Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Quake

The Quake executables were compiled with libc5. Newer Linux distributions like RedHat 5.1 and Debian 2.0
use the incompatible libc6 (or glibc) as their default C library. If you're running Quake on a glibc system,
there are a few things to watch out for:
Both RedHat 5 and Debian 2 have libc5 compatibility packages that allow you to run libc5−based
applications. Make sure you have these packages installed. Both distributions put the libc5−based
libraries in /usr/i486−linux−libc5/lib.
•
Make sure Quake uses the correct libraries. Create a script like the one below that points
$LD_LIBRARY_PATH to your compatibility libraries directory before it runs Quake.
•
#!/bin/sh
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/i486−linux−libc5/lib
./quake2 +set vid_ref gl $*
If you are going to compile a library like SVGAlib or Mesa for use with Quake, it must be compiled
with libc5 and friends. Simply building a new library according its installation instructions will result
in a library that is linked against your default library, glibc. You must ensure your new library is
linked only with libc5 and libc5−based libraries so it will be compatible with Quake. See your
distribution's documentation for information on linking to the non−default libraries.
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My mouse doesn't work or seems to respond randomly. **
Is gpm running? gpm is a program that enables you to cut and paste with the mouse in virtual
consoles. Many distributions enable it by default. It may be interfering with Quake. Check if it's
running with the following command:
ps aux | grep gpm
If you get output like
root 6115 0.0 0.4 832 316 ? S 17:54 0:00 gpm −t PS/2
then gpm is running and interfering with Quake. gpm −k (as root) ought to stop gpm. If it doesn't
(gpm −k doesn't always work on my system), kill gpm with the command killall gpm. If you
never use gpm, you may want to stop it from running at startup. See the documentation for your
distribution for information on how to do this.
•
Is your mouse defined properly in libvga.config? This file usually lives in /etc or
/etc/vga. Open it up and look for a line like
•
Linux Quake HOWTO
Glibc, RedHat 5.x, Debian 2 considerations (for Quake 1 only)++ 34
mouse Microsoft
On my system, this is the first option in the file. Make sure the mouse type is appropriate for your
hardware.
Do you have RW permissions for your mouse device? The permissions of your mouse device may
only allow you read access to it. Quake wants to open it read−write, so you'll need to either do a
chmod 666 to it, or run as a user or group that's allowed to read and write to it. The actual device
file in question will vary according what type of mouse you have on your system. Most of the time,
/dev/mouse is a symbolic link to your actual mouse device file, so doing an ls −l
/dev/mouse should allow you to find which device file to modify.

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