(SOLVED) Error Updating ES From Source

A Former User

"Could not successfully build emulationstation - EmulationStation - Frontend used by RetroPie for launching emulators (/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/tmp/build/emulationstation/emulationstation not found)."

I keep looking back at this part of the log. I can confirm that folder is not there. I tried to create it but I couldn't due to some permissions issues. Could the installer be running into the same permissions issues?

herb_fargus

@LiveFastCyYoung no your compiler is probably crashing or you're running out of memory. Did you update your setup script first?

A Former User

Yep. Setup script is updated.

I'm at a loss.

herb_fargus

@LiveFastCyYoung idk, reboot and maybe try again? I am not sure what else to do either

GMAX

I'm trying to install the RetrOSMC build (https://github.com/mcobit/retrosmc/tree/b0e9e0d86f91a255f9100abfb55c5448222b0915), and it freezes at the same line as well (Building CXX object es-app/CMakeFiles/emulationstation.dir/src/guis/GuiFastSelect.cpp.o).

Have tried 3 times now, also after updating all scripts. Any ideas?

AlexMurphy

@GMAX Not a clue. It's obviously a specific issue to you or RetrOSMC. Do they have a sub-reddit or a forum you could try? Most, if not all, of the regulars here use the official RetroPie image. I updated ES from source yesterday with no issues. Took about 25 minutes or so.

A Former User

Is there a way to uninstall ES without losing everything?

I have 500GB of roms that I would really not want to transfer back.

The idea is that I would uninstall ES and reinstall and see if that works.

A Former User

It seems my problem is definitely an issue of running out of memory. I don't know why this would be happening.

My system boots into EmulationStation. I am quitting EmulationStation right away and going to the command prompt.

Up top it shows my available resources. I only have around 550MB of memory free. I have no idea what is taking up the rest of the RAM.

Any advice on killing processes or what could be taking up all of my RAM?

BuZz

@LiveFastCyYoung what's your GPU split in /boot/config.txt ?

A Former User

@BuZz

My setup is a RPi3, 1TB WD Labs HD, 16GB MicroSD card.

gpu_mem_256=128
gpu_mem_512=256
gpu_mem_1024=256
overscan_scale=1

I was able to get the free RAM up to 700MB by clearing the RAM caches. Update still failed but did get a little further.

A Former User

@LiveFastCyYoung Is there a way I can download an ES update to an SD card and update it from there?

A Former User

It seems by getting to 88% or so, my ES is mostly updated. However this is now causing issues. :(

There are a couple routes I am curious about going down:

If I remove ES using RetroPie_Setup.sh and install it again while in there from binary, what's the worst that could happen? It wouldn't delete my RetroPie folder would it?
Is there a way to get ES from source on my computer and install it via an SD card?

A Former User

@LiveFastCyYoung Any advice for the last two questions?

fluffypillow

@LiveFastCyYoung as others have also noted, the internal compiler error in your first post is caused by the low amount of RAM. Compiling can be memory intensive, so you might want to increase it as much as you can (change the GPU/RAM split, kill running programs).

According to the setup script, uninstalling ES removes the binary and the config files. The RetroPie folder is not touched (unless there's an unknown side effect I'm not aware of).

You may build ES on your desktop PC, then transfer it to the Pi, but the process is considered as black magic and requires you to sacrifice your sanity on the altar of the Soul-Eating Compiler Demons.

A Former User

@fluffypillow Thanks for the reply!

I have been able to free up to 700MB of RAM but it's still failing at 88%.

As far as the GPU/RAM split, what would you recommend other than the default?

AlexMurphy

@LiveFastCyYoung Just update from Binary.

fluffypillow

@LiveFastCyYoung Allocate as much RAM as you can while you're building; if I remember correctly, you can set the GPU memory as low as 64 MB. 700 MB should be more than fine though, I wonder if there's something else in the logs...

Or you could also just update from binary.

A Former User

@AlexMurphy The issue is that updating from Binary doesn't seem to be doing anything.

I am looking to use the new carousel theming feature and it's not working when updating from Binary. Maybe the binaries haven't been updated in awhile? I updated my Retropie Setup Script before every time I have tried updating from Binary.

Also, with this partially updated ES from source, certain things aren't working anymore. Most metadata is now blank being chief amongst them.

AlexMurphy

@LiveFastCyYoung The version of ES was bumped to 2.1.9 a few days ago. Try it.

KillerQ

All I know is that the most recent Source Update of Emulationstation seems to be breaking custom themes left and right. Metadata displaying improperly, video layers being messed up, subdolders not showing scraped art. Weird.