Problems compiling pd and gem

[Ivica Bukvic]

Hello fellow pd users, I am sure you guys get a lot of questions like this
one, but honestly I've tried now for over a week to fix this issue and I
have exhausted all viable resources except this mailing list. So, I am
writing to ya in hope to get some help. =)

Anyhow, the problem I have (under RH 7.0 only, 6.2 compiles ok, although
it's a messy workaround) is that even though I install tcl and tk libraries
(any version between 8.0 and 8.2 which are the only ones supported by
./configure file) and configure finds them just fine, once the pd is
completely compiled, installed, (make, make install in the src dir, and yes,
it compiles without any errors) and started by typing "pd" the program
reports that it could not find libtcl8.x.so (depending on install), which I
have solved by soft-linking these from /usr/local/lib to /usr/lib. Once this
is resolved, the execution of pd just hangs and reports nothing, but nothing
appears on the screen either. By ctrl+c-ing I get error 2 or something
(exact message as if it was unable to find above mentioned libs). There are
no errors reported until I press ctrl+c though. Does anyone have a solution
to this one?

Is there any way to make ./configure find 8.3 tcl and tk libs, since those
come pre-installed with RH7.0, except that they use a bit different .so
files (libx8.3.so - notice there's that "x" after lib) and if such thing is
possible would these be compatible with the pd itself?

Seems to me that configure should "fail" to create makefile if it would not
find any of the tcl and tk libs, since those are crucial for making the app
run, thus preventing less experienced users (such as myself :-) of tinkering
with non-working makefile. Maybe this should be fixed (I'd be willing to do
it as long as someone gives me a bit help with it, since I have a very
limited shell-script writing knowledge) :-)

Is there a new version planned which will fix these issues and make the
whole install less painfull on the newer releases of the tcl and tk libs?
(uninstalling of tclx8.3 from RH distrib is not an option since a lot of
other applications depend on that version of package, so I could potentially
wreak havoc on my machine by forcing downgrading of the rpm package). Again,
I'd be willing in assisting doing so, or even making an extensive
install-help file as long as I'd get some assistance so that I can compile
the darn thing first. After all, what's the point of writing an install-help
file when my own version won't compile properly :-).

Finally, the other bunch :-) of questions pertain to the RH 6.2 (where I've
successfully installed pd) and gem install. To me, gem install (Linux
version, obviously) seems like a nightmare, is there any more extensive help
as to how to make a generic linux install? What I did is as follows:

Did ./makeauxlibs in the /src/Gnu dir
Did ./configure
In 0.83 versions this sometimes ended-up being successfull (can't remember
all of the instances, there were too many of attempts :-), but 0.84 was
reporting lack of mpeg libs (which are not being made by ./makeauxlibs) and
failed to move on.