Re: GNUstep installation - a 'Newbie' question

[Dirk Theisen]

Hi!

I am not a Linux expert, so forgive me if I am making wrong assumptions.

> Installing software from source on a Un*x type system means using the
> shell, working with scripts and getting to know the system you are
> working on.

(Until LinuxStep or something the like is done - what's the state of those?)

I would like to install a GNUstep system on an old Mac or PC for 
testing and maybe contributing. I do not really care about the distro 
used, as long as I get it working on my hardware. 


I imagine being a recommendation on the GNUstep site, telling me which 
distro has been tested and is easy to install from scratch. 


E.g. Debian, which I saw a friend making a "standard" install very 
easily  after failing with others (like Mandrake). 


It should be recommended to do a minimal install without a desktop 
environment (that can get in the way of GNUstep). 


I further imagine doing an apt-get (or some other package manager) that 
installs GNUstep *including all the dependent libraries*, plus a 
suitable window manager *from sources* (! so we are architecture 
independent). 


It should also configure the system to run the demons necessary and 
source GNUstep.sh in sh and csh compatible shells. 


I saw my friend struggle with all the libraries necessary and with 
getting rid of KDE or Gnome etc. This should not be necessary. 


Unfortunately, I have not the skills to do that. But I imagine this 
should not be too hard for a Linux power-user (which I am not). 


It would definitely help to get Cocoa open source programmers (like me) 
try out GNUstep and (maybe) jump onto the train. This is where the 
people are who got "OpenStep" experience recently. 


Until then, I am still lurking and working from over the fence (on OS X).

I think it is time to make GS more approachable and grow the developer base.

Greetings,
   Dirk