Table of Contents
Table of Contents
When there are already KDE, Gnome, and so many others things to try out ... Basically :
It isn't another copy of MS-Windows, like so many does. For example, WindowMaker is the prefered window manager.
I was intrigated by the Christopher Brown's pages (some are outdated) :
GNUstep could be a remplacement for the Big/Bloated/Obsolete X.
GNUstep could succed to be a "higher level" and "network-enable" X protocol. Since I often work on distant PC, I don't like all the superfluous features of KDE or Gnome that slow down the interface.
It is based on interesting Object concept like the design patern.
It smells good, like an Apple
The install has been done on a Mandrake 9.2rc2.
FTP : ftp://ftp.gnustep.org/pub/gnustep/rpms/srpms
How to install :
Very clear and complete : http://documents.made-it.com/GNUstep/Build/
Very up to date : http://gnustep.org/ressources/documentation/
The README and HOWTO files in the sources arethe best source of information !
There are some Mandrake RPM for GNUstep (maybe only for Club Members ?) : but they are not up to date.
I download the GNUstep's SRPM from ftp://ftp.gnustep.org/pub/gnustep/rpms/srpms
I check up my system as described in "GNUstep Build Guide for Unix Systems" (Mr. Dennis Leeuw) :
GNU make 3.80 : OK.
binutil : ld 2.14.90.0.5 : OK
iconv 2.3.2 : OK
gcc 3.3.1 : OK
Foreign Function Interfaces (ffcal) : not in Mandrake, but downloaded from GNUstep FTP.
tiff : RPM mdk : OK
GMP : No. The Mandrake's SRPMS seems to have a problem : "Warning: this package does not export valid resources lists". I doubt if it is really useful ?
The most important parts are OK. Some documentations doesn't mention all thoses requirements. It depends on which applications you need to run.
I try to intall the SRPM. I don't think that there is a graphical way to install a local RPM file on Mandrake : quite strange for a "easy to use" distribution.
Install the sources RPM : I use the command line : rpm -i ....src.rpm It creates 2 files :
the sources as tar.gz in /usr/src/RPM/SOURCES/
the spec, in /usr/src/RPM/SPECS/
Create the "binary" RPM. rpm -bb .../spec-file generates the RPM in /usr/src/RPM/RPMS/i586/....rpm depending on your CPU : i386, k6 ...
Install the RPM : rpm -i /usr/src/RPM/RPMS/i586/....rpm
This worked fine fo ffcal. But I get a problem with gnustep-make : the "home_user" binary program couldn't be executed when launching the post-install GNUstep.sh program. Maybe some library aren't registred ? (There are lines about libraries commented out in the source RPM spec file.)
At least, I learned some stuff about RPM and installed ffcal.
Install from the sources. (It would have been easier to start here ...)
I untar the file in /usr/src/ : cd /usr/src ; tar -xzf ...tar.gz (eXtract gZiped File)
Then, I go in the folder and do ./configure, make and make install. Check that there are no error on each step !
Launch the GNUstep.sh script after installing gnustep-make and don't forget to launch it again as root if you reboot before finishing to install all the basic packages ...
All worked fine for gnustep-make, gnustep-base and gnustep-gui.
for gnustep-back, I run a ./configure --enable-graphics=art to use the libart library (supposed to be better.)
Download some fonts :
Just follow http://www.GNUstep.de/Fonts/
Configure an user :
I create a new user : "gsbruno" and choose WindowMaker as his window manager (using the drakfirstime mandrake tools.)
I put the script GNUstep.sh in the user's ~/.bash_profile.
Install new applications : GWorkspace 0.5.3
I did the same as "Install from sources" : FTP download, untar in /usr/src and read the README.
Install was OK. I could launch /usr/GNUstep/System/Applications/gworkspace.app/gworkspace or better : openapp GWorspace, but didn't find how to install the application in the menu or in the dock panel. (Building the font_cacher takes a while !)
Install new applications : Preferences 1.2.0
compilaton failled !!
I take the CVS version. Installation is OK, but I didn't find that the application itself isn't usefull !
Core install (07-10-2003) :
ffcal : 1.8d-2
gnustep-make 1.8.0
gnustep-back : 0.9.0 (with libart)
gnustep-base : 1.8.0
gnustep-gui : 0.9.0
Fonts : Fixed.nfont.tar.gz ; FreeFonts.nfont.tar.gz from
Applications :
GWorkspace 0.5.3
Fonts from http://www.GNUstep.de/Fonts/
Preferences CVS version 08-10-2003.
User's configuration :
~/.bash_profile with the command to load GNUstep environnement : . /usr/GNUstep/System/Makefiles/GNUstep.sh
In order to start WindowMaker even without XDM (or kdm or gdm), I created a ~/.desktop with the line DESKTOP=WindowMaker (Be careful, it seems to be case sensitive !) Then I can use /usr/X11/xinit/xinitrc to launch the whole thing from a distant X server (like Cygwin/XFree86.) Just one problem : when I exit : Windowmaker doesn't close the clock and mail application from the dock panel.
Set standart GNUstep configuration look at "GNUstep Build Guide for Unix Systems" :
defaults write NSGlobalDomain "Local Time Zone" Europe/Paris
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSLanguages "(French,English)"