Erlang sudoku example fails to start

[Kris Nuttycombe]

Binary package hint: erlang

mirror@anaconda:/usr/lib/erlang/lib/wx-0.98.2/examples/sudoku$ erl -smp enable
Erlang R13B01 (erts-5.7.2) [source] [64-bit] [smp:1:1] [rq:1] [async-threads:0] [kernel-poll:false]

Eshell V5.7.2 (abort with ^G)
1> sudoku:go().
<0.37.0>
** exception error: undefined function wx:new/0
     in function sudoku_gui:new/1
     in call from timer:tc/3
     in call from sudoku:tc/3
     in call from sudoku:init/1
2> q().

This is with a basic default install of erlang.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Jan 4 21:45:47 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: erlang 1:13.b.1-dfsg-2ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-16.53-generic
SourcePackage: erlang
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-16-generic x86_64
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1891): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1891): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:1968): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (nautilus:1962): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed

[Andrey Pampukha (andrey-pampukha)]

That's simply because of absence of erlang-ws in Ubuntu. See https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/erlang/+bug/438365

[Andrey Pampukha (andrey-pampukha)]

I'm sorry, I meant erlang-wx, of course. Bug I've posted a link can explain all the things.

[Andrey Pampukha (andrey-pampukha)]

If you install all the dependencies of the Erlang, just running
sudo aptitude install libwxgtk2.8-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libpng3
and then build Erlang/OTP from the source, it will work for you.

But standard Erlang packages in Ubuntu won't run any application with WxWidgets GUI...

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Darren LaChausse (dlachausse)]

As Andrey Pampukha pointed out, this is due to a decision made back in Karmic that doesn't make sense any more. Erlang is in Universe now, so there is no reason not to compile it with support for wxWidgets. Also, there's the erlang-nox package for those who don't want to install an erlang-wx package.

Is there a good reason why the maintainers can't turn this back on? Heck, if I get confirmation that it will be accepted, I'll write a patch to fix this myself.

I know about the repo that Erlang Solutions provides, but it'd be nice to just be able to use the version of Erlang that is provided by Ubuntu itself.