Re: gnome on slack

[Noah Roberts <jik foxinternet net>]

> _--
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 20:57:39 +0100
> From: Telsa Gwynne <hobbit aloss ukuu org uk>
> To: gnome-list gnome org
> Subject: Re: xiniman on slack
>
> On Wed, Mar 28, 2001 at 10:18:32AM -0800 or thereabouts, Noah Roberts wrote:
> > > From: cardie <cardiel gmx ch>
> > >
> > > Hi, I have tried to install ximian on slackware 7.1 , but when i dowload
> > the installer and runs it i get a msg " unknown platform". Someone know
> > how to install with slack and if there are packages instead of graphical
> > installer?.
>
> http://primates.ximian.com/~aaron/slack.html might help:

Yeah, the polond site doesn't seem to respond....little too far away me thinks.  In fact it never responded during this whole letter.

>
> The tarballs that you find at http://download.gnome.org are taken
> directly from CVS. That's pretty central. All the distros take those
> as the base for their packages and then tweak and then build.
> Distro-provided packages are pretty central, too, if you meant
> "central source for packager" rather than "central source for code".

Well download.gnome.org looks exactly the same as the rest of the mirrors.  We have some packages in stable and other packages in unstable.  packages in unstable require packages in stable and some programs which are not even at this
site.  Since all distros have 1.2 afaik, and most of the packages being developed for gnome right now require bonobo....it is pretty pointless messing with stable.  When I downloaded gnome from that section and took it home on CD I
got there and found that I didn't have the "unstable gnome", I had a few semi-related unstable programs.  Sometimes the configure file knew I had the wrong package....many times it didn't....there is no list of packages that these
programs depend on (in README you can usually find the things you need to compile a program...not so with gnome programs)....

Even after I downloaded ALL of stable and unstable I found I did not have all of gnome!  I had to go hunt down other packages at redhat.com and freshmeat.....which is just rediculous for an integrated system.

So these things need to happen

1. all files that are needed to set up gnome need to be in a single directory...one for stable the other for Beta or alpha.  Sure there will be some redundancy, but so what....this makes your system easier to use.

2. All programs in gnome should specify in the README all of the other programs that need to be installed before it....this is common practice I don't know why gnome developers aren't doing it.

3. Why are there so many core components to gnome NOT in gnome-core????  When I install something that says *-core I expect that I have the base system installed, what is left are *optional*, it is that way with KDE, it is that way
with gnustep....why is it not so with Gnome?

>
>
> And
> http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-list/2001-March/msg00313.html
> contains an up to date order for compiling the lot from tarballs
> on Slackware from Barthel the last time the subject of GNOME of
> Slackware was discussed.

Yes, I saw that....in fact that will clarify my point....you have to go to a mail list to get directions to compile Gnome....even if you know what your doing.  Gnome IS the hardest system I have ever seen to compile, there are so many
standard things just not done here.  That is why I said it appears it was done on purpose....thinking back to other difficult compiles (old Wine, DosEmu, XFree86 the first time) all of them had good documentation and directions for
the compile and setup procedures.....even for alpha trees.

Yeah, KDE sucks.....but I think Gnome could take some lessons from KDE when it come to source packaging!