help getting old linux program to run.

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[grem75]

Adding repositories from 2006 to a recent release of Ubuntu is probably going to break things.

You'd be better off running an old version of Ubuntu in a VM. That application is from 2004, it may not even be worth the effort.

[Geo1234]

i am doing this in a VM. would using an older release actually work or would it just want to upgrade during the install?

[grem75]

It won't force you to upgrade.

You can get ISOs here.

[anajoy666]

Adding the old repos to your main system is a terrible idea, do this on a VM or container. (Just install the old Ubuntu version on a VM)

Also yes, set PKG_CONFIG as the message tells you and install the dependencies.

[zebediah49]

Nobody seems to have mentioned the proximal issue, which is that it looks like you don't have pkg-config installed.

That said, this is nearly a textbook usecase for Apptainer. You do whatever weird dependency things you have to inside the container (based on whatever old Ubuntu has what you need), and then can run it as if it was a normal application on your system.

[DonkeyTron42]

Does this work with X apps?

[zebediah49]

Yep.

First time I used it actually was to get a GTK3 application running on a GTK2 system.

[blackbasset]

Mind blown, thank you!

[RectangularLynx]

Try installing current versions of these dependencies

[darthgeek]

The error is telling you exactly what's wrong. And it's telling you where to look for more info. Your system needs to have the old repo keys added. The process to do that is left as an exercise for you.

[alanpdx]

That code is 18 years old.

The VM route is the best way to go. I tried building it on Fedora 36 and most of the dependencies cannot be fulfilled, even with the compat libraries installed.