How do I start GNOME?

The proper way to start GNOME with all its features is to put the line exec gnome-session at the end of your X startup script. This script can be called ~/.xinitrc, .xsession or .Xclients, depending on your platform and configuration. Of course, make sure that the GNOME binaries are in your path, and there are no lines starting with exec prior to the one you just added. With gnome-core versions 1.04 and later, you can select the window manager run by setting the WINDOW_MANAGER variable to the one you want.

Running gnome-session like this will run the default session, the first time in. This includes your window manager of choice (or a good guess if you didn't specify it), the panel, GNOME Midnight Commander, and the help browser. As you use GNOME, session management will save your current desktop. If you log out, and log back in later, your most recent desktop will be restored.

If you don't want session management, GNOME will work fine without it. Put the line exec gnome-wm at the end of your X startup script, as described above. It will still use the WINDOW_MANAGER environment variable to select your window manager, but not bother with session management. Run panel, gmc, or whatever as desired, either manually, or in the startup script before the exec line. For example:

panel &
gmc &
exec gnome-wm