Considering the "piggy-back" thread this was started in, and the length of that thread at this time, decided to move the thread out to its own topic...

I started this all out trying to get a "thumbnail" viewer for those pesky WMF image formats (that plague Windows) that are given so freely with clip art packages that run specific on Windows systems.

I downloaded the tarball of source, unpacked it, and upon following the instructions, came up with an error that is part of the make routine. With some help from Eco2Geek and Stephen, I accomplished apt-get'ing the libwmf-dev package, and upon trying again the make, it died, now yelling about libxft-dev missing.

Trying the fix by Eco2Geek, I modified the .cpp and .h files to "point" directly to locations of header (.h) files, and it still died with same error.

Trying the fix by Stephen, I assumed I just needed to apt-get the libxft-dev package, and then apt-get hell broke out... output from the apt-get install follows:

Code:
root@Polaris:~# apt-get -u install libxft-dev
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libx11-6 libx11-dev libxft2 x-dev
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  libxft2-dev
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libx11-6 libx11-dev libxft-dev x-dev
The following packages will be upgraded:
  libxft2
1 upgraded, 4 newly installed, 1 to remove and 513 not upgraded.
Need to get 2282kB of archives.
After unpacking 6406kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://ftp.egr.msu.edu testing/main libx11-6 4.3.0-7 [672kB]
Get:2 http://ftp.egr.msu.edu testing/main x-dev 4.3.0-7 [177kB]
Get:3 http://ftp.egr.msu.edu testing/main libx11-dev 4.3.0-7 [1323kB]
Get:4 http://ftp.egr.msu.edu testing/main libxft2 2.1.2-6 [50.1kB]
Get:5 http://ftp.egr.msu.edu testing/main libxft-dev 2.1.2-6 [60.2kB]
Fetched 2282kB in 7m34s (5024B/s)
dpkg: libxft2-dev: dependency problems, but removing anyway as you request:
 libqt3-mt-dev depends on libxft-dev; however:
  Package libxft-dev is not installed.
  Package libxft2-dev which provides libxft-dev is to be removed.
(Reading database ... 103482 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing libxft2-dev ...
Removing `diversion of /usr/X11R6/include/X11/Xft/Xft.h to /usr/X11R6/include/X11/Xft/Xft1.h by libxft2-dev'
Removing `diversion of /usr/X11R6/lib/libXft.a to /usr/X11R6/lib/libXft1.a by libxft2-dev'
Removing `diversion of /usr/X11R6/lib/libXft.so to /usr/X11R6/lib/libXft1.so by libxft2-dev'
Selecting previously deselected package libx11-6.
(Reading database ... 103468 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libx11-6 (from .../libx11-6_4.3.0-7_i386.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libx11-6_4.3.0-7_i386.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/locale/lib/common/ximcp.so.2', which is also in package xlibs
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Selecting previously deselected package x-dev.
Unpacking x-dev (from .../archives/x-dev_4.3.0-7_all.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/x-dev_4.3.0-7_all.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite `/usr/X11R6/include/X11/DECkeysym.h', which is also in package xlibs-dev
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Selecting previously deselected package libx11-dev.
Unpacking libx11-dev (from .../libx11-dev_4.3.0-7_i386.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libx11-dev_4.3.0-7_i386.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite `/usr/X11R6/include/X11/XKBlib.h', which is also in package xlibs-dev
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Preparing to replace libxft2 2.1.1-2 (using .../libxft2_2.1.2-6_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libxft2 ...
Selecting previously deselected package libxft-dev.
Unpacking libxft-dev (from .../libxft-dev_2.1.2-6_i386.deb) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libx11-6_4.3.0-7_i386.deb
 /var/cache/apt/archives/x-dev_4.3.0-7_all.deb
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libx11-dev_4.3.0-7_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
root@Polaris:~#
Now it appears I have removed something that should "never" have been removed, caused numerous "broken pipes", and still don't have what I "initially" wanted since this all started, no thumbnail viewer for WMF images in Konq.

I should never have assumed to "just install" this dev package, I am sure, and am now thinking that it may not be recoverable, and that a complete "gut" of the system is where I am at now, and that a complete reinstall is necessary. (all because I wanted to have a thumbnail viewer in a "support" program !)

I am constantly living with the "what will I do next to cause me to reinstall" thing, most of all the times, it has a lot to do with "apt-get" - its either the "upgrade" or something, I figure, is just an "easy" install -=- and then all hell brakes loose.

Sometimes I just sit back, and enjoy Knoppix just "running", and then I get these "dim-witted" ideas of adding something else to the OS, usually something that I "really" think will help my productivity, or ability to do more with Knoppix -=- only to find, I've trashed my install, and the only way out is to gut the system, reformat the hard drive, and reinstall Knoppix (again, and again, and again...) from the ground floor again - throwing away everything I've done up to that point, (configs, user files, global files, packages, web links, email, contacts, etc...) , and starting all over again.

I've actually gotten good at reinstalling Knoppix, if you want to call that a GOOD thing, I've trashed Windows many times, but never to the point of having to "gut and reinstall" - possibly why Linux is not among the highest rated OS's among newbies ?

Well, here I am again, at the presabyss of Hell - can someone tell me how to get back, or must I jump again? Reminds me, only about a month or so ago, when I was at this same location with ALSA, same OS, same problems with apt-get, same concern for someone to just suggest "reinstall" again. Before that, it was a "apt-get upgrade" - I have had a long line of failures with apt-get.

Someone please, save me from MYSELF
Cuddles