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Asked: 2026-06-02T17:18:31+00:00

I’m new to GNU/Linux (Lubuntu 11.10) and am trying to compile some C source

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I’m new to GNU/Linux (Lubuntu 11.10) and am trying to compile some C source code out of a Linux programming book from 2001. Am somewhat confused about the inclusion of header files in GNU/Linux.

The program is “simplefb.c” from the book Programming Linux Games by John R. Hall et al (2001). I jumped straight to the chapter on console programming with framebuffer but hit this immediate snag. Would just like to make some simple non-GUI (and non-‘text’) games in C on Linux for fun…

The problem seems to be with a few #includes to header files:

#include <asm/page.h>
#include <sys/mman.h>
#include <sys/ioctl.h>
#include <linux/fb.h>

Trying the code as given in the book:

> cc the_file.c
gives
fatal error: asm/page.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.

And indeed it seems that these files live somewhere else (nowadays?) so I tried amending initially just the first #include to:

#include </usr/src/linux-headers-3.0.0-17-generic/include/asm-generic/page.h>

I chose this particular folder of headers (there are several in /usr/src/) because
> uname -r
3.0.0-17-generic

With the amended #include, I then get the compilation error:

In file included from the_file.c
/usr/src/linux-headers-3.0.0-17-generic/include/asm-generic/page.h:96:38: fatal error: asm-
generic/memory_model.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.

And looking in that page.h, it specifies
include asm-generic/memory_model.h
(removed the hashs and ‘tags’ as this line won’t show up here properly otherwise)
but this file does exist in the same folder.

So, before I go on a wild-goose-chase (firstly removing the asm-generic/ bit of the previous include and putting it in quotes), what is the correct procedure I should be using here? Is there an obvious right way to get the book source code to compile?

Thank you. Will be most grateful for any help.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    There are two different sets of header files: one for Linux kernel programming, the other for general user-space programs.

    /usr/src/linux* is for the kernel stuff.

    /usr/include/* are the “normal” headers.

    You do not want to mix’n’match the two.

    If you’re programming a game, I’d strongly encourage you to look at SDL or OpenGL:

    ADDENDUM:

    1. The problem is you’re missing the fbdev (user-space) headers. You do NOT want to bring in any Linux kernel source headers.

    2. You should be able to get the header with this command:

      sudo apt-get xserver-xorg-video-fbdev

    3. You might need to bring in other dependencies as well – apt-get should tell you.

    ‘Hope that helps .. PSM

    PS:

    It appears that your book, “Programming Linux Games” is also a well-regarded tutorial on SDL.

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