Compile OpenCV 2.4.2 for Debian Lenny
cmake, opencv, unix
Solution
As mentioned in this bug report the problem is an old version (2.8.2) of cmake. So the solution was to grab a fresh copy of the cmake source, compile it and use it to install OpenCV.
Note 18/09/2012: This also works on Ubuntu 12.04 with cmake 2.8.9!
# get the cmake src
wget http://www.cmake.org/files/v2.8/cmake-2.8.8.tar.gz
# extract archive
tar xfvz cmake-2.8.8.tar.gz
# build the new version
cd cmake-2.8.8
cmake .
make
sudo make install
# get the OpenCV src
wget -O OpenCV-2.4.2.tar.bz2 http://sourceforge.net/projects/opencvlibrary/files/opencv-unix/2.4.2/OpenCV-2.4.2.tar.bz2/download
# extract it …
tar -xvf OpenCV-2.4.2.tar.bz2
# build it
mkdir build
cd build
/usr/local/bin/cmake -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RELEASE ..
make
sudo make install
# setup OpenCV
sudo echo “/usr/local/lib” >> /etc/ld.so.conf
sudo ldconfig
That's it.
Problem
To keep the Q&A aspect: I got a strange problem with the latest (v.2.4.2) OpenCV version, which failed to install with the following error: In file included from /OpenCV-2.4.2/modules/core/src/system.cpp:460: /OpenCV-2.4.2/release/modules/core/version_string.inc:37:1: warning: missing terminating " character In file included from /OpenCV-2.4.2/modules/core/src/system.cpp:460: /OpenCV-2.4.2/release/modules/core/version_string.inc:37: error: missing terminating " character So what went wrong? Take a look at my answer.