[Solved] Unable to run Oolite following distro updates

[Damocles Edge]

Hello to all
I have been running Oolite on my Manjaro Xfce distro for some considerable months without any problems whatsoever. This changed following going through some troublesome distro updates which resulted in me losing lan internet connectivity until I could connect via a usb plug in wi-fi connection to carry out the updates again (it appeared that the same updates installed again although I cannot be sure). The updates took and all seemed well, a day or so later more updates were processed and I have found that following these updates that I am no longer able to run oolite (all else seems to run okay on my os apart from oolite.
Trying to run via cli gives the following output "oolite
/usr/share/oolite/oolite: error while loading shared libraries: libgnustep-base.so.1.24: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory"
I have noted that libgnustep-base.so has now updated from 1.24 to 1.25 and I think that this maybe the source of the issue, sadly my CLI knowledge is practically nil and I have little to no idea of how to start to resolve the issue.
Has anyone else experienced similar problems or can anyone advise were to look to try to resolve this anomaly?
Please also accept my apologies if posting for help is not an oolite issue but a distro issue, but I really wasn't sure where to request help from.
Many thanks in advance for any guidance you can offer.

[Getafix]

(my turn to say it at last!!!)

Welcome to the friendliest Board this side of Riedquat, Commander Damocles Edge.

To have a robust and steady Oolite installation, protected as much as possible by O/S mishaps,
it is strongly suggested to backup your user-files (e.g. savegames, snapshots, addons etc.),
remove the distro released Oolite,
install Oolite using the package delivered by oolite.org,
and restore all your Oolite user-files to that installation.

If, however, you have a strong reason to go for the distro released Oolite version, then,
try my generic suggestion below and if it does not resolve the issue,
then the most appropriate action is to raise the case to the Manjaro community.
There is always the possibility, of course, that someone from them is already in this board and will take over the discussion.

It seems that Oolite was not updated during the Manjaro release update process.
Backup your user-files and any other changes, if any, you have performed in the Oolite installation.
Uninstall Oolite using the means provided by Manjaro.
Reinstall Oolite using the means provided by Manjaro.

[Damocles Edge]

Thanks for the warm & friendly welcome Getafix
I have downloaded the tar file as you suggested.
It appears to be the same version as available via pamac (package manager used by Manjaro).
Must admit that I am a little hesitant to install without using pamac but am also leaning more towards the idea that the issue maybe down to something gone awry with Manjaro (as both the oolite version from the link that you kindly provided and the version available from Pamac are v1.84).
I have subsequently asked for assistance via the Manjaro forum and will relay any useful feedback I obtain to this post to help others that may have the same or similar issues.
On a totally different subject I am wondering if I should change my forum name (I didn't realise the forum name was meant to be a commander name and instead used one of my ship names)
Don't get me wrong I think Damocles is a great sounding first name but Mr Edge makes me sound like a U2 reject

Thanks again.

[Cody]

Welcome aboard, Commander! Higher and Higher, written by Graeme Edge - not such a bad surname.

[Diziet Sma]

It appears to be the same version as available via pamac (package manager used by Manjaro).
Must admit that I am a little hesitant to install without using pamac but am also leaning more towards the idea that the issue maybe down to something gone awry with Manjaro (as both the oolite version from the link that you kindly provided and the version available from Pamac are v1.84).

G'day, Damocles Edge, and welcome to the forums!

Appearances can be deceptive, sometimes..

Oolite depends on some very specific versions of several libraries, and in some cases, special custom modified versions of those libraries, all of which are compiled and bundled with the Oolite tar package supplied at Oolite.org. Distros which supply Oolite via their package managers generally link to the standard installations of those same libraries, and when those libraries get updated, it tends to break things, so far as Oolite is concerned.

The Oolite.org version is linked to its own bundle of libraries, which are packaged in such a way that they do not interfere with the libraries as used by the rest of the OS. The only executable which will ever access them is Oolite. That way, we can make sure Oolite runs on the widest possible variety of Linux distros, without having to spend all our time tracking library version changes across dozens of distros, and also avoid having to deal with the creators of the libraries concerned, who have shown little interest in implementing our required customisations into their standard package.

I understand your concerns about using a non-pamac installer, but rest assured that it will not interfere with the rest of your system, and it can be uninstalled at any time simply by deleting one folder.

[Getafix]

...rest assured that it will not interfere with the rest of your system...

I second that.
Go for it!

[Damocles Edge]

I am pleased to say that I have managed to get a workaround solution which was kindly offered to me from a helpful forum user at manjaro.org forum.
For anyone else experiencing the same problem the solution was to enter the following cli command

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libgnustep-base.so.1.25 /usr/lib/libgnustep-base.so.1.24

This has worked for me.
I think my intention is going to be to list all the oxp's that I currently use (to be on the safe side), try to backup my save files and oxp files - the thing which I have noticed when using catfish to search for oolite files/ folders is that they are currently scattered across both my file system partition and my home partition (this has me puzzled as to which files / folders should be backed up).
I will then look to install via the tgz file which I have already downloaded.
Having never installed programs in this way before I wondered if I could ask a few questions and for a little guidance if anyone could be so kind?
Am I correct in thinking that the tgz file contains an installer which will walk me through the install process or is it just a case of extracting that 1 file to a place of my choice?
Also is there any restrictions as to where my oolite folder would sit - does it need to be with my file system partition or can it sit in my home folder partition (the latter would be much better for me)
Can I ask how people determine that an installed version of oolite needs to be updated? Is there any prompt from the game or other mechanism or is it just down to the user to keep a watchful eye periodically at oolite.org ?
I am wondering how difficult it is when updating to a newer version is it a case of replacing just certain files / folders or will i need to go through the process of adding & downloading all the oxp files
via the in-game option again?
My thanks for the advice and guidance received so far and my apologies for throwing so many questions your way.

[Stormrider]

Hello Damocles,
Welcome.

Am I correct in thinking that the tgz file contains an installer which will walk me through the install process or is it just a case of extracting that 1 file to a place of my choice?

Extract the file in your home folder, it should extract a bash/shell file ending with .run. If you can't run it from a GUI open a terminal and enter ./<filename>.run. Don't use sudo if you want it installed in your home folder. The main file folder should get placed in home/GNUstep/Applications.
This page is for the nightly but the installation instructions are the same:
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6853#p89726.

Can I ask how people determine that an installed version of oolite needs to be updated?

I am not sure if the stable version gets many updates between releases, but you can install the latest nightly right along with the stable version. Updating is fairly easy just navigate to the oolite folder in GNUstep/Applications and click the file oolite-update or in a terminal run ./oolite-update.

I am wondering how difficult it is when updating to a newer version is it a case of replacing just certain files / folders or will i need to go through the process of adding & downloading all the oxp files
via the in-game option again?

No the updater only updates files that have been modified so all your oxps will remain unchanged. It should be noted that oxps are maintained by individuals who may not be associated directly with the oolite development team so they will not be updated by running the oolite updater. You will have to check in the manager or on these boards to be notified of \oxp updates.

the thing which I have noticed when using catfish to search for oolite files/ folders is that they are currently scattered across both my file system partition and my home partition (this has me puzzled as to which files / folders should be backed up)

This is one of the reason I prefer to use the targz install. Those guys who maintain the repositories do some odd stuff. Oolite runs fin in the home folder yet for some reason they think some stuff should be hidden in system files. I feel that this is a very bad idea since an inexperienced user might damage the system by trying to edit oolite files that are hidden in the system. I just quit using the repository version of blender because I couldn't find some plug-ins (also installed from the repository), but the version I compiled found the plugs I manually downloaded and installed.
I would say the most important files to look for to back up would be:

home/oolite-saves - if you have not changed the default path while saving <screenshots and game savefiles>.
home/.Oolite/AddOns - if you have installed any oxps manually don't miss the "." before Oolite ~ make hidden files visible.
home/GNUstep/Library/ApplicationSupport/Oolite/ManagedAddOns -AddOns downloaded with the game manager.

At least this is the way everything is set up on my linux system (Mint 17.3) .
I must say that I thought about trying Manjaro but I didn't like the idea of a rolling release because I read similar stories of updates breaking things. Fact is Mint doesn't seem to be stable enough to maintain a build environment for oolite, I just recently installed 17.3 on another machine and I had to go searching for some libs that I never had to before in order to compile my own version of oolite..

[Damocles Edge]

Hi all

Just a follow post to let you know that I took your advice and with the help of the excellent instructions kindly provided by Stormrider I now have a proper install of oolite and am wondering why I had my reservations in the first place
If I'm being honest I did hit one momentary problem which had me posting a message here asking for help as I was stumped. Moments later I realised that the problem was down to my lack of understanding about CLI - that and my inability to follow instructions properly . But we'll say no more about that as I realised my schoolboy error, corrected the mistake on my part and took down the post hoping that nobody had read it (please tell me nobody read it - ah well - it's good for a chuckle if you did)
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their help - it is very much appreciated
Something I can't work out though is that the game now seems slightly smoother / more responsive than before - could this be the case or is it just my imagination. I suppose technically the game is now no longer scattered between 2 partitions, but would this make a noticeable difference to the human eye?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ95XzvJtvs

[Getafix]

Darn, I missed that post!

I'm glad you quit on the ln -s option and went for the oolite.org package.

Shift+F toggles the frame rate display (see ~/GNUstep/Applications/Oolite/doc/OoliteRS.pdf).
However, to compare, you need the Manjaro distributed Oolite measurement too.

[Cody]

...took down the post hoping that nobody had read it...

Unlucky! <grins>

Darn, I missed that post!

<chortles> If, like me, you were manacled to the forum in the same way that you yourself are chained to the nightly server, then you'd have seen it.

[Getafix]

Where is that RSS feed option when I need it?!?