GNOME Frequently Asked Questions

by:

Todd Graham Lewis

David "Gleef" Zoll


Table of Contents
GNOME Overview
What does GNOME stand for?
What is GNOME?
Where can I find more information, help, or tips on about GNOME?
How do I use these GNOME mailing lists I keep hearing about?
How do I get to the mailing list archives?
How do I pronounce GNOME?
Why GNOME?
Why not CDE? or KDE? or GNUStep?
What platforms?
Can I still run my programs under GNOME?
What is a window manager, and what does it have to do with GNOME?
You've said that GNOME is Free Software. What does Free Software mean?
Is GNOME Open Source(tm) Software?
Getting GNOME
What are the System Requirements for GNOME?
What's the best format to get GNOME for my machine?
What do I need on my computer before I install GNOME?
What order should I deal with the GNOME packages?
How do I get GNOME tarballs?
How do I get GNOME from CVS?
My only access to the internet is email. How do I get GNOME?
I'm running RedHat Linux, how do I get RPMs?
I'm running Debian GNU/Linux, how do I get .deb packages?
I'm running S.u.S.E. Linux, how do I get RPM packages?
I'm running Caldera OpenLinux, or some other RPM-based Linux distribution, how do I get RPM packages?
I'm running FreeBSD, how can I get GNOME via Ports?
I'm running Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, BSDI, SCO, IRIX, or some other Unix or Unix-like system, can I get binary packages?
I'm running Microsoft Windows, can I get GNOME?
Compiling GNOME
What order do I compile the packages in?
How do I configure the source code for my system? (or... Where are the Makefiles hiding?)
Where is configure hiding?
OK, I've got a Makefile now. How do I get GNOME on my system?
How do I put GNOME someplace special, like /opt/gnome?
How do I compile GNOME with all the files in the right place for FHS Compliance? How do I relocate GNOME's etc and var directories to easily network GNOME?
I'm done with this module, how do I get rid of all the object files and other cruft from the source tree?
How do I uninstall a module?
So now I've got GNOME, what do I do with it?
Where should I look first?
How do I start GNOME?
How do I run GNOME programs?
How do I run the GNOME Panel?
How can I use WindowMaker with GNOME
Help!!!!!!!!
General Help.
Something is not working, I'm confused, what do I do?
How do I report a bug?
What is a prefix (or a $prefix, ${PREFIX}, or <prefix>)?
What does Segmentation Fault mean?
What is a core dump? What is this file named core that I keep running into?
What is a backtrace? Someone just asked me to send them a backtrace, how do I do this?
What is an strace? Someone asked me to send them one, how do I do this?
Specific Compile Problems
What does undefined reference to 'compress' mean?
What is AC_TRY_RUN, and why is my machine warning me about it?
While compiling the program gnome-gen-mimedb segfaults
Runtime Problems
How do I reset my session management settings?
I started GNOME with session management, why am I just getting this grey screen (no panel, nothing)?
How do I tell session management what window manager to use?
Everything seems to be working, but most of my icons are just black squares, or random spots. How do I get my icons?
Architecture Components
Libraries
Why do I need so many libraries for GNOME?
CORBA, ORBit and Bonobo
What is CORBA?
What are some CORBA components?
What are CORBA Services?
Which CORBA version does GNOME use?
Where can I find out more about CORBA?
What role does CORBA play in GNOME?
What CORBA implementation is GNOME using?
What is ORBit?
Why has GNOME not made more use of CORBA?
How will CORBA be used in GNOME, or, what is Bonobo?
Graphics in GNOME
What is GTK+?
What role does GTK+ play in GNOME?
What languages does GTK+ support?
What is imlib?
What's the deal with themes?
How do I get themes working?
What is OpenGL?
What about Drag and Drop support?
Session Management
What is session management?
How do I use session management in my GNOME application?
DocBook
What is DocBook?
What is SGML?
Internationalization & Localization (I18N & L10N)
What are Internationalization(I18N) and Localization(L10N)?
What I8N and L10N API does GNOME use?
How do I program using I18N and L10N, or Where do I find out more info on these topics?
How do I change the language of my GNOME programs?
Guile
What is Guile?
What role does Guile play in GNOME?
Developer Issues
What does a window manager have to do to be GNOME-compliant
What is Autoconf? What does it have to do with GNOME?
What is Libtool? What does it have to do with GNOME?
Becoming a GNOMEr
How do I join the GNOME movement?
I am a programmer, and I want to help, what can I do?
How do I get the bleeding edge, CVS versions of GNOME?
I want bleeding edge GNOME, but I can't use CVS. How do I get it?
How do I get an account to let me contribute to the CVS version of GNOME?
Why are directories sometimes missing when I update a module from CVS?
I am not a programmer, how can I contribute?
FAQ Issues
Where is the official copy of this FAQ?
How do I add a question and/or an answer to this FAQ?
Credits
Copyright and Disclaimer
Trademarks and Naming Credits