Compiling 2.4.2 on Linux fails at 75%

Programming and Development Compiling Audacity
1

I have been trying to recover some old .aup files I recorded years ago on Audacity 1.2.3.

I’m told the best way to do this is to compile Audacity 2.4.2 on my current computer, a Linux machine running Xubuntu 24.04.2 LTS. Then I would open my old .aup files and decide whether I want to export WAV files for archiving or save them from 2.4.2 so they can be opened by the newest Audacity and then saved in the .aup3 format.

I followed the directions in the build thread here but when I run the build command, the build gets to 75% and throws errors.

[ 75%] Building CXX object src/CMakeFiles/Audacity.dir/AudacityHeaders.cpp.o
make[2]: *** [src/CMakeFiles/Audacity.dir/build.make:157: src/CMakeFiles/Audacity.dir/AudacityApp.cpp.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
make[1]: *** [CMakeFiles/Makefile2:2489: src/CMakeFiles/Audacity.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [Makefile:136: all] Error 2

What can I do?

2

Versions of Audacity from 3.0 onwards can open the old aup project files. You don’t need to save them from an older version. I’d suggest trying that before compiling anything.
Mark B

3

I did install the latest audacity from apt.

It fails to open my files. I get the old “error while processing xxxx.au. Inserting silence.”

Searching that has led me to this point. I’ve been working on it for a couple of weeks now in my spare time.

4

Maybe this post can point you in the right direction:
https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/3-4-1-error-by-opening-aup-file-insert-silence/89622
Mark B

5

That did help.

The version I had installed with

apt install audacity

was 3.7.x and was just not gonna open my files. I even tried moving them from removable media to the internal drive that houses my OS. Still no dice.

I finally found an older build, securing Audacity 3.1.3 via

snap install audacity

and it managed to open my old .aup files.

The older version does require me to move my .aup file and associated _data directory to the internal hard drive. It cannot access the external SD or portable HDD on which these projects were archived. Probably a permissions issue I could sort through if I really wanted.

Another thing: I had to connect Audacity 3.1.3 to ALSAmixer using command

sudo snap connect audacity:alsa

to get sound working.

Now, I will be researching ways to save copies of these .aup files to the new .aup3 format for future safekeeping.

Thanks for your help.

6

You are very welcome.

My offer to test still stands. If you try saving one of them to the new aup3 format, you can send it to me and I will try opening it in 3.7.1 and 3.3.3.

I would also suggest exporting the rescued projects in a standard, lossless format (ie WAV file) - one that’s not tied to specific software - so you can listen, edit, import it into whatever software you want in future. If that means buying a USB disk to save them on it might be worth the cost rather than losing them.
Mark B