How do I get GNOME &gnomever; for FreeBSD?
There are two ways to install GNOME &gnomever; on FreeBSD. One way is to use packages, and the other way is to use ports. Before doing either installation, you should first familiarize yourself with the GNOME &gnomever; release notes.
To install GNOME &gnomever; from packages, use the command:
# pkg_add -r gnome2This will download the latest GNOME &gnomever; packages from the FreeBSD FTP site, and proceed to install them on your system.
To build and install GNOME &gnomever; from ports, you should first cvsup the latest ports tree. Then:
# cd /usr/ports/x11/gnome2 # make clean # make install clean
For the best GNOME &gnomever; experience, you should install from ports, after adding the following macros to your /etc/make.conf file:
WITH_FAM= yes WITH_LAME= yes
WITH_FAM enables file alteration manager support which allows Nautilus to update its file lists in real-time as well as allows all GNOME components to detect config file changes without needing to restart GNOME. Note that for FAM to work properly, you also need to add the following to /etc/rc.conf then reboot:
For FreeBSD 4.x:
portmap_enable="YES"
For FreeBSD 5.x:
rpcbind_enable="YES"
WITH_LAME adds MP3 support, enabling you to play MP3s directly in Nautilus.
These options may cause build errors on certain platforms, and thus they are not enabled by default.
Once you have the GNOME &gnomever; desktop installed, GNOME &gnomever; can be started by adding the following line to ~/.xsession or ~/.xinitrc, as appropriate:
exec gnome-session
GNOME &gnomever; is failing to build from ports. What do I do?
The majority of GNOME &gnomever; compilation problems can be solved by making sure all the necessary GNOME &gnomever; components are up-to-date.
In general, when a GNOME &gnomever; component is not up-to-date, you will see an error similar to the following:
checking for libgnomeui-2.0 libbonoboui-2.0 libbonobo-2.0 >= 2.2.1 gnome-vfs-2.0 libgnomeprint-2.2 >= 2.3.0 libgnomeprintui-2.2 libglade-2.0... configure: error: Library requirements (libgnomeui-2.0 libbonoboui-2.0 libbonobo-2.0 >= 2.2.1 gnome-vfs-2.0 libgnomeprint-2.2 >= 2.3.0 libgnomeprintui-2.2 libglade-2.0) not met; consider adjusting the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable if your libraries are in a nonstandard prefix so pkg-config can find them.
Simply keeping your ports tree up-to-date will prevent these errors.
If the pkg-config program is out-of-date, you may see a configure error similar to the following:
configure: error: *** pkg-config too old; version 0.14 or better required.
While this may be buried in some other text, the error is very straight-forward: you need to upgrade pkg-config. The pkg-config application is found in the devel/pkgconfig port. By updating this port to the latest version, this error will go away.
You may see compiler errors relating to pthreads (&posix; threads), such as:
undefined reference to 'strerror_r'
To fix thread related errors, make sure you have the following compiled into your kernel:
options _KPOSIX_PRIORITY_SCHEDULING
- And make sure if you are tracking -stable or -current, that you +
If you are tracking -stable or -current, make sure that you do not have NOLIBC_R set in /etc/make.conf. If you do, remove it, then rebuild world. If you still have trouble, please send email to &email;@FreeBSD.org with the output of the failed compilation. It is also helpful to include the config.log from the port's work directory.
Ports such as devel/pth and devel/ngpt can also cause pthread-related problems when compiling GNOME &gnomever;. If you do not need these ports installed, it is recommended that you remove them.
I installed GNOME &gnomever;, but I am missing application foo. What gives?
Only the core components, and a few extras, are included in the gnome2 package. While you can still run GNOME 1.4 applications under GNOME &gnomever;, a number of applications have already been ported to GNOME &gnomever;.
The applications that have been ported are included in the gnome2-fifth-toe meta-port. Note, some of these applications are still in the early development stages, and may not be very stable.
To install gnome2-fifth-toe from packages:
# pkg_add -r gnome2-fifth-toe
To install gnome2-fifth-toe from ports:
# cd /usr/ports/x11/gnome2-fifth-toe # make clean # make install clean
What is the best way to upgrade from GNOME 1.4 to GNOME 2?
Right now, the GNOME project is still very much in flux. Work still must be done to the GNOME ports infrastructure in order to get things working cleanly. However, if you have GNOME 1.4, and you want to upgrade to GNOME &gnomever;, first familiarize yourself with the official upgrade instructions from the GNOME site. Next, make sure your GNOME 1.4 ports are up-to-date, then remove the following GNOME 1.4 packages from the system:
gnomecore sawfish gnomeapplets gnomemedia gtop libgtop nautilus gedit xalf bugbuddy gnomeaudio gnomegames gnomeutils gdm eog ggv
After those packages are removed, you can build GNOME &gnomever; per the instructions listed above.
What is the best way to upgrade from GNOME 2.2 to GNOME &gnomever;?
We recommend to use /usr/ports/sysutils/portupgrade for such purpose. This will do the job well:
# pkgdb -F (answer yes to all prompts) # portupgrade ORBit2 libbonobo # portupgrade -rf -m BATCH=yes atk # portupgrade -R -m BATCH=yes gnome2
How do I keep my GNOME &gnomever; components and applications up-to-date?
I find that /usr/ports/sysutils/portupgrade works really well. For example:
# portupgrade -r pkgconfigThis will upgrade pkgconfig and every other port that depends on it (that needs updating).
However, sometimes so much changes that it becomes necessary to do a little housekeeping first. In that case, this usually works:
# pkg_delete -rf pkgconfig\* # cd /usr/ports/x11/gnome2 # make clean # make install clean
These steps will remove all the GNOME 1 and 2 components and applications from your machine, but only reinstalls the GNOME 2 desktop. You should be aware, that if it comes to this, you will need to reinstall your applications after reinstalling the desktop. Fortunately, this extreme measure is only rarely needed.
Can I install GNOME 1.4 applications under GNOME &gnomever;?
GNOME 1.4 ports will run well under the GNOME 2 desktop. Older applications that were incompatible with the GNOME 2 desktop have been removed from the ports tree, so it should be safe to run any GNOME application in the ports tree under the GNOME 2 desktop.
Where can I get more themes for GNOME &gnomever;?
The website art.gnome.org has been setup as a general GNOME theme repository. They offer some gtk+-2, metacity, sawfish, nautilus, icon, and gdm themes, as well as some backgrounds.
A new theme site called The Theme Depot has just been launched. This site contains themes for GNOME 2 as well as KDE and quite a few window managers.
Freshmeat.net has a themes archive at themes.freshmeat.net, which contains themes and backgrounds for many window managers, theme engines, and desktop environments. This site grew out of the old themes.org.
A good site for some cool GNOME icons (some stock, some new) is jimmac's Icons site.
See the instructions on the website for installing the themes. If you feel inclined to port a few of them, you will not be turned away ;-).
What window managers work well with GNOME &gnomever;?
The gnome2 meta-port installs the metacity window manager by default. Another popular window manager that works well with GNOME &gnomever; is sawfish. Sawfish is distributed as part of the x11/gnome2-fifth-toe meta-port.
To switch between metacity and sawfish in GNOME 2, you will need to do the following:
killall metacity; sawfish & gnome-session-save --gui
The gnome-session-save is important. Without it, the window manager will revert back to the one previously configured upon next login. To switch back, simply reverse sawfish and metacity.
Does GNOME &gnomever; support anti-aliased fonts?
Yes! Anti-aliasing requires XFree86 4.x with freetype2 support. To add freetype2 support to X, make sure you have the following modules loaded in your XF86Config file under the Modules section:
Load "freetype" Load "type1"
Then, simply check out the Fonts capplet under Applications->Desktop Preferences. If you want a good set of TrueType starter fonts, install the x11-fonts/webfonts port.
Sometimes, after adding new fonts to the system, it is necessary to teach fontconfig about them. If you find that newly added fonts are not made available even after restarting GNOME 2, run the following command as root:
# fc-cache -f -v
If you have any questions, please send them to &email;@FreeBSD.org.
How can I control what fonts are anti-aliased?
GNOME &gnomever; makes use of Xft and fontconfig to handle anti-aliasing. Fontconfig is a very powerful XML-based font configuration package. You can create a ~/.fonts.conf file that controls virtually every aspect of fontconfig. For example, if you do not want to anti-alias fonts smaller than 16 point, create a ~/.fonts.conf with the following contents:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>
<match target="font">
<test name="size" compare="less_eq">
<double>16</double>
</test>
<edit name="antialias" mode="assign">
<bool>false</bool>
</edit>
</match>
</fontconfig>
Refer to fonts-conf(5) for more information.
How do I edit my GNOME 2 menus?
You need to use Nautilus to edit your GNOME 2 menus. If you want to edit any menu other than Favorites, you must be root.
To edit the menus, launch Nautilus, and enter the URL applications:///. From there you should be able to edit your entire application menu.
How do I use GTK+ 2 resource settings for GTK+ 2 applications when not in a GNOME environment?
GNOME 2 applications get their GTK+ 2 resources from themes and the corresponding theme engine. If you would rather run your GTK+ 2 applications in a non-GNOME environment then you will need to create a file named ~/.gtkrc-2.0.
To use the widgets from a GTK+ 2 theme when in a non-GNOME environment, simply include the theme's gtk-2.0/gtkrc in your ~/.gtkrc-2.0. For example:
include "/usr/X11R6/share/themes/Crux/gtk-2.0/gtkrc"
If you prefer, you can use the same GTK+ 1.2 theme for both GTK+ 1.2 and GTK+ 2 applications, which will give your GTK+ programs a consistent look. For the most part, you can transfer your settings from your ~/.gtkrc file (used for GTK+ 1.2) with a couple of caveats.
gtk-font-name = "Verdana 11"
Note that while a GTK+ 1.2 gtkrc file will work in a GTK+ 2 gtkrc-2.0 file, the opposite is not true: the contents of a GTK+ 2 gtkrc-2.0 file will not work inside a GTK+ 1.2 gtkrc file.
How do I configure settings for GNOME 1.4 applications under GNOME &gnomever;?
Install sysutils/gnomecontrolcenter, then invoke gnomecc from the command line to bring up the GNOME 1.4 control center.
Nautilus-cd-burner does not let me burn CDs. How can I fix this?
Nautilus-cd-burner cannot write to CD/DVD burners unless support for those devices is enabled in the kernel, and the permissions on the device nodes allow write access. Nautilus-cd-burner talks to CD/DVD burners through the SCSI CAM subsystem. Therefore, you must make sure you have the following configured in your kernel:
device scbus device cd device pass
You must also make sure you have the following configured in your kernel if you are using an ATAPI CD/DVD burner:
device atapicam
To figure out which CD/DVD drive you will be using, run the following command as root:
# camcontrol devlist
Your output will look similar to the following:
<QSI CDRW/DVD SBW-242 UD22> at scbus1 target 0 lun 0 (cd0,pass0)
The devices in parentheses at the end are important. You must make sure the /dev entries for those devices are writable by the users that will be using nautilus-cd-burner. In addition to those devices, /dev/xpt* must also be writable to your nautilus-cd-burner users. The following /etc/devfs.conf configuration will achieve the desired results given the above devlist (NB: devfs.conf is only supported on FreeBSD 5.x):
perm cd0 0666 perm xpt0 0666 perm pass0 0666
On FreeBSD 4.x, you can simply set the device node permissions, and they will be preserved across reboots. Note that you must use the 'c' device nodes on FreeBSD 4.x (e.g. cd0c).
How do I add new GDM sessions?
The process for adding new GDM sessions has changed substantially between GNOME 2.2 and &gnomever;. In order to add new sessions now, you must create a .desktop file containing the session configuration information. Session files live in /usr/X11R6/etc/dm/Sessions. For example, to add a KDE session, create a file in /usr/X11R6/etc/dm/Sessions called kde.desktop. That file should contain the following:
[Desktop Entry] Encoding=UTF-8 Name=KDE Comment=This session logs you into KDE Exec=/usr/local/bin/startkde TryExec=/usr/local/bin/startkde Icon= Type=Application
This file must have execute permissions. For example:
# chmod 0555 kde.desktop
After creating this file, restart GDM, and there will be a KDE link under the Sessions menu.