X, gtk, and gnome

[Reece Dunn]

On 25/11/2007, Pavel Troller <patrol at sinus.cz> wrote:
> >     I have the entire source now thanks to git of X. I would like to run
> > GTK+ and gnome over it. Would anyone have any idea, because I've looked and
> > can't find anything; what is minimally needed as far as X goes for running
> > GTK+ and gnome? Also if I did install the entire X system could it function
> > as a GUI and browser or is it basically a rendering engine?
> > Bill
> Hi Bill,
>   yes, X is primarily a rendering engine and a set of libraries for various
> purposes related to its support (X11 protocol implementation, input/output,
> etc.).
>   It contains a very simple window manager - twm, which can be used as a basic
> GUI. It can start a program, resize a window, manage windows etc.
>   X11 doesn't contain any www browser. You need a third-party one (firefox,
> konqueror, etc.).
>   Gnome/GTK has its own codebase and downloading archive (see www.gnome.org).
>   You either need to download a binary release, or build it yourself, but
> be warned, it's more complex than a full X build.

You might want to take a look at Beyond Linux From Scratch
(http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs) - it has instructions for
building X, Gnome, Firefox and many more packages/applications.

- Reece