SID-02480: 'rcs too old' even though it's version 5.10.0

Status:	Answered	TWiki version:	6.1.0	Perl version:	5.34.0
Category:	CategoryInstallation	Server OS:	Alpine 3.15	Last update:	6 months ago

Hello,

I'm trying to install TWiki 6.1.0 on an Alpine box and have installed rcs from the 'edge' repository. But I'm seeing errors that the version is too old and I should install version 5.7 or higher........

Thank you in advance for your help.

Angelo Machils

-- Angelo Machils - 2021-12-03

Discussion and Answer

Could you post the output of this:

rcs --version

-- Peter Thoeny - 2021-12-04

Hello,

twiki:~$ rcs --version rcs (GNU RCS) 5.10.0 Copyright (C) 2010-2020 Thien-Thi Nguyen Copyright (C) 1990-1995 Paul Eggert Copyright (C) 1982,1988,1989 Walter F. Tichy, Purdue CS License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html> This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Angelo Machils

-- Angelo Machils - 2021-12-04

It turns out that the configure script has a bug with major.minor number comparison. You can safely ignore the error, or you could apply the patch at TWikibug:Item7934

-- Peter Thoeny - 2021-12-05

Hello,

Applying the patch indeed removes the errors that I was seeing. Thank you!

Angelo Machils

-- Angelo Machils - 2021-12-06

Peter, The link to TWikibug:Item7934 is not working anymore. Develop Web is not available.

-- Emiel Van Riel - 2025-08-11

Here is the content of Item7934 so that it is available while the Bugs database is down

When RCS 5.10 is installed, the configure script reports an erroneous error message:

/usr/bin/rcs is too old, upgrade to version 5.7 or higher.

Cause: The major.minor number compare 5.7 < 5.10 is incorrect.

Fix:

--- lib/TWiki/Configure/Checker.pm   (revision 31043)
+++ lib/TWiki/Configure/Checker.pm   (working copy)
@@ -298,14 +298,17 @@
     if( !$prog ) {
         $err .= $key.' is not set';
     } else {
-        my $version = `$prog --version` || '';
-        if ( $version !~ /Can't exec/ && $version =~ /\s(\d+\.\d+)((:?\.\d+)*)/ ) {
+        my $stdOut = `$prog --version` || '';
+        my $version = 0;
+        if ( $stdOut !~ /Can't exec/ && $stdOut =~ /\s(\d+\.\d+)((:?\.\d+)*)/ ) {
             $version = $1;
+            $version =~ s/\.(\d)$/.0$1/; # zero-pad minor version if only single digit
         } else {
-            $version = '';
             $err .= $this->ERROR($prog.' did not return a version number (or might not exist..)');
         }
-        if( $version =~ /^\d/ && $version < $rcsverRequired ) {
+        my $required = $rcsverRequired;
+        $required =~ s/\.(\d)$/.0$1/; # zero-pad minor version if only single digit
+        if( $version > 0 && $version < $required ) {
             # RCS too old
             $err .= $prog.' is too old, upgrade to version '.
               $rcsverRequired.' or higher.';

-- Peter Thoeny - 2025-08-11

If you answer a question - or someone answered one of your questions - please remember to edit the page and set the status to answered. The status selector is below the edit box.