i've been trying to install gtk, which requres a couple of other lib (pango and one other i think) so i try to install these but they require supporting libs aswell, and then the supprting libs need more supporting libs....

...this is driving me insane! when will it end!

i know how you feel :|

4-5 chains down and it will all end :P
Post 333, I'm half there :DD

Use 'apt-get' it resolves all required dependencies and automatically fetches them.

It is available on a lot of Linux systems (not all).

PS. If it is not installed, see if is an available package for your system.
On RH it is a not part of the offical install but can be added.

Also worth check is yup or yap or somthing like that.

It was initially "The yellow dog update script" but worked so well it was ported to other systems. It has since been superceeded but it often still works on RH like systems and will bring all your packages up-to date and can be used to get better tools like apt-get.

on debian and mandrake there were soem graphical package managers
also would install all dependancies automaticaly

i'm using Ubuntu at the moment, it has synaptic which would do the job great, however my modem doesn't work yet (i really should get round to fixing it sometime, lol) so i have to reboot to windows (where the modem works) use AOL f***ing dial up to get the libs, reboot again, attempt to install only to be told i need such and such a lib... and then it all starts again!

imo:
the only good way is the source way.
Either portage or compiling every package with ./ocnfigure && make && make install (in the proper order due to dependencies) is still the most stable way.

I hate the way RPM's deal with dependencies ...

i agree the source way is nice (when it works), but a quick foolproof way of installing software is what linux needs to attract more users and package management is the way to go. if some one could make a package manager that could find the dependancies, and then build the app from source then that would be brilliant but as yet i don't think there are any.

yum - http://linux.duke.edu/projects/yum/

It stills has the problem with dependencies. Sometimes I just can't get it to work at all as well. Compiling is all very well for people that want to do it, but the whole chain of dependencies requirement when someone just trying to install a simple small program to do something can very easily turn people (like me) off. Nearly just quit trying to (finally) change over to GNU/Linux because of it. And I've been using GNU/Linux systems in different environments for a few years now....

When you install Gentoo and start using `emerge`.

-Ch4r

i think i will when i've finished building my new comp.

Spoken like a true man! :D ;)