[Unix - NetBSD] Troubles installing KDE with pkgsrc

Im in school right now and I have taken two classes, Networking and Unix Development, that focus on C programming in Unix. Specifically we have been using NetBSD for our machines that we develop on (rather our programs must work on NetBSD). Well our school network has been really finicky as of late and I haven't been able to SSH in. I thought this would be the perfect time to create a NetBSD box of my own because 1)my programs must compile and run on NetBSD and 2)I really don't know how to manipulate/operate a Unix environment (although I understand the internal workings).

With that being said I set out on getting NetBSD working today since its my off day. I have learned a ton about operating NetBSD/Unix (I guess I never really knew much) but I am stuck on trying to install KDE right now. I would like to say that my Google searches were successful/resourceful but I am afraid they weren't. I don't know if what I was searching was to vague or not the right thing, but here I am looking for help.

I am using pkgsrc to install the binary of KDE 3.5.10. When I use pkg_add kde-3.5.10 it starts doing whatever it is supposed to do (I don't know the optional command args to make pkg_add report on what its doing). It seems to be working for ~5mins but then fails and gives the following errors:

• pkg_add: Read error for lib/liblcms.so.1.0.18: Premature end of gzip compressed data: Input/output error
• original MD5 checksum failed, not deleting: /usr/pkg/lib/liblcms.so.1.0.18
• pkg_add: Couldn't remove /usr/pkg/lib/pkgconfig/lcms.pc
• ...
• pkg_add: Can't install dependency lcms>=1.12nb2
• ...
• pkg_add: 1 package additino failed

I really have not ideas what those errors mean. Any error that is ... is the same error as above but with a different path/dependency (let me know if you want to see them all).

The steps I took to the point to where I could actually try and install KDE were:

• Install NetBSD 5.0.1
• Use dhcpcd with one of my network cards
• Setting the appropriate environment variables and getting pkgsrc via CVS
• Setting the appropriate environment variable for the location of binary files
• Executing pkg_add

I'm sorry if this is a trivial error and something that I should be able to figure out on my own, but today was the first day I attempted to install Unix/Linux ever. All the programming assignments I had done up to this point just required me to SSH into a server, use an editor (Emacs) to write my code, and compile it with a Makefile. Any help, tips, pointers would be GREATLY appreciated. :D

Thanks again for your help.

On a side note I didn't know if I ought to post this on ServerFault or SuperUser. If these kinds of questions are more geared towards SuperUser, please let me know and I will post future questions there.

From serverfault Chris

• Do you have all of the binary packages that kde depends on available (like lcms)? It's not enough just to have the kde package. You can set up your machine to use a remote repository, see:

  http://www.netbsd.org/docs/pkgsrc/using.html#using-pkg Section 4.1.2 in particular.

  Chris : I do. Before I use pkg_add I set an environment variable PKG_PATH="ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/pkgsrc/packages/OPSYS/ARCH/VERSIONS/All". I am presuming that when I use pkg_add it goes to this remote directory and gets the binaries it needs there. Or am I wrong about assuming this stuff. I did in fact follow those instructions in the link you provided.

  quadruplebucky : You're replacing "OPSYS/ARCH" with the appropriate stuff? (the NetBSD docs appear to need updating here....) try PKG_PATH="ftp.netbsd.org/pub/pkgsrc/packages/NetBSD/i386/5.0.1_2009Q4/All" export PKG_PATH change i386 if you're on a different architecture
  From quadruplebucky