source: gnome/gnome-intro.xml@ 445007af

<partintro>
<title>Introduction to Gnome</title>

<para>This chapter attempts to install a complete Gnome2 desktop
environment and a limited Gnome 1.4 library environment that is
sufficient to run Gnome 1.4 applications included in this book. The
order of the pages are meant to follow the build order defined by the
Gnome2 development team as published in the <ulink url="http://www.gnome.org/start/2.0/releasenotes.html">release notes</ulink>.  If a package is in the release notes build list, but not in this chapter, it has been installed elsewhere in the book.</para>

<para>The installation of Gnome2 is a large undertaking and one we would
very much like to see you complete with the least amount of stress. One
of our first goals in this installation is to protect your previously
installed software.  For absolute protection, we would construct a
chroot jail for the installation, but since Gnome2 packages utilize the
--prefix= option for configure, we will use that to fulfill our goal.
There are two locations usable for our purposes,
<filename>/usr/local</filename> and <filename>/opt/package</filename>.
Since <filename>/usr/local</filename> is not utilized any where in the
BLFS book, installation there would closely parallel a Gnome2
installation using --prefix=/usr.  However, it is not
entirely safe for us to assume that your installation does not have any
files in <filename>/usr/local</filename>.  Therefore we are going to
install with --prefix=/opt/gnome2.  This will require additional edits
which are covered on the pre-installation page.  Removal of Gnome2 for
any reason is as easy as removing the edits from the pre-installation
page and issue the following commands:
<screen><userinput>rm /opt/gnome2 -r &amp;&amp;
rm /etc/gnome -r</userinput></screen></para>

<para>If your system was completely built per LFS 4.0 and BLFS
instructions, you have a very good chance of using Gnome2
after your first install.  If you are a typical LFS user, you have made
modifications to the instructions along the way knowing that you have to
take those modifications into account on future installations.  You
should have no problems integrating Gnome2 into your unique setup, but
you will have 28 to 33 packages installed before you can run Gnome
through any testing (assuming your window manager is preinstalled and
tested). We would anticipate that you will be rebuilding gnome at least
once to make adjustments for your setup. If this is the only chapter you
are utilizing from the BLFS book, we think you should be successful by
following these instructions, but you may find problems along the way
that we may or may not be able to help you though on the blfs-support mailing
list.</para>

<para>If you don't need the Gnome 1.4 library environment, you may skip
pages that are headed (Gnome 1.4).</para>

<para>If you are building a Gnome 1.4 desktop environment, you would
install those labeled pages <emphasis>and</emphasis> any dependancies
listed on those pages whether labeled or not. Gnome packages without
pages are simply installed with:
<screen><userinput>./configure --prefix=/opt/gnome &amp;&amp;
make &amp;&amp;
make install</userinput></screen>
These instructions are simplistic to facilitate removal of Gnome 1.4
from BLFS systems when it is no longer necessary.  These instructions
may be refined later to comply with BLFS standards for file locations,
specifically <filename>/opt/gnome/etc</filename> to
<filename>/etc</filename> and <filename>/opt/gnome/var</filename> to
<filename>/var</filename>.  You should consider using the Gnome 1.4 hint
located at <ulink url="http://hints.linuxfromscratch.org/hints"/> if you
have no interest in Gnome2.</para>

<para>At this time, we feel that Gnome2 should be left in <filename>/opt/gnome2</filename>, but you can easily adjust the --prefix= option to your
chosen destination. This can be done from the start or after a trial
install.</para>

</partintro>