Please help me compile!

[Paul Gear <paulgear bigfoot com>]

Hi everyone,

Here's a pathetic newbie question: what is the recommended/correct way
to compile a GNOME application?  I have a new application that i don't
know how to compile, and i can't find any information to show me how to
do it.

Should i call gnome-config --cflags and --libs from my Makefile?  (I've
done this before to compile gtk+ applications OK.)  Should i use the
*Conf.sh files in /usr/lib?  How can i get these integrated with
autoconf and automake?  What part do autoheader and aclocal play?

I've tried to look at some of the GNOME utilities and the gnome-hello
programs in CVS, but they all seem to be dependant on the fact that
they're in the GNOME source tree.  My application is completely
separate.

I've also read all of the tutorial information at gnome.org, but i'm
still mystified as to where i should be starting.  I'm a little bit
frustrated with it at the moment, but i want to contribute by writing
GNOME apps.  _PLEASE_ help me!  Even just a basic configure.in and
Makefile.am would be sufficient to get me started...

Thanks in advance,
Paul Gear

P.S.  I'm using Red Hat 5.2 with GNOME 0.99.7 from RPMs.