Re: request info re upgrading gnome

[Stefano Sabatini <stefano sabatini-lala poste it>]

On date Wednesday 2007-03-14 15:05:48 -0400, Darcy Kahle wrote:
> I have a WhiteBox Enterprise Linux 3 system with the original gnome
> installed via rpm.  (whitebox uses the redhat source rpms as it's base).  As
> Redhat's Enterprise Linux 3 is getting old, it is looking highly unlikely
> that they (or anyone else) will produce rpms of the latest Gnome for that
> system, and I would like to upgrade it.  Therefore, it looks like I will be
> building gnome from source, and I would like some help answering some
> questions for that task:
> 
> 1. What is the recommended method of upgrading an rpm based gnome
> installation from the source tarballs?

Uninstall the RPM package (and all the tons of dependencies), download
the source, compile and install following diligently the dependency
order.

> 2. Do I need to upgrade XFree86 first?

I don't think so, but I'm not an expert, so I can't say it for sure.

> 3. Is there a howto somewhere that might help me with this task?  I have
> looked, but found nothing.
> 4. Are there any potential sinkholes or problem areas that I need to keep my
> eyes out for?

Installing gnome from source is not at all a trivial process. If you
can't install from binary packages, consider to upgrade the whole
system. 

There was a system for installing from gnome called "Gargnome", but
strangely enough, I couldn't find with a quick google search any link
to its project page, and all the links in the Gnome forum were
inactive.

> I appreciate any help that you might provide me.  Since I also have the kde
> libraries installed, I will likely be upgrading kde from source as well, and
> the info that I gleam from this would likely help me with that task as well.

Again, I suggest you to consider to upgrade the system, since the
process of compiling and installing gnome from source is not at all a
trivial task, in the best case it's time consumming.

HTH
-- 
Stefano Sabatini
Linux user number 337176 (see http://counter.li.org)