[Visualpython-users] Linux questions

I've started the attempt to build VPython-wx on a 64-bit Ubuntu Linux
(12.04). I'm hoping to be able to use a simple makefile, as is the
case on the Mac rather than invoking the very complex autoconfig
machinery. Dunno whether that's misguided, and I would welcome
comments from knowledge Linux users. Or maybe I should be using
distutils or something? I'm not having much success in trying to deal
with the dependencies.

There is only one substantive piece of platform-dependent code
currently remaining in VPython-wx, turning fonts into textures for
display in label objects. It's possible that this too could be handled
by wxPython, and I did find an example of such manipulations:

     http://d0t.dbclan.de/snippets/gltext.html, "wxpython/opengl easy
text to texture class"

It's possible that working with this wxPython code would be easier
than fighting through the many Linux dependencies just to get at
fonts.One of the big advantages of VPython-wx is the possibility of
letting wxPython deal with all of that complexity.

In tracking down various Linux include files, I see some locations like

     /usr/include/xyz....

and others like

     /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xyz/include

Is there some trick for expressing the second kind of reference in a
simpler form, more like the first form? Some sort of global switch
that says, "Look for 64-bit versions"?

Bruce Sherwood