Claudio Santambrogio - which is which?

which is which?

Thursday, 6. September 2007, 08:20:43

solaris, about, opera, freebsd, unix, kestrel, linux, desktop

Right - we have "UNIX" builds for desktop Opera.

And even though it isn't a really correct label for this family of builds, it means builds for Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris, for the Intel, the PowerPC and the Sparc architecture, for 32-bit and for 64-bit architectures, each one in several builds, and each build in several packages. In short: a jungle.

Additionally, there have been some new builds in Kestrel Alpha 1.

So which exactly is the package you need to fetch? This depends on the operating system, the OS version, the architecture, etc. Let me provide you with a short summary on which build is exactly what.

Linux
intel-linux

.1 static - qt3 static build, gcc 2.95
.5 shared - qt3 shared build, gcc 3
.6 shared - qt3 shared build, gcc 4
.9 static - qt4 static build, gcc 4

There is an experimental .10 build at the moment, which is a qt3 static build, gcc 4.

ppc-linux

.1 static - qt3 static build, gcc 2.95
.3 shared - qt3 shared build, gcc 3
.6 shared - qt3 shared build, gcc 4

sparc-linux

.1 static - qt3 static build, gcc 2.95
.2 shared - qt3 shared build, gcc 2.95

x86_64-linux

.2 shared - qt3 shared build, gcc 4

FreeBSD
intel-freebsd

.1 static - qt3 static build, FreeBSD 4
.5 static - qt3 static build, FreeBSD 5
.3 shared - qt3 shared build, FreeBSD 5
.4 shared - qt3 shared build, FreeBSD 6
.7 shared - qt3 shared build, FreeBSD 7

amd64-freebsd

.1 shared - qt3 shared build, FreeBSD 6

Solaris
intel-solaris

.1 static - qt3 static build, Solaris 10

sparc-solaris

.1 static - qt3 static build, Solaris 8
.2 shared - qt3 shared build, Solaris 8

Note that the Solaris 8 builds will also work on higher versions of Solaris.

So what?

On Linux there is the additional complication to understand which build you'll need for which version of your distro. It would be far too long to give a full overview on that, but here are some hints for some major distros:

You'll need the Linux .6 build for:

Debian Etch, Sid and Lenny
Ubuntu Edgy and Feisty
Fedora Core 5, 6 and 7
openSUSE 10.x
Slackware 11.0 and 12.0

You'll need the Linux .5 build for:

Debian Sarge
Linspire 5.0 and 5.1
Skolelinux 2.0
Xandros

I'll assume that FreeBSD and Solaris users are smart enough to figure out which builds they need for their OS version

HtH

qt432-bit plugins in 64-bit opera

Comments

Soleen # 6. September 2007, 12:28

csant.
thanks for disambiguation :-)

Mohjive # 6. September 2007, 13:29

Will there be any *shared* Qt4 builds soon?

csant # 6. September 2007, 13:50

Mohjive, that is still unclear, but probably not. Then again, if the static one can do "all" the shared one can do... (it can't, at the moment)

sgunhouse # 6. September 2007, 14:46

Since everyone is shipping with Qt4 now ... little reason not to ship a shared build. Though it seems like Qt3 will also work for some time yet.

vherva # 6. September 2007, 17:34

Great summary.

It would be nice to see this as a README (or WHICH_PACKAGE) text file in the http://snapshot.opera.com/unix/9.50-Alpha-1/ directory. That way, people who need this information would almost inevidably find it.

Rikz # 8. September 2007, 16:35

csant, can you explain the reasons for not releasing shared Qt4 builds?
AFAIK Qt is binary-compatible within every major branch, so what's the problem?

csant # 8. September 2007, 17:13

It is a long-term goal to reduce, not increase the number of packages and builds.

Rikz # 8. September 2007, 18:20

IMHO since 2007 every Linux distro ships with Qt4. Maybe we should have more Qt4 builds than Qt3? While Kestrel is still Alpha its users are mostly skilled enought to deal with Qt4 installation.

Its only my opinion, but we can easily collect more statistics by starting a poll in Opera community forums. Something like that:

What Kestrel build do you want to run?
.1 Qt3 static build, gcc 2.95
.5 Qt3 shared build, gcc 3
.6 Qt3 shared build, gcc 4
.9 Qt4 static build, gcc 4
.10 Qt3 static build, gcc 4 (not yet released)
.xx Qt4 shared build, gcc 4 (not yet released)

lzap # 14. September 2007, 19:40

You have to redownload in the worst case ^^_

tdzark # 14. September 2007, 22:06

Great post

I need qt4 x86_64 builds, please? Already next month this will be needed by many ppl for Kubuntu Gutsy.

kriko # 26. October 2007, 12:05

Where is qt4 build for kestrel beta1?

csant # 26. October 2007, 16:24

Where is qt4 build for kestrel beta1?

ftp://ftp.opera.com/pub/opera/linux/950b/final/en/i386/static/

kriko # 26. October 2007, 23:40

thanks, gonna test it with kde 4

Moose # 27. October 2007, 14:13

".1 static - qt3 static build, FreeBSD 6"

This is not a static, but a shared build.

csant # 28. October 2007, 06:52

Thanks, fixed. (but the system seems to be foobar at the moment...)

sgunhouse # 1. March 2008, 18:59

Uh, csant, I see a few other FreeBSD builds now ... I presume .7 shared is FreeBSD 7.0, but what's .5 static? Qt4?

csant # 1. March 2008, 20:03

Right, thanks - been a while that I kept updating that list

The .7 package is a qt3 shared build for FreeBSD 7, the .5 builds (for FreeBSD >=5) have replaced .1 builds (FreeBSD >=4). I'll keep .1 listed as long as Opera 9.2x is shipping, the last series to officially support FreeBSD 4… (which itself became unsupported quite a while ago). After that I'll need to start thinking about a "historic" section

sgunhouse # 2. March 2008, 21:58

"Historic" ... - like the .2, .3 and .4 builds for Linux? Well, those were in the forum thread, so perhaps you don't need to cover them.

experttease # 7. April 2008, 01:03

which is best for ubuntu gutsy (7.10)? the shared qt3 build or the static qt4? or is it not clear-cut? thanks

Sterkrig # 29. April 2008, 16:59

I wonder who still needs .1-builds...

amonamous # 6. May 2008, 14:59

i think this is nice and interisthing but but i meybe i don know to user please help me i don't understan..thank All

benst # 9. May 2008, 04:26

i have windows 5.0 and ubuntu 7.10 installed on an intel core2 duo 64-bit msi notebook. opera 9.50 runs fine on my windows os, but when i run the installed 9.50 64-bit version on ubuntu, it goes off after about 5-10 secs.

i tried downloading other versions - i386, ppc, sparc - but i get the errmsg 'wrong architecture'.

how do i solve this problem? i really really want to use opera on my ubuntu install.

thanks

GrantTLC # 20. May 2008, 14:36

.1 static - qt3 static build, gcc 2.95
.5 shared - qt3 shared build, gcc 3
.6 shared - qt3 shared build, gcc 4
.9 static - qt4 static build, gcc 4

Could someone elaborate further? What's the difference between static and shared? What does GCC mean? What's the difference between the .5 and a .6 builds above?

Apologies, but I'm relatively new to Linux.

Sterkrig # 20. May 2008, 14:50

static library is compiled in package, so you needn't it to be already installed.
shared means package works with installed separately library

About GCC you'd better ask Google or Wikipedia or smth of your personal choice (-;E

GrantTLC # 20. May 2008, 14:54

I checked GCC actually (felt bad for being lazy). But what does this actually mean? Why does the library used to compile the build affect how it will run on your system? Are Distros developed with a particular version of GCC in mind, meaning only programs built for that version will work?

Sterkrig # 20. May 2008, 16:20

GrantTLC
Probably built with higher GCC could run buggy on systems with (very) old one. I suppose. Get one built with gcc4 and don't bother. Or better use you distro's package management tools

kriko # 6. June 2008, 09:54

This post should be updated. Haven't the naming scene changed since then?

Sterkrig # 6. June 2008, 20:00

kriko
I daresay now there's no need in this post since renaming

csant # 7. June 2008, 06:45

kriko, there is an updated version

This post stays for historical reasons.