How do I make libtool honour installation prefix?

Question

I'm trying to build and install the PDF viewer Atril from source in the directory $HOME/.local on a computer running Debian 10. I have issued the commands

cd "$HOME/.local/src"
apt source atril
cd atril-1.20.3
./autogen.sh
./configure --prefix="$HOME/.local"
make
make install

The last command fails with the error message

libtool: install: /usr/bin/install -c .libs/libatril-properties-page.soT /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/caja/extensions-2.0/libatril-properties-page.so
/usr/bin/install: cannot remove '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/caja/extensions-2.0/libatril-properties-page.so': Permission denied

because libtool tries to install a library under /usr/lib. Is there an option I have missed here to make libtool honour the prefix $HOME/.local?

./configure requires a full path: `./configure --prefix=/home/name/.local` — Knud Larsen, Jun 05 '21 at 17:37
@KnudLarsen The environment variable `$HOME` expands to a full (absolute) path. — August Karlstrom, Jun 05 '21 at 17:43
@GAD3R I have tried `make clean` as well. I get the same error. — August Karlstrom, Jun 05 '21 at 18:59
It appears that `configure.in` is hard-wired to use `pkg-config --variable=extensiondir libcaja-extension` to determine the destination for caja extensions — steeldriver, Jun 05 '21 at 23:07
@steeldriver I assume you mean in `configure.ac` since I find no file named `configure.in`. — August Karlstrom, Jun 06 '21 at 08:33

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 05 '21 at 22:44

3

atril needs a place where to put the extensions for the caja file manager.

You can change the path in the makefile:

cajaextensiondir =

Or you can disable caja-extensions if you are not using them:

./configure --prefix="$HOME/.local" --disable-caja

Note that it will build and install, but in order to run, it also needs to find some mate stuff (that you might have already available).

answered Jun 05 '21 at 22:44

Eduardo Trápani

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I tried replacing `/usr` with `/home/august/.local` in the path defined by *cajaextensiondir* in Makefile but it made no difference. I get the same error message. Obviously it's ignored by the install command. – August Karlstrom Jun 06 '21 at 08:38
With the option `--disable-caja` I can successfully install Atril. – August Karlstrom Jun 06 '21 at 08:49
If I'm not mistaken the conclusion is that there is a flaw in the Atril build script since it should be possible to install any package locally in the home directory (without root privileges). It would be nice if there was an automated test which prevents packages to enter the debian repository unless this requirement is met. – August Karlstrom Jun 06 '21 at 08:53
The reason I want to build Atril from source is because since a week ago or so it takes 25 seconds to launch Atril (with no document) when it used to open instantly. Now I'm trying to find out what causes the delay. When I open Atril built from source I get the same delay, so I'm good to go even without caja. – August Karlstrom Jun 06 '21 at 08:58

How do I make libtool honour installation prefix?

1 Answers1