source: gnome/gnome-intro.xml@ ab8a3cb

<partintro>
<title>Introduction to GNOME</title>

<para>This chapter attempts to install a complete GNOME-&gnome-version; 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
GNOME development team as published in the <ulink
url="http://www.gnome.org/start/&gnome-version;/notes/rninstallation.html">release notes</ulink>, with two exceptions.  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 GNOME-&gnome-version; is a large undertaking and one we would
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, especially if you are testing GNOME on your machine.
GNOME-&gnome-version; packages utilize the --prefix= option for configure, so we will
use that and an Environment variable (<envar>GNOME_PREFIX</envar>) to add flexibility to 
the install.</para>

<para>If you know that you want GNOME as your desktop, it is recommended that
you install with --prefix=/usr. If you are not sure that you are going
to keep GNOME on your installation, it is recommended that you install with 
--prefix=/opt/gnome-&gnome-version;.  Setting the Environment variable and the
additional edits required by the second option are covered on the
pre-installation page.</para>

<para>If you choose the second option, removal of GNOME-2.2 is as easy
as removing the edits from the pre-installation page and issueing the following command:
<screen><userinput><command>rm /opt/gnome-&gnome-version; -r </command></userinput></screen></para>

<para>If your system was completely built per <acronym>LFS</acronym> and
<acronym>BLFS</acronym>
instructions, you have a very good chance of using GNOME-&gnome-version;
after your first install.  If you are a typical <acronym>LFS</acronym> 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 GNOME-&gnome-version; 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.</para>

<para>If you are building a GNOME 1.4 desktop environment, you would
install only those libraries in the GNOME 1.4 chapter
<emphasis>and</emphasis> any dependencies listed on those pages, whether labeled or not. GNOME packages without pages are simply installed with:
<screen><command>./configure --prefix=/opt/gnome &amp;&amp;
make &amp;&amp;
make install</command></screen>
These instructions are simplistic to facilitate removal of GNOME 1.4
from <acronym>BLFS</acronym> systems when it is no longer necessary.  These instructions
may be refined later to comply with <acronym>BLFS</acronym> standards for file locations,
specifically <filename class='directory'>/opt/gnome/etc</filename> to
<filename class='directory'>/etc</filename> and <filename
class='directory'>/opt/gnome/var</filename> to
<filename class='directory'>/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 GNOME-&gnome-version;.</para>

<para><screen>GNOME-&gnome-version; requires:
<xref linkend="xfree86"/>, <xref linkend="GTK2"/>, <xref linkend="libpng"/>, 
<xref linkend="libjpeg"/>, <xref linkend="libtiff"/>, <xref linkend="popt"/>
Gnome-&gnome-version; will utilize:
<xref linkend="libxml2"/>, <xref linkend="libxslt"/>, <xref linkend="DocBook"/>, 
<xref linkend="docbook-xsl"/> and <xref linkend="libfam"/></screen></para>

</partintro>