This repository contains a set of pre-built GNUstep binary packages that you can install using RPM, YaST2, zypper or similar package managers. It provides a quick and easy way of setting up a GNUstep installation, without the need to compile from source.
The packages were built for the openSUSE 11.4 release; they might or might not work with other distributions. They are configured to follow the UNIX/Linux FHS file-system layout. This means that the software is installed in the places where you would expect to find it in an openSUSE system.
You can quickly install either the GNUstep Base System, comprising the core libraries and system tools, or the GNUstep Applications, which adds a range of development, office, internet and multimedia applications. If you wish, you can also install the GNUstep Documentation, which comprises technical documentation on GNUstep.
First, if you already have any old GNUstep software installed on your openSUSE 11.4 system, you should remove it.
Add the following package repositories, if you do not already have them (in YaST2, go to Software —> Software Repositories):
|
GNUstep packages for openSUSE — this release |
|
The openSUSE 11.4 online repository — for openSUSE 11.4 packages that are not on the release DVD |
Now install GNUstep:
In YaST2, go to Software —> Software Management.
Click on the Patterns tab if it is showing, or choose Patterns from the View tab.
In the left-hand Pattern panel, under Graphical Environments, click on the check-box for whichever of the GNUstep package sets you wish to install. (If you select GNUstep Applications, the GNUstep Base System will automatically be installed as well.)
Click Accept (at the bottom right-hand corner of the window).
For finer control over which packages are installed, see the section on Custom Installation.
Finally, enable the gdomap service. In YaST2, go to System —> System Services (Runlevel) to do this. At the same time, you may wish to disable the avahi-daemon and avahi-dnsconfd services, unless you actually need them.
After installing GNUstep, log out of your window manager and then log in again. This will pick up the newly configured environment variables etc.
If you have already installed a previous version of this release, you can update it to the current version.
You should already have the necessary repositories, as described above, set up. Ensure that the GNUstep package repository is refreshed; it will probably be auto-refreshed on starting the YaST2 Software Manager but, if you do not have it marked for auto-refresh, you will need to refresh it manually.
In YaST2, go to Software —> Software Management, then select the Patterns tab.
In the left-hand Pattern panel, under Graphical Environments, click on the check-box for whichever of the GNUstep package sets you wish to update. (If you select GNUstep Applications, the GNUstep Base System will automatically be installed as well.)
The GNUstep core libraries — all four of these are required. | |
The GNUstep file and desktop manager — highly recommended. | |
Themes and background images to give the desktop a nice appearance — recommended. | |
System tools — useful. |
The GNUstep Object Relationship Modeller (a graphical user interface builder). | |
An Integrated Development Environment for GNUstep. | |
A user interface designer that generates interfaces from XML descriptions. | |
A code editor with syntax highlighting — experimental. |
Documentation on the GNUstep core libraries. | |
Documentation on the DBusKit framework. |
Contact-management and diary-management tools. | |
An Internet File Transfer Package. | |
An Electronic Mail Package. | |
CD, DVD and multimedia players. | |
Precision Raster Image Convolution Engine, offering sophisticated graphical filters and transforms for the serious graphics enthusiast. | |
A nice and easy-to-use slide show program. | |
A PDF and PostScript viewer. | |
A vector graphics program for GNUstep, suitable for Computer Aided Manufacturing and Desktop Publishing applications. |
These packages have been built using gnustep-make version 2.6.0 and configured for an FHS file system layout. They are not compatible with older versions of GNUstep, or with GNUstep software configured for the Windows, Mac or GNUstep traditional file system layouts.
These packages are intended for use on openSUSE 11.4. It is unlikely that they will work on other releases, due to numerous differences in compilers, libraries and release contents.
In the CD Player application, the online Help facility is not currently available. The Help information itself is available on your system, in the directory:
The .xlp files in this directory are (somewhat) readable using a text viewer or editor.
If, after installing these packages and enabling Metadata Indexing, you revert to a version of GWorkspace that does not support this feature, the mdextractor window may appear and then hang. To avoid this, you should disable Metadata Indexing — do this before changing your GWorkspace, or (if you omitted to do so) type the following in a Terminal window:
defaults write NSGlobalDomain GSMetadataIndexingEnabled 0
If you require a custom install, rather than the Quick Install described above, you can choose individual GNUstep packages.
You can install individual binary packages using YaST2. Click on the Repositories tab or, if it is not showing, go to View —> Repositories. In the left-hand pane, select the GNUstep repository. Choose the packages you want in the right-hand pane and click Accept.
Alternatively, if you want to keep complete control over the downloading and installation of packages, you can use the rpm program. This also enables you to install source RPMs from which you can recompile the binary packages — you might want to do this in order to apply patches, for example. To download and install using rpm, proceed as follows:
Download the packages you require from the list given in the Full Contents section.
(Hint: if your web browser tries to play the RPM files in Real Player instead of downloading them, right-click on the link to the file and then choose Save Link As ... or similar from the pop-up menu).
If you require source packages, you can find them in the directory http://www.rstonehouse.co.uk/extras/GNUstep-2.6.0/openSUSE-114/src.
Locate the additional, non-GNUstep packages you require. The libobjc45 package will certainly be required. The WindowMaker window manager is recommended for GNUstep, but is not mandatory.
The GNUstep core libraries require various non-GNUstep packages — you are likely to have most of these installed anyway, but be sure you have aspell, libcairo2, libdns_sd, libffi45, libgnutls26 and libxslt; the graphics libraries giflib, libjpeg62, libpng14-14 and libtiff3; and the sound libraries libao4 and libsndfile.
In addition:
| If you wish to use ... | Then you will need package ... |
|---|---|
| GWorkspace: | libsqlite3-0 |
| SimpleAgenda: | libical0, libuuid1, dbus-1, dbus-1-x11 |
| CDPlayer: | libcdaudio |
Install the packages by using the rpm program.
Finally, start the gdomap service in the same way as for the quick install.
For a brief introductory guide, see Getting Started with GNUstep 2.6.0.
For information about GNUstep, see the GNUstep web-site:
For any queries regarding the builds or packaging, contact me at: <richard@rstonehouse.co.uk>
Happy GNUstepping!
Richard Stonehouse