[MonoDevelop] Help installing monodevelop

[Michael Hutchinson]

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 5:53 PM, James King <james.king at 4act.com> wrote:
> I'm a .Net developer trying to move away from Windows and Visual Studio. I
> am practically new to Linux and new to monodevelop. I currently use Ubuntu
> Hardy amd64.
>
> I have tried the Ubuntu package for monodevelop and it works okay. However,
> my current project is an asp.net web project and would like to try and
> utilize some of the new features of monodevelop 2 alpha.
>
> I have a few questions.
>
> 1. Can I compile and install monodevelop without ruining my current
> monodevelop 1 installation?

Not easily. However, if you build from source  you can use it without
installing it if you build from source. Use "make run".

> I have tinkered a little on my own and download the releases
>
> 1. mono-addins-0.3.1
> 2. monodevelop-1.9
> 3. monodoc-1.2.6
> 4. gtk-sharp-2.2.8.5
>
> I can compile mono addins without any errors. I can compile gtk-sharp
> without any errors. I get some error about a strong assembly name when
> compiling monodoc, but I am not super concerned with that at the moment.
> When I try to compile monodevelop I have some trouble
>
> 1. the readme says to run ./configure --prefix=`pkg-config --variable=prefix
> mono`
>    what is the --prefix=`pkg-config --variable=prefix mono`? If I type that
> in exactly I get an error saying "configure: error: expected an absolute
> directory name for --prefix: pkg-config --variable=prefix mono"
>
> If I do not add the --prefix option then configure seems to work fine, but
> the make command produces an error "error CS0006: cannot find metadata file
> `/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/../../lib/mono/gtk-sharp-2.0/gconf-sharp-peditors.dll'"
>
> I assumed that gtk-sharp was supposed to add that (gconf-sharp-peditors.dll)
> file. However it does not.

Your paths and install locations are messed up. When installing from
source, I strongly recommend a parallel install.

I suggest you find Mono 2.0 and GTK# 2.12.5 packages for Ubuntu and
install them. If you can't find packages, build and install them in a
parallel install. Then build MD from source -- preferably the upcoming
20 alpha 2, or SVN; 2.0 alpha 1 is getting old. Don't install it; use
"make run".

The page http://monodevelop.com/Development:_Getting_Started has some
instructions on building/running MD from SVN.

The *really* easy option is to use the Mono 2.0 openSUSE VMWare image,
and use my MonoDevelop trunk packages:
http://software.opensuse.org/search?baseproject=openSUSE%3A11.0&p=1&q=monodevelop-debugger-mdb

-- 
Michael Hutchinson
http://mjhutchinson.com