thanks I didn't realise i needed the devel files. Now I have a another problem with it. It appears there is some bug with wxWidget and gtk and there's a fix for it here
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s....8/+bug/423845
here's the print out:
[root@Tartigradius wxWidgets-2.8.10]# make
/home/tartigrade/wxWidgets-2.8.10/bk-deps g++ -c -o coredll_gtk_gsockgtk.o -I./.pch/wxprec_coredll -D__WXGTK__ -I./src/tiff -I./src/expat/lib -DWXUSINGDLL -DWXMAKINGDLL_CORE -DwxUSE_BASE=0 -fPIC -DPIC -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_LARGE_FILES -I/home/tartigrade/wxWidgets-2.8.10/lib/wx/include/gtk2-ansi-release-2.8 -I./include -pthread -I/usr/include/gtk-2.0 -I/usr/lib64/gtk-2.0/include -I/usr/include/atk-1.0 -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/pango-1.0 -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib64/glib-2.0/include -I/usr/include/pixman-1 -I/usr/include/freetype2 -I/usr/include/libpng12 -DWX_PRECOMP -pthread -Wall -Wundef -Wno-ctor-dtor-privacy -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing ./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp
In file included from ./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp:21:
./include/wx/gsocket.h:40: error: using typedef-name ‘GSocket’ after ‘class’
/usr/include/glib-2.0/gio/giotypes.h:120: error: ‘GSocket’ has a previous declaration here
In file included from ./include/wx/gsocket.h:179,
from ./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp:21:
./include/wx/unix/gsockunx.h:40: error: using typedef-name ‘GSocket’ after ‘class’
/usr/include/glib-2.0/gio/giotypes.h:120: error: ‘GSocket’ has a previous declaration here
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp: In function ‘void _GSocket_GDK_Input(void*, gint, GdkInputCondition)’:
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp:34: error: ‘struct _GSocket’ has no member named ‘Detected_Read’
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp:36: error: ‘struct _GSocket’ has no member named ‘Detected_Write’
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp: In member function ‘virtual bool GSocketGUIFunctionsTableConcrete::Init_Socket(GSoc ket*)’:
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp:56: error: ‘struct _GSocket’ has no member named ‘m_gui_dependent’
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp:57: error: ‘struct _GSocket’ has no member named ‘m_gui_dependent’
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp: In member function ‘virtual void GSocketGUIFunctionsTableConcrete:

estroy_Socket(G Socket*)’:
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp:67: error: ‘struct _GSocket’ has no member named ‘m_gui_dependent’
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp: In member function ‘virtual void GSocketGUIFunctionsTableConcrete::Install_Callback (GSocket*, GSocketEvent)’:
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp:72: error: ‘struct _GSocket’ has no member named ‘m_gui_dependent’
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp:75: error: ‘struct _GSocket’ has no member named ‘m_fd’
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp:83: error: ‘struct _GSocket’ has no member named ‘m_server’
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp:90: error: ‘struct _GSocket’ has no member named ‘m_fd’
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp: In member function ‘virtual void GSocketGUIFunctionsTableConcrete::Uninstall_Callba ck(GSocket*, GSocketEvent)’:
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp:98: error: ‘struct _GSocket’ has no member named ‘m_gui_dependent’
./src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp:108: error: ‘struct _GSocket’ has no member named ‘m_server’
make: *** [coredll_gtk_gsockgtk.o] Error 1
but no instrutions on what to do with it
here it is
--- wxPython-src-2.8.10.1/src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp.orig 2009-07-25 15:38:12.000000000 -0500
+++ wxPython-src-2.8.10.1/src/gtk/gsockgtk.cpp 2009-07-25 15:39:10.000000000 -0500
@@ -15,8 +15,13 @@
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
+// newer versions of glib define its own GSocket but we unfortunately use this
+// // name in our own (semi-)public header and so can't change it -- rename glib
+// // one instead
+#define GSocket GlibGSocket
#include <gdk/gdk.h>
#include <glib.h>
+#undef GSocket
#include "wx/gsocket.h"
#include "wx/unix/gsockunx.h"