OpenSUSE

Gambas 1 / 2

OpenSuse 10.2

Gambas works well on openSUSE. You can have both Gambas 1 and 2 installed and they will happily work side by side. The best method is to compile Gambas from source. But first you need to make sure all the required dependencies (with their devel packages) are installed. For this it is best to use the openSUSE Administrator Settings tool YaST. Installing dependencies using YaST means you will not have version conflicts in any of your other applications.

The instruction here apply to the 32 bit version of openSUSE.

If you really do not like idea of compiling from source then the Gambas source forge site lists 
ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/suser-gbv/rpms/
as a source for openSUSE binary packages. Though I did not find the install help very useful there. So press on - this install help is more detailed.

Step 0: Deleting the openSUSE version of Gambas

The openSUSE Linux distribution has got a lot of things right. Alas Gambas is not one of them. The Gambas source forge site suggests you do not use the version that comes with openSUSE. This is because they do not follow the Gambas specification.

It is best to make sure the openSUSE version of Gambas is not installed before you try installing any other version. I have known the openSUSE version of Gambas to cause conflicts with the compiled version. Also you will not be able to use the Gambas stable version at all if the openSUSE version is installed.

So it is best first to check Gambas is not installed. Open the Administrator Settings tool YaST. You will find this in the SUSE menu under System. When this tool starts you will be asked to enter the root password for your workstation. When YaST opens on the right panel are the available YaST administration modules. These are arranged by type and the different types of modules are listed in the left panel.

We will be using the Software Management module that is in the Software type tab. So click on the the Software Management icon (you only need to single click). You will then need to wait while this module initializes its sources.

The YaST Software Management module should open on the Search filter. If it does not show Search then click on the Filter drop down box and select Search. Then in search text box enter gambas and click on the Search button. This will list all of the openSUSE packages for Gambas. Make sure none of the packages are checked. If no Gambas items are installed then you can proceed to Step 1.

If some Gambas items are installed then click on each item and select Delete from the list. When all installed Gambas items show a little dustbin icon on the entry then click on the Accept button in the bottom right of the screen and follow the dialogue. When it comes to asking if you want to install more packages you can answer yes if you are proceeding on to Step 1. Or answer no if you want a cup of tea. But then you will have to start YaST again.

Step 1: Adding Gambas dependencies

Of all the steps in installing any application on Linux, this is the one that causes the most problems. On openSUSE it is best to make sure that all dependencies are installed through YaST Software Management tool. You will then ensure that there are no conflicts with other application you might wish to run on your openSUSE system.

The first step is to make sure we have required repositories set up in YaST. Under the filter drop down list select "Installation Sources". Then check you have 
http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/10.2/repo/oss
as a URL. You need to adjust this URL to fit the version of openSUSE you are using. Here we assume version openSUSE 10.2. There are packages in this repositories that are required for some of the Gambas components and they are not on the install CD's. If you do not see this repositories then you will need to add or enable it in the main Administrator Settings tool YaST panel option "Installation Source". On my system openSUSE had added the URL but it had not enabled it.

Now back in the Software Management module of the YaST Administrator Settings tool we need to check the the following dependencies. Many of which are optional.

Install Tools

From the filter drop down list select Patterns then find the "Development" section in the list. Now under "Basic Development" make sure at least
  • autoconf

  • automake

  • gcc

  • gcc-c++

  • make

are selected then install these.

Graphical User Interface

For the gb.qt4 and /edit/comp/gb.qt.ext components search from the filter drop down list select Search then do a search for qt3. Make sure at least the following packages are installed:
  • qt3

  • qt3-devel

  • qt3-static

You will need these components if you want to use the Gambas IDE on your workstation.

Graphical User Interface (optional)

For the gb.gtk component search for the following packages and install them:
  • gtk2

  • gtk2-devel

  • atk

  • atk-devel

  • pango

  • pango-devel

  • cairo

  • cairo-devel

  • glib2

  • glib-devel

  • freetype2

  • freetype2-devel

  • fontconfig

  • fontconfig-devel

For the /edit/comp/gb.gtk.svg component search for the following packages and install them:
  • librsvg

  • librsvg-devel

For the gb.pdf component search for the following packages and install them:
  • poppler

  • poppler-devel

For the gb.pcre component for the following packages and install them:
  • pcre

  • pcre-devel

Desktop (optional)

For the /edit/comp/gb.qt.kde and /edit/comp/gb.qt.kde.html components search for the following packages and install them:
  • kdelibs3

  • kdelibs3-devel

Communication & Network (optional)

TODO /edit/comp/gb.corba

For the /edit/comp/gb.ldap component search for the following packages and install them:
  • openldap2-client

  • openldap2-devel

For the gb.net.curl component search for the following packages and install them:
  • curl

  • curl-devel

Database (optional)

To use the SQLite database in the gb.db component search for the following packages and install them:
  • sqlite2

  • sqlite2-devel

  • sqlite

  • sqlite-devel

To use the MySQL database in the gb.db component search for the following packages and install them:

  • mysql-client

  • mysql-devel

  • mysql-shared

To use the PostgreSQL database in the gb.db component search for the following packages and install them:
  • libpqxx

  • postgresql

  • postresql-devel

  • postgresql-server

  • postresql-libs

To use the ODBC database in the gb.db component search for the following packages and install them:
  • unixODBC

  • unixODBC-devel

XML programming (optional)

For the gb.xml, gb.xml.xslt and gb.xml.rpc components search for the following packages and install them:
  • libxml2

  • libxml2-devel

  • libxslt

  • libxslt-devel

Compression & Crypting (optional)

For the gb.compress and gb.crypt components search for the following packages and install them:
  • zlib

  • zlib-devel

  • glibc

  • glibc-devel

SDL, 2D & 3D Graphics (optional)

For the gb.sdl, gb.opengl and /edit/comp/gb.qt.opengl components search for the following packages and install them:
  • SDL

  • SDL-devel

  • SDL_image

  • SDL_image-devel

  • Mesa

  • Mesa-devel

For the gb.sdl.sound component search for the following packages and install them:
  • SDL_mixer

  • SDL_mixer-devel

For the gb.v4l component search for the following packages and install them:
  • libpng

  • libpng-devel

  • libjpeg

  • libjpeg-devel

Extras

If during the install process there are components where you have installed library but are not sure which is the development package then select the Extras option from the Yast Software Management menu and then the option Install All Matching devel Packages and install the packages it selects. This will properly install more devel packages than you need. It is best only to perform this step if you have problems later compiling gambas. But why not take the easy option.

You should now have the basic requirements for Gambas or at least the most popular options. Now we need to compile Gambas.

Step 2: Compiling Gambas

Download the required version of Gambas from http://gambas.sourceforge.net/download.html and then open a Linux terminal and unpack it:

shell> tar xvfj gambas2-1.9.48.tar.bz2
...
list of unpacked files
...
shell> cd gambas-1.9.48=

Of course you need to substitute the version of Gambas you are installing in these commands.

Run through the usual install process to compile Gambas. This process is the same as in any other Linux distribution.

shell> ./reconf-all
...
view progress of reconfigure
...
shell> ./configure -C
...
view progress of configure
...
shell> make
...
view progress of make
...
shell> su -c "make install"
Password: enter root password
...
view progress of install
...=

You should now have a working version of Gambas installed. You can check this by starting the Gambas IDE. If you have installed stable version 1 of Gambas enter the following in a Linux terminal:

shell> gambas

And for the development version of Gambas:

shell> gambas2

Of course you can add your desktop or menu links to make opening the Gambas IDE easier.

Gambas 3

Installing official packages

Gambas 3 (versions above 3.18)

(Updated 4th April 2024)
At the time of writing, you can find Gambas 3.18.1 community package for openSUSE Tumbleweed as well as Gambas 3.19.1 community packages for openSUSE Leap 15.5, openSUSE Leap 15.6 and openSUSE Tumbleweed on https://software.opensuse.org/.

Gambas might not start after installation. To get to know details, open a terminal and type gambas3. You might see an error message the component ... could not be loaded even if the component is installed to /usr/lib64/gambas3/.

Typically a required package is not installed, which is prerequisit for the failing component. Try to solve this problem by running the zypper update... and zypper install... commands from Steps 3 & 4. below.

OpenSuse 15 (Leap15.2 and Tumbleweed 15.3)

Gambas 3 (versions above 3.9 including development version)

(Updated 4th Jan 2021)
Before you start. Ensure Gambas3 has not been installed via the Suse repository: 
If gambas3 is already installed on your system through zypper or with Yast it must be completely removed or it will cause conflicts with the compilation install method. Use Yast software manager to remove ALL gambas packages or type the following command in a terminal...


# sudo zypper remove gambas3*

Step 1. Get the source code (either download and extract the package from main Gambas website or use git clone/checkout)

Download Links...
Gambas Development Version
Gambas Stable Version

Git clone commands..
Development version
$ git clone --depth=1 https://gitlab.com/gambas/gambas.git
Stable Version
$ git clone --depth=1 --single-branch --branch=stable https://gitlab.com/gambas/gambas.git

Then cd into the gambas directory
$ cd gambas/

Note: For using Git clone see A note on installing from git

Step 2. Open a terminal (make sure your user account is part of sudo group)

Steps 3 & 4. Run these commands to install packages and configure the compiler : 

zypper update -y && zypper install -y libtool gawk gcc glew-devel gmime-devel gtk2-devel gtk3-devel libqt5-qtx11extras-devel libqt5-qtwebengine-devel libQt5Xml-devel libQt5Sql-devel libqt5-qtsvg-devel libQt5Gui-devel libQt5Core-devel libQt5Sql5-postgresql libQt5Sql5-unixODBC libQt5Sql5-mysql libQt5Sql5-sqlite webkit2gtk3-devel libICE-devel libSM-devel unixODBC-devel libzip-devel libzstd-devel libmariadb-devel gsl-devel libopenssl-devel alure-devel postgresql-devel libcurl-devel libSDL_ttf-devel libSDL_mixer-devel libSDL-devel libSDL2_ttf-devel libSDL2_mixer-devel libSDL2_image-devel libSDL2-devel libxslt-devel libv4l-devel librsvg-devel gtkglext-devel libgnome-keyring-devel libjpeg62-devel libpoppler-devel libpoppler-glib-devel imlib2-devel gmp-devel gstreamermm-devel qt6-webenginewidgets-devel qt6-svg-devel qt6-gui-devel qt6-core-devel qt6-openglwidgets-devel

./reconf-all

./configure -C --disable-qt4 --disable-sqlite2 --disable-qt5webkit --disable-pdf --disable-mongodb
Note: for OpenSuse Leap also install libdumb-devel 
# sudo zypper install libdumb-devel
Note: The ./configure command will report if anything is wrong and it cannot compile any components.

Step 5. Once this script is finished, you can run the common commands to compile and install a program under GNU/Linux :

$ make
# sudo make install

Note. 'make' should finish without error, if it finishes with an error code then something went wrong.

Step 6. Type gambas3 or launch it from the Application menus.

Gambas should start and run.

Note: You can make a symlink to start gambas3

Additional notes

A note on installing from git

If you want to compile the latest development version or a stable version from Gitlab Gambas repository, you need to install Git first.

To do this open a terminal and do: 

$ sudo apt-get install git

You will now be able to do a git clone or git checkout.

Downloading Gambas from Gitlab repository

Everybody can make a copy of the repository on his hard disk by using the following command:

For development version

$ git clone --depth=1 https://gitlab.com/gambas/gambas.git

For current stable version

$ git clone --branch stable --depth=1 https://gitlab.com/gambas/gambas.git

For an specific old stable version (e.g. 3.6)

  $ wget https://gitlab.com/gambas/gambas/repository/v3.6.0/archive.tar.gz -O gambas-3.6.0.tar.gz
  $ tar -zxvf gambas-3.6.0.tar.gz
  $ cd gambas-v3.6.0-*

For more info about using Gitlab Gambas repository see in the Git development guide for Gambas