Xastir will require some additions and enhancements of your computer before we start downloading, and installing. As I am a RedHat / Fedora / CentOS fan, I will be writing these instructions assuming that you are installing on that type of machine. I'll also assume that you are familiar with the basic parts of linux. In order to install Xastir, you will need some form of internet access.
I have installed Xastir onto SuSE 10, and it ran just fine. Instead of using Yum, you will need to use YAST. Also, you will need to add the xastir user and group differently than the commands listed for RedHat / Fedora / CentOS.
I assume that when you built your linux computer, that you installed the Development Packages. If not, you may wish to go back and re-build the computer from scratch, and include those packages in the installation. If your computer does other things, then you may wish to Google for instructions on how to install the GNU compilers and libraries onto your box. Bear in mind... if you rebuild your computer... you will loose materials already installed on it.
First, we need to update your computer, and make sure it is running known good versions of OS software. We do this on RedHat / Fedora / CentOS using the yum utility. Be sure that you have enabled all of the default repositories in /etc/yum.repos.d and /etc/yum.conf directories. If you need help doing that, please Google for the information. You will need to do this logged in as root.
yum update
This command will update all of your computer packages. If you have never run it before, there may be quite a few of them out there. It may take a few minutes, or an hour. You may also be asked to import a key... that is a good thing, and you should import keys from known sources. The default yum installtion and configuration are from known sources. Note that the packages here require the development tools, too.
Next, we need to install ImageMagick, and the devel libraries associated with the product.
yum install ImageMagick*
Next, install the VNC package. It might already be on your computer.
yum install vnc
Next, we are going to check that you installed some behind-the-scenes utilities when you made your computer.
yum groupinstall "X Software Development"
yum groupinstall "Gnome Software Development"
Next, we need to make sure MySQL is installed. I went to the MySQL site, and downloaded the lastest one, version 5. To see if you have mysql installed, do this:
rpm -qa | grep mysql
If some packages are displayed, then you have MySQL installed.
Next, we need to instally Lynx. Lynx is a text-based web browser that will help you download some of the other materials needed for xastir.
yum install lynx
Next, we will install and update pcre
yum install pcre*
Next, we need to make sure that OpenMotif is installed on your computer. Note that in Fedora Core 6, the "authorities" have removed OpenMotif due to licensing issues. So, if you are Fedora Core 6, install lesstif instead.
yum install lesstif lesstif-devel
Finally, we need to edit /etc/ld.so.conf to ensure that it has /usr/lib and /usr/local/lib in the path. Use your favorite editor to ensure that the entries are included in that file.
Your computer is now setup with the basic parts of the OS, and we are ready to go to the Download page.