Persistent install problems
I've tried using the repository of ubuntu 18.04 for an older version and failed, and now I've tried building 8.7 (the latest version) from source as seems to be the advised way. Also failed. As a completely new user I'm in no position to deal with this problem:
Error building Sage.
The following package(s) may have failed to build (not necessarily
during this run of 'make all-build'):
The build directory may contain configuration files and other potentially
helpful information. WARNING: if you now run 'make' again, the build
directory will, by default, be deleted. Set the environment variable
SAGE_KEEP_BUILT_SPKGS to 'yes' to prevent this.
Makefile:31: recipe for target 'all-build' failed
make[1]: *** [all-build] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/robert/Sage/sage-8.7'
Makefile:16: recipe for target 'build' failed
make: *** [build] Error 2
DId you install the prerequisites ? http://doc.sagemath.org/html/en/insta...
Forget installing the prerequisites, more importantly did you try installing the pre-built binary pakage for Linux? It should work fine on Ubuntu: http://doc.sagemath.org/html/en/insta...
I'll add "I've tried building...from source as seems to be the advised way". I'm curious who advised that--I would not advise it to anyone who simply wants to use Sage.