Getting and compiling captdriver

About

This guide describes the procedure currently recommended for downloading and compiling captdriver 0.1.x on a GNU/Linux system.

Building Captdriver on GNU/Linux

Prerequisites

This guide assumes that you have successfully completed Stage 1, which sets up a build environment on your system. If you haven't done so, please do it now or the build stage will not succeed. You should be able to find a guide for setting up a build environment on your operating system in the unified guide.

Downloading

You can choose to get captdriver using two methods:

• Downloading the ZIP file.

• Cloning the repository with Git. You need Git installed to do this.

Downloading captdriver in a ZIP file

Simply click on the <> Code button in the repository's Code view (the one with the files and directories, and the README file at the bottom), then click on Download ZIP. Here are the links to the repositories:

• Mounaiban's repository (this one!)

• Alexey Galakhov's repository, the original source with a cleaner codebase and commit history.

There are also more Captdriver forks available. Most are dormant, but some may have patches for specific issues from time to time.

Downloading captdriver with Git

In a directory on your system set aside for source code, either run this command to clone the Mounaiban fork:

git clone https://github.com/mounaiban/captdriver.git captdriver

OR this to clone the original version:

git clone https://github.com/agalakhov/captdriver.git captdriver

PROTIP: the captdriver name at the end of the command sets the directory you are cloning to. Omit this to use a default name (usually the same name as the repository on the remote), or change this to clone multiple forks into their own directory.

Compiling

Switch to the directory where you extracted the ZIP file, or where you cloned the repository.

Run these commands in order, inside the source tree's root to compile Captdriver (same directory as README):

aclocal
autoconf
automake --add-missing
./configure
make
make ppd

When successful the build process will leave several important files:

• rastertocapt in the src/ subdirectory

• A new sub-directory, ppd which contains the PPD files that will be used in the last stage of the installation.

You will then be ready to go on to the next step. Return to the unified guide, then go to the correct Stage 3/Installation guide.

Verifying the Compilation Process

A successful build or compilation is indicated by all of the following:

• A lack of error messages; make does not have an explicit message indicating a successful build.

  • It is normal to have Nothing to be done and Leaving directory messages.

• The presence of a binary named rastertocapt in the src/ subdirectory of the source code directory (source tree).

• A ppd/ subdirectory in the source tree's root directory containing the PPD files, if the make ppd command has been run.

References

LBP2900 Printer on Linux. Candid's Brain. 2014-01-16.