what it needs to run ("depends"), and which packages provide additional functionality ("optdepends"). You also see the proper way to install it on the system. Run makepkg and then look at the files that it creates in the package directory if you are curious abou

Thank you for the welcome and for the help! It certainly makes things click a little better for me as to understanding all this. The wiki has been great so far and helped me with most of my problems, but I just felt a little lost here. The link I mention right above this didn't help matters and led me astray thinking I didn't need to do all this. I'll get back to it though and also go on and check out the AUR Discord you mentioned so maybe I can learn from it as well. Back to the wiki!

Thanks again guys and I really do appreciate it. At least it puts me back on the right track so I can focus my attention where I need.

Xyne · 2018-04-12 04:26:29

Skrotrotta wrote:

The wiki has been great so far and helped me with most of my problems, but I just felt a little lost here.

That's normal. Everything is new at first and it takes a little time to get oriented. It's easy to get lost in the details, especially when learning several things at once (PKGBUILDs, makepkg, pacman, building from source, etc.). Sometimes it's hard to even know where exactly to start.

For building packages, start with the PKGBUILD wiki page as already suggested. Read through simple PKGBUILDs to see how they are used in practice (to find PKGBUILDs for official packages, follow the "Packages" link at the top of the page, select a package, then got to "Source Files"). Move on to the Makepkg wiki page and the makepkg man page and help message:

$ man makepkg
$ makepkg --help

From there, move on to pacman (wiki, man, help message), etc.

Along the way there will probably be several tangents too, such as understanding details of Bash, how to use build systems such as CMake, how to use VCS sources such as Git repos, etc. Just remember that you don't need to learn all of the details in the beginning. Make a note of what's out there and where to find the references and come back to them when you need them. Learning the ins and outs of Bash alone is a journey in itself the end of which few will ever see

Speaking of tangents, part of the fun is constantly discovering useful things that have previously escaped your attention. Sometimes these can be right under your nose for ages. For example, I've been aware of several Bash keyboard shortcuts for years but only really used a handful of them because I never really bothered to learn them. After sitting down to learn them properly just a few days ago, I discovered that they are a feature of the readline library that Bash and several other programs use for input. I learned that the shortcuts are actually just readline's emacs mode, which led to my discovery of readline's vi mode. I've been using a Bash shell every day pretty much since I signed up here and yet I had no clue. I'm actually kicking myself a bit for having never noticed it. I've wasted so many keystrokes over the years

Anyway, I would definitely say that you have the right attitude, which is really all you need. Enjoy the journey

Arch Linux

#1 2018-04-12 01:55:13

[SOLVED] Looking for a little guidance - Discord install/use

#2 2018-04-12 02:12:23

Re: [SOLVED] Looking for a little guidance - Discord install/use

#3 2018-04-12 02:28:35

Re: [SOLVED] Looking for a little guidance - Discord install/use

#4 2018-04-12 02:59:27

Re: [SOLVED] Looking for a little guidance - Discord install/use

#5 2018-04-12 04:26:29

Re: [SOLVED] Looking for a little guidance - Discord install/use

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