On Aug 15, 2006, at 4:31 PM, Brandon M. Gabler wrote:
I would like to upgrade my GRASS 6.1.cvs installation (William Kyngesburye's build) to the most recent 6.3.cvs so that I can start compiling from source.
It's a bit unclear what you want to do - you say you want to update an installed binary, but also that you want to build from source? The installed binary application isn't something you 'update' really, though it is possible if you know what you're doing. You would really be building from scratch from a downloaded source package. Or replacing it with a newer binary. Note - I added a 6.1.0 release app build this weekend. I probably won't get to a 6.3CVS build for a while - my MacBook goes in for repair tomorrow 
First, do I need to completely remove all GRASS binaries, libraries, etc., and start over (my assumption is no, but I want to be safe before I either screw something up or, minimally, end up with two copies of stuff on my hard drive and therefore wasting valuable real estate!)?
If you are building from source, it depends on where you are going to install it, and how. A normal unix build and install will install where you set the prefix, if this is over a current install, you shouldn't need to delete the old one first, unless it's a major update so you don't have remains of the old one left behind.
With my Python Mac OS X app build script, it doesn't even get installed in the prefix location, the app package is assembled within the 'macosx' build folder, which you can then drag to whereever you like.
Second, it would be nice to have a page on the wiki where it does instruct how to make a completely clean removal of all things GRASS and GRASS related for Mac OSX, and if it is there already, it's impossible to find via searches and surfing.
A good idea. There are a few different install possibilities now on OS X. Quick summary until a wiki page is added (just for GRASS, no supporting libs):
normal GRASS unix build, 2 executables and a folder:
/usr/local/bin/grass*
/usr/local/bin/gem
/usr/local/grass-*/
Lorenzo's GRASS app:
/Applications/grass60.app (maybe grass61.app also?)
/usr/local/grasslib/
my GRASS app:
/Applications/GRASS.app
Third, I have noticed several detailed and beneficial FC4 compilation instruction sets, and have tried to apply them to my mac, without success. This is the main reason I pose the situation to the list - my grass61cvs app currently resides in /Applications/GRASS, and I've tried using some of the instructions for compiling/updating from source and when I run "make", bash tells me that PROJ4 cannot be found. Therefore, the rest of the process fails to work. But GRASS works perfectly on my system, which suggests that PROJ4 definitely IS installed.
Is there a simple directory problem that I am missing? Do I need to completely start over with a fresh install of one of the Mac builds?
My GRASS.app works because you installed the frameworks. But a normal Unix configure won't find those frameworks by default, you need to specify -with-*-libs and --with-*-includes for everything. There is minimal info right now - within each framework, use the 'unix' folder as if it were a normal /usr/local prefix, so you might say: --with-proj-includes=/Library/Frameworks/PROJ.framework/unix/includes --with-proj-libs=/Library/Frameworks/PROJ.framework/unix/lib.
The macosx app build script is meant to be independent of how you build the grass source itself and what libraries or frameworks you use, and assumes you know how to do that. I should add an example to the macosx app build script.
As mentioned above, a build from source has nothing to do with an installed binary. But it will need the dependent libraries (or frameworks).
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William Kyngesburye <kyngchaos@kyngchaos.com>
http://www.kyngchaos.com/
"This is a question about the past, is it? ... How can I tell that the past isn't a fiction designed to account for the discrepancy between my immediate physical sensations and my state of mind?"
- The Ruler of the Universe