How to install the GNU Fortran 77 compiler or g77 on Ubuntu 14.04

Question

I have a library which needs g77 compiler.

I found few methods online; but each failed. Here is summary of two of my efforts:

1) I downloaded the packages, untar it and $ sudo ./install.sh

Selecting previously unselected package gcc-3.4-base.
(Reading database ... 182226 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack gcc-3.4-base_3.4.6-6ubuntu3_i386.deb ...
Unpacking gcc-3.4-base (3.4.6-6ubuntu3) ...
Selecting previously unselected package cpp-3.4.
Preparing to unpack cpp-3.4_3.4.6-6ubuntu3_i386.deb ...
Unpacking cpp-3.4 (3.4.6-6ubuntu3) ...
Selecting previously unselected package gcc-3.4.
Preparing to unpack gcc-3.4_3.4.6-6ubuntu3_i386.deb ...
Unpacking gcc-3.4 (3.4.6-6ubuntu3) ...
dpkg: warning: downgrading libg2c0 from 1:3.4.6-6ubuntu5 to 1:3.4.6-6ubuntu3
Preparing to unpack libg2c0_3.4.6-6ubuntu3_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libg2c0 (1:3.4.6-6ubuntu3) over (1:3.4.6-6ubuntu5) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libg2c0-dev.
Preparing to unpack libg2c0-dev_3.4.6-6ubuntu3_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libg2c0-dev (1:3.4.6-6ubuntu3) ...
Selecting previously unselected package g77-3.4.
Preparing to unpack g77-3.4_3.4.6-6ubuntu3_i386.deb ...
Unpacking g77-3.4 (3.4.6-6ubuntu3) ...
Setting up gcc-3.4-base (3.4.6-6ubuntu3) ...
Setting up cpp-3.4 (3.4.6-6ubuntu3) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of gcc-3.4:
 gcc-3.4 depends on binutils (>= 2.16.1-3).

dpkg: error processing package gcc-3.4 (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up libg2c0 (1:3.4.6-6ubuntu3) ...
Setting up libg2c0-dev (1:3.4.6-6ubuntu3) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of g77-3.4:
 g77-3.4 depends on gcc-3.4 (= 3.4.6-6ubuntu3); however:
  Package gcc-3.4 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package g77-3.4 (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for man-db (2.6.7.1-1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.19-0ubuntu6.3) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 gcc-3.4
 g77-3.4

2) I changed sources.list file as described in (http://seanelvidge.com/2012/08/install-g77-on-ubuntu-9-04/#comment-549085) and then it could not find g77 after “sudo apt-get update” ran fine.

$ sudo apt-get install g77

Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
Package g77 is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

Some help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

The OP linked to a blog post of mine for installing g77 which no longer works. However I've written a new one for versions of Ubuntu >=14.04

For more details see my link but the basic overview is:

Add the Ubuntu 8.04 repo's. Do this by editing the sources.list:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Then to the bottom of that file add:

deb [trusted=yes] http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy universe
deb-src [trusted=yes] http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy universe
deb [trusted=yes] http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates universe
deb-src [trusted=yes] http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates universe

Then run an update and install g77:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install g77

You might get lucky and g77 might work for you straight away. Likely you'll get an error message, something like:

/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lgcc_s
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

This means ld can't find a library (libgcc_s). Find the library yourself, check where ld is looking, and put a link there:

sudo find /usr/ -name libgcc_s.so
ld -lgcc_s --verbose
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/libgcc_s.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/

(you may have to modify the target and link in the link command depending on the return from the find and ld commands)

Now you should be good to go. I would comment out the lines you added to the sources.list file at the end. For the full details check out my webpage.

Answer 2

I did the following: 1) Downloaded g77 for 64 bits from here http://www.ziddu.com/download/16792814/g77_x64_debian_and_ubuntu.tar.gz.html

2) Then did the following:

tar -xzvf g77_x64_debian_and_ubuntu.tar.gz
cd  g77_x64_debian_and_ubuntu
chmod +x ./install.sh
./install.sh

(answer adapted from askubuntu)