Caja runtime dependencies

[scott092707]

I have been using 1.26.3 with (Debian Testing and Sway), but it has some quirks that may have been fixed since that version,
and does not run under Wayland except with xwayland. Version 1.28 was recommended to me.
Debian does not yet have version 1.28, nor could I find any distro using .deb files that was up to version 1.28
I found there was an app "alien" that would translate between distros' package type files, and downloaded it and Fedora's 1.28 version of caja, caja-core-extensions, and caja-schemas.
After using alien to turn the .rpm files into .deb, I was able to successfully install the three packages.
Caja (run from terminal to test) failed to run with "caja: error while loading shared libraries: libgtk-layer-shell.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory"
I found that indeed, this library was not installed, and found "libgtk-layer-shell0" and "libgtk4-layer-shell0"
I installed the former, and got past that error.
However, now I get:
"caja: symbol lookup error: caja: undefined symbol: g_variant_builder_init_static"

Does anyone know where this is defined? Perhaps some other un-installed library?

Since this may well not be the last issue, perhaps I should ask where to find a list of runtime dependencies (for 1.28, since clearly I had everything I needed for 1.26.3).

Thank you.

[lukefromdc]

Sounds like you have too old a version of gtk-layer-shell installed, or else the right version with an older version of GTK3. Also note the libgtk4-layer-shell0 version is for GTK4 and we use GTK3 so you need libgtk-layer-shell0. Note that early this year a version of gtk-layer-shell 0.9.0 got out the door that can only run with the newest versions of GTK 3, the next release was given a versioned GTK3 dependency to catch this. If you have gtk-layer-shell 0.9.0 but GTK3 older than (I think, working from memory here) 3.24.48, it won't work.

I checked
https://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=sourcenames&keywords=gtk%2B3.0
and you should be able to update GTK3 to 3.24.48-4 which should work

If you have synaptic installed you can get a list of installation dependencies for a package by clicking on "properties" for a package. Alternately, open the .deb file in engrampa, go to the DEBIAN directory, and open the control file in Pluma. Look for the "depends" line, you need everything on it.

I have never worked with any Debian version other than Unstable and play no role in maintaining Debian so I really can't help with that side of this

[scott092707]

apt-cache policy ...

libgtk-layer-shell0:
Installed: 0.9.0-2
Candidate: 0.9.0-2
libgtk-3-0t64:
Installed: 3.24.48-4
Candidate: 3.24.48-4
libgtk-3-bin:
Installed: 3.24.48-4
Candidate: 3.24.48-4
libgtk-3-common:
Installed: 3.24.48-4
Candidate: 3.24.48-4

Seems like I already have what you say is latest...

What I have, are .deb files made by alien from Fedora .rpm files.
There was only a Depends line in the control file for caja-core-extensions (none for caja-schemas or caja) :
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4), libglib2.0-0t64 (>= 2.80.0), libgtk-3-0t64 (>= 3.0.0)
libglib2.0-0t64:
Installed: 2.82.4-1
Candidate: 2.83.4-1
libc6:
Installed: 2.40-2
Candidate: 2.41-4
Looks like all meet the requirements, but the last two can be upgraded.
I don't have time right now to upgrade these, and swap caja 1.26.3 / 1.28 and test, but maybe this weekend...
I could also look at the source and see where "g_variant_builder_init_static" is being referenced, maybe...

[scott092707]

I upgraded the two "Depends:" libs that had slightly higher version candidates:
"Unpacking libc6:amd64 (2.41-4) over (2.40-2) ...
Unpacking libglib2.0-0t64:amd64 (2.83.4-1) over (2.82.4-1) ..."
and caja started, and as a Wayland app.!

Unfortunately, the principal reason I decided to try to install 1.28 :
#1796
exhibits the same issue as before...

[lukefromdc]

in configure.ac we have these lines defining the build dependencies and their versions. Past this I am out of ideas on this:

m4_define(gdkpixbuf_minver,            2.36.5)
m4_define(glib_minver,                 2.58.1)
m4_define(gio_minver,                  2.50.0)
m4_define(mate_desktop_minver,         1.17.3)
m4_define(pango_minver,                1.1.2)
m4_define(gtk_minver,                  3.22.0)
m4_define(xml_minver,                  2.4.7)
m4_define(exif_minver,                 0.6.14)
m4_define(exempi_minver,               1.99.5)
m4_define(gail_minver,                 3.0.0)
m4_define(notify_minver,               0.7.0)
m4_define(gtk_layer_shell_minver,      0.8.0)

[cwendling]

g_variant_builder_init_static() is from GLib 2.84. Not sure what's using it as Caja doesn't seem to use that, but well.

Using foreign packages is usually not a good idea, because it likely has been built with library versions and tools that don't match what you have, and the files layout might even be different. I'd rather recommend you try and build Caja from sources, it's likely gonna be less of a headache that trying to fix these issues after the fact.
Another solution would be building a Debian package, adjusting it for Caja 1.28. It's not entirely trivial, but if you have some technical background it's not that hard to figure out.